Sermon for July 3, 2011 (14th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

“How Will You Respond?” (Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Matthew 11:16-30)
July 3, 2011 (14th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein

Love is a powerful emotion. People are searching for love in many different, and often wrong, places. People crave intimacy, and again, they frequently look for it in bad places. Broken relationships, divorces, unfaithfulness, fornication and promiscuity are evil things, but they all spring from lonely hearts of people who are desperate for love.

I've heard it said that the Bible is God's love letter to its readers and listeners. Throughout the Bible, God pursues his people because he loves them. Over and over God offers redemption and transformation to those he created, especially the people he chose to keep his covenants. And the Bible tells of how people have responded to his love. Some have responded in love themselves. Others have not. We cannot perfectly know the reasons for these different responses, but they are real, and they bring about different consequences.

The Old Testament reading for today comes from one of the more unusual books of the Bible, known as the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs. Traditionally, the book has been attributed to King Solomon, although some revisionist scholars disagree. I don't think there is sufficient evidence to overturn the traditional understanding. In any case, Solomon is an interesting author of this book, full of the language of romantic longing. Solomon reportedly had 1,000 women, more than even some recent Presidents! But in this instance he felt that he needed to express love for a Shulammite girl. This book consists of several sequences, beginning with the girl's first days in the palace of the king, proceeding through courtship and marriage, a temporary estrangement followed by a lasting reconciliation.

What does this book teach overall? It teaches that married love happens in God's time and not ours … so we are to be patient when seeking love. Love must not be aroused until it is ready (three times we are told, in 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4: “I abjure you, daughters of Jerusalem … that you not stir nor awaken love until it pleases”) Song of Solomon also teaches that intimacy is reserved for marriage itself. Married love is exclusive. In terms of physical love, each partner must remain as a locked garden and a sealed fountain (4:12). Each life is a private vineyard for the other (8:12). Neither spouse is on the “open market.” These ideals certainly contrast today's cultural drift, don't they?

Used illustratively, the song says some beautiful things about the relationship of Christ to his beloved church. We are reminded, among other things, of the strength of Christ's love (8:7: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be despised”); his delight to hear the prayers of the church (8:13: “O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.”); the sense of yearning for his presence (8:14: “Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.”); the invitation of Christ to share his company (2:13: “The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.” ); and the dangers of failure to respond to his knocking on the door (5:2-8:

2I slept, but my heart was awake.A sound! My beloved is knocking."Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
3 I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?
4My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
5I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
6I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
8I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him
I am sick with love.

So one important message is that you must respond to the love of God while there is time.

This is, I think, also the point of the passage I read from Matthew's Gospel a few minutes ago. In verses 16 through 19 of the eleventh chapter of the Gospel, we read about the people's reactions to both John the Baptist and Jesus himself. People were not responding well to either one of them. They ruled out John because he was too austere. He and his followers engaged in fasting. And as we know from the scriptural accounts, John had a rather wild appearance, ate off the land, and spoke bluntly and loudly about mankind's sinful condition and the need for repentance. He operated very much outside of established religious channels. So many considered him directed by a demon … a crazy man to be shunned.

As for Jesus, he did eat and drink. He did not fast regularly. Indeed, it's significant that his first miracle was to transform water into wine at the Cana wedding feast. And other miracles involved providing food for many. So how was he regarded? Some called him a glutton and a drunkard, not to mention a friend of tax collectors and sinners So, whatever John or Jesus did, people found fault with them and condemned them.

What was especially galling was that the cities rejecting Jesus had been ones in which he had performed miracles. The people had all the proof they needed that Jesus loved them and wanted a relationship with them. But they rejected him, and they were doubly without excuse. As Jesus said, if cities destroyed by God like Sodom had seen his miracles, they would have turned from their evil ways and would continue to exist. But the people favored by God himself would not come to Jesus. As R.T France wrote in his commentary on Matthew: “...when those who have been privileged to witness Jesus' ministry in their own communities fail to respond, they must expect to face a more serious judgment than the notorious pagan cities which had no such special revelation.” And I wonder if that same warning applies today: will the consequences for those who hear and reject the Gospel be worse than those who never heard it?

After these stark words of warning come some words of irony and then of comfort. It is ironic that the life saving truth of the Gospel would be withheld from the wise and learned of the world, while it is revealed to little children. As Jesus said elsewhere, one must become like little children to inherit the kingdom of God. And we know that Jesus loved the little children. There are plenty of wise and learned people who manage to argue themselves out of a saving faith. This is true in the academic seminary world, which is often called the last place you would want to go to become faithful! But there is no condemnation of the children. Ideally, children know how to receive love, after all. That is what we are called to do, whatever our ages.

Jesus concludes by extending a gracious invitation to all who are weary of heavily burdened to come to him, for he will lighten their load. That is an act of love. How will you respond to this invitation?

We have in these readings the balance between the amazing love and fierce judgment of God. Both of these are rooted in his holiness. There is nothing lukewarm or humdrum about God. It is all or nothing with him. Will you respond to the message in Scripture and embrace him as he longs to embrace you? He will give you what you most yearn for in life. He knows the deepest desires of your heart. If you are tired and weary, if you feel starved for love, God is there for you. Praise God for his wonderful love and grace. Amen.