March 21: I Shouldn’t Have Done All That
Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:12-33
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
In her book Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris tells the story of working as an artist-in-residence at a parochial school. She taught children how to write poetry using the Psalms as a model. One little boy wrote a poem entitled, “The Monster Who Was Sorry.” He began by admitting that he hates when his father yells at him. His response (in the poem) was to throw his sister down the stairs, and then to wreck his room, and finally to wreck the whole town. The poem concludes, “Then I sit in my messy house and say to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have done all that.’”
“My messy house” says it all, Norris observes, “With more honesty than most adults could have mustered, the boy made a metaphor for himself that admitted the depth of his rage and gave him a way out… he was well on his way toward repentance, not a monster after all, but only human. If the house is messy, why not clean it up? Why not make it into a place where God might wish to dwell?” (from Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter)
Jeremiah ministered to the people of Judah during a time leading up to and just after they’d been taken into exile. As you may remember from our preaching series on the Minor Prophets, God had called his people again and again to repent and obey; to put off false gods and idols and to seek him with their whole hearts. He had warned them of impending exile if they refused.
Amid the doom and gloom and warnings, God often gave glimmers of hope. Sometimes it was the hope of what would happen if they turned back to Yahweh in the immediate future and sometimes it was a promise of what God would do in the farther future when he sent Messiah to the earth.
God promised judgment upon Israel and Judah because, like the little boy, they had made a mess of everything. But instead of cleaning it up, they chose to sit in their messy lives and continue in their disobedience. Instead, they kept at it until they were exiled.
Any time, but especially during Lent, we are invited to purse God in prayer, self-examination, and repentance. It is a time when we sit in our messy houses/lives and honestly speak to God about our mess recognizing the blood of Jesus washes us clean and His Holy Spirit can keep it that way.
God told Jeremiah about his people: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Through his Spirit, we have God’s Law on our hearts. It’s part of how we begin to see the disarray of our lives. We don’t like admitting our house/life is a mess. We find ways to work with and around the mess of our sins and destructive patterns. We may have a vague sense something isn’t quite right, but we need the Holy Spirit to help us stop rationalizing it and to stop defending it.
Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. It is God’s Spirit who can clean up our mess and guide us in how to live so our hearts become a place in which Jesus feels at home.
It all starts with taking time to look into our hearts and to examine our lives and to be willing to admit, “I shouldn’t have done all that.” This is the beginning of repentance and the Spirit’s cleaning up our mess!
Questions for Reflection
Set aside some time this week to ask God to show you places you have made a mess. Look at the different components of your life: family, work, church, friendships, faith. Are there places you need to confess, “I shouldn’t have done all that?” Take time to confess to God your sin and messiness.
Remember the words of 1 John 1:9, 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank God for his forgiveness.
Sometimes our sin affects other people. If your mess has hurt someone else, ask God to give you the courage and the grace to go to them to ask forgiveness and make things right.
Readings for this week:
March 22: Isaiah 43:8-13; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11
March 23: Isaiah 44:1-8; Acts 2:14-24
March 24: Haggai 2:1-9; 20-23; John 12:34-50
March 25: Deuteronomy 16:1-8; Philippians 2:1-11
March 26: Jeremiah 33:1-9; Philippians 2:12-18
March 27: Jeremiah 33:10-16; Mark 10:32-34; 46-52
March 28: Psalm 118:1-2; 19-29; Mark 11:1-11