Proper 12 year A RCL

July 27, 2008

Romans 8:26-39

The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

St. Paul is at his best when he wrote the words that we heard at the end of the second lesson. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. The problem is that Paul was wrong, there is something that can separate us from the love of God: us, our self will.

I listened to a radio talk show as I drove up to Bandon yesterday for the convocation picnic. This woman had called in to get advice about a problem that she had. She knew full well that she was living outside of the will of God, but she didn’t know how to get back in tune with God’s will for her. She said, "God willing, I will stop putting up roadblocks between me and God." The radio guy said, "God is willing. God is always willing that you should be within his will."

That really struck me as profound and timely considering the content of our lesson today that talks about what separates us from God. God is always willing for us to be in relationship with him. When the woman caller on the radio added that caveat of "God willing," what she did was set up an escape clause for herself. Her unconscious thought was that if she isn’t able to come into closer contact with God, it will be because God hasn’t willed it, thus not her fault because God wasn’t ready yet. Wrong thinking! God’s arms are always wide open. It is us, no matter how we try to twist things in our minds, that fail to rush into God’s open arms.

I’ve been thinking about hell a little bit lately. My definition of hell is separation from God. If I were to reject God’s love on Judgment Day, then I would be casting myself into hell—that place were God is not present. To my way of thinking, it isn’t God that condemns me to hell; it is me that condemns myself. And, by the way, hell isn’t a place so much as it is a mental state. And, also, hell can exist right here on earth right here and now. 

I know plenty of people that are experiencing hell at this very minute because they have separated themselves from the love of God and the love of everyone else they know to such an extent that they are in true misery. I saw a guy like that on Friday when I was in the convenience store. He is a guy I went to high school with. He didn’t have to tell me that he was cut off from God and miserable. I knew it after just standing in line with him for 3 minutes while the cashier rung up his purchase and took his money. This guy is living in hell. I got my soda and went back to my truck were Matt was waiting for me and I told him about running into our common acquaintance. He said somberly, "We better pray for that guy."  

C. S. Lewis said, "Perhaps the gates of hell are locked from the inside." I am convinced that this is a true statement. It is not God that casts us into a state of hell and locks the door as punishment for not living up to a certain moral code. This cannot possibly be, because, for one thing, St. Paul says that nothing in the created order can separate us from the love of God. And I would add to that, "Nothing except our own selves." When we lock ourselves away from the love of God, it is of our own doing. It isn’t of God’s doing. The light of Christ shines into the world and sometimes we find a place to hide that is in shadow because we are afraid of the light.

When Christ died on the cross there were three days that passed before he resurrected. He wasn’t in heaven for those three days because he didn’t go to heaven to be with the Father until the Day of Ascension. The Apostle’s Creed tells us that Jesus descended to the dead. In older translations of the Apostle’s Creed it says that he descended to hell. It is the teaching of the Church that Jesus Christ has been in hell. The light of Christ has penetrated all the way into the very depths of absolute darkness. I know of no other reason for Christ to illumine hell except so that he could make it plain to the occupants that the lock is on the inside.  

Amen