Thursday, May 14, 2020

Scripture for the Day
Genesis 6:5-22

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth…and the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth,and it grieved him to his heart.

It is difficult to escape the wrath and judgment of God in Genesis 6:5-6.

Actually, it’s impossible.

Of course, many of us would prefer not to consider such things. Many of us do not have a desire to think of God in this way – to think of God as one who seethes with wrath and judgment – to think of God as one who is sorry for creating us. Harsh. 

When it comes to the matters described for us in the opening chapters of the first book of the Bible, it is safe to assume that we would much rather focus on the receding flood of Genesis 8:1 and give our attention to the rainbow of Genesis 9:13 rather than focus on that which grieves the heart of God. I am reminded of the words of H. Richard Niebuhr, who wrote,

“(We want) a God without wrath who brought people without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.”

To be sure, the theologians among us would raise the conviction of our historic Christology. They would offer a word about how God’s wrath has been satisfied by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They would lift high the cross as the ultimate expression of God’s judgment and wrath. Romans 5:9 would appropriately be quoted:

Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

Yes! The Good News of the Gospel is this: we have been justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. His blood has justified us. We have been saved from a flood of eternal separation from God (traditionally called, “Hell”) not because of what we have done but because of what God has done in and as Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ.

But let us be clear on this point: just because our eternal salvation has been secured through the efficacy of Christ’s death and resurrection, it does not mean that the wrath and judgment of God have vanished. The cross and resurrection of Christ may have eternally satisfied the wrath and judgment of God, but they have not eternally silenced it. God may have promised never to destroy the earth again, but God never promised to cease grieving and judging the depravity of humankind. The wrath and judgment of God have not been amputated from God’s character lest God’s eternal existence be manipulated or changed. In other words, God will always be a God of both wrath and grace. God will always be a God of both judgment and forgiveness for all eternity.

I write such things because we must be mindful that God’s heart still grieves the wickedness of humankind. God has wrath and judgment for all that undercuts God’s mission of reconciliatory love.  And if God’s heart grieves such things, then our heart must grieve such things. If God’s wrath and judgment still flare up at human wickedness, then our wrath and judgment must be equally fanned.  

The wickedness of the killing of Ahmed Aubrey grieves the heart of God. 

The wickedness of supremacy narratives around race, gender, economics, nationalism sexual orientation, and religion grieves the heart of God.  

The wickedness of ideologies that strip human beings of their dignity, freedom, and self-sufficiency grieves the heart of God.

The wickedness of systems and individuals that continue to oppress, marginalize, and breed fear grieves the heart of God.

With serious self-reflection, the questions I have been asking myself these days are: Does this grieve my heart as well? Does it fan the flame of a righteous judgment within me? And what am I doing about it? How will I speak? Where will I stand? Will I be on the right side of history, which is another way to ask, will I be on the side of God?

If you find yourself asking the same sorts of questions these days, I would like to hear from you. I would appreciate learning about what God is calling you to do, and I would be pleased to share some of what I think God is calling me to do and what our congregation is doing about that which grieves the heart of God.

Email me at tsundermeier@firstpresatl.org.