Return to the Lord
Who Will Raise You Up
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The past few weeks we have heard the call to “return to the
Lord.” We return to the Lord because He is the one who has redeemed us, and He
has promised to restore us. But tonight we hear something a bit different, and
it runs against how we operate, especially these days. Return to the Lord, for
He is the One who “has brought discipline upon you.” He is the one, Hosea says, who “has torn us” and “has struck us down.” Discipline isn’t pleasant to undergo.
It is hard to return to a Lord who tears you and strikes you down, just as a
child who has been spanked often resents the one who did the spanking.
Discipline
is not easy, either to give or to receive, but discipline is necessary. A child
who has not been disciplined believes their behavior has no consequences. If he
receives no discipline, his behavior will continue to deteriorate until he is a
frustration to his parents and teachers and a menace to his classmates.
Discipline teaches the child appropriate behavior. The child may not appreciate
the lessons while learning them, but the lessons are important. They teach him
to understand and respect boundaries, to interact with kindness towards his
friends and neighbors. Maybe the child will even come to understand that this
discipline comes from love. If a parent truly loves the child, the parent will
love the child enough to say “no.” Parents want their children to be happy, but
when the child is holding poison, drinking it might satisfy their curiosity,
but in the end, it will kill them.
God
loves you, and He wants you to be happy. The hard part for sinners to
understand is that, in giving us His Ten Commandments, God is showing us the
best way to be happy. If we truly “fear, love, and trust in God above all
things,” we will be satisfied and even happy with the blessings He gives us
every day. When we live contrary to His Word, we are never satisfied with just
a little sin. We want more of our idols, whether it be money or sex or
superiority or whatever else we covet. But when we stray from His Word, He
sends messengers to discipline us, to bring us back to Him. He sends pastors to
preach the Law to us, to chasten our hard hearts until we hear God’s Word and
repent. Our Lord loves us so much that He says “no” to our desires to have gods
that we regard as greater than Him.
So
if God’s discipline comes from His great love for us, why does that discipline
actually make it hard to return to Him? The truth is, our love is not
steadfast or reliable. Hosea tells us that our love is like “dew that goes
early away.” The dew quickly evaporates. That’s how our love works. Love is
hard to sustain, both toward our neighbor and especially toward God. Our
prayers, our devotions, our obedience, our confidence in Him—these things come
and go. And because that’s how our love is, we think that how God’s love is, too.
Our hard hearts make it hard to return to Him. We forget who God really is.
And
so He disciplines us, not only to show us ourselves and our little faith, but
also to love us and show us His love. “He has torn us, that he may heal us! He has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” It’s
as if He wants to prove Himself again and again, until we stop doubting whether
He will arise and shine upon us. We know that He will, because we know Him. And
where we know Him best is hanging on the cross for us. But as Hosea says: “after two days he will revive us; on the third day
he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”
Just
as Jesus rose on the third day, His third day is our third day. In Holy Baptism
we’ve been crucified with Christ, joined to Him. We have already passed through
death to life with Him, and so have already begun to live in that day and life
that cannot be ended. Your sins have been atoned for and forgiven, and so for
you there is life. And for now, the discipline you experience serves life.
So come, “let us return to the Lord.” He
disciplines you because He loves you. He preaches the Law to you so that He may
bring you to repentance. And He will raise you up as His beloved child. In the
name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which
passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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