Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (Ps. 51:1-13)

For Who?

            Why? Why did you let that happen? Why didn’t you stop him? Why are you doing this? Why, God? It’s a question I think we’ve all had at least at one point in life. Why? It’s the one question we would love to know, but feel like we never have answered. Why? Because he can? Because he’s God? Because that’s just how things are? No. These answers have never satisfied us when we feel like we’re drowning under the weight of this world. For as we begin our Lenten journey, I want to propose a simple question that we’ll seek to answer over the next several weeks. Why? Why have you let us struggle in our sin, suffering loss? Why did you send Jesus the way that you did? Why did you do the things you did? For we’ve come here in solemn gathering to remember that life isn’t the way it was meant to be. We suffer in this life in various forms because of the brokenness of our world. It was in sin that we were conceived and in sin do we bring forth children. It’s all this fallenness and sin that has caused us to ask the question, why? Why let us continue on in such suffering when you can make things right? Why has my life had to take so many twists and turns so that I’m left questioning your role in my life? Of course, we’re not the first ones to ask such questions. We’re not the first ones to struggle with such weighty topics. Rather, this is our common human experience.

            For let us consider tonight then, our question, why? Why does God let us suffer? For the answer isn’t because of anything God has done, but rather because of what we have done. We have sinned and done what is evil in God’s sight. We have done only what was necessary “for us.” Thus, tonight, let us come before God in humble contrition as we say:

HAVE MERCY ON ME, O GOD!

I.

            It’s about me, me, me. It’s always about me. Indeed, if we’re going to answer the question honestly then we need to be straight with ourselves. Every time we look out at the world and wonder, “why is there so much evil?’ It’s because of me. My sin. My mistakes. You may not be the one pulling the trigger in a murder. You may not be the one stealing from the store. But understand that none of us are truly innocent in this life. For our common human experience has never been seeking to improve other people’s lives without us getting something out of it. Rather, it’s regularly asking the question, “What’s in it for me?” Yes, the same evil that we regularly see out in the world is right inside all of us.

If we do this for earthly things, then understand how much more we do this with God. For most people will look at Christianity as a set of rules to follow, a pattern of life, expectations, etc. But people then say to God, “What’s in it for me?” For so, we get Jesus’ teaching from Matthew, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 6:1. People will regularly treat faith as a means to an end. I’ll believe so long as it benefits me, as long as I can make friends, as long as it helps me in business, as long as I get something out of it. For looking good isn’t the same as being good. This is why Scripture also says that your best works, your most charitable behavior, is nothing but filthy rags, or more literally, soiled undergarments (Isaiah 64:6). For even these can be done for selfish and sinful reasons. 

II.

            For so, we must confess that we’ve been selfish. We must tell God how we’ve fallen short of his holy law. We must admit how everything we’ve done has been “for me.” This is why we haven’t lived up to God’s word. This is why we suffer in this life. Just as King David says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,” Psalm 51:3-4a. This is why we must ask for mercy. We must plead before God that he act with mercy towards us. For mercy is the act of not punishing us as we deserve. He withholds the consequences of our actions rather than letting us suffer them. For this is the first part of the answer to our series question. We suffer in this life, not because God makes us suffer, but because we do. It’s because of our general human sinfulness that we see so much evil in our world, why we suffer harm both physically and emotionally. It’s because in our sin we’ve walked away from God, away from his goodness and holiness. We’ve run away from him so that we’re lost now in the wilderness of sin and the shadow of death.

            Why? It’s the question that keeps coming up. Why is life like this? Why did this happen and not that? Why? Consider then these words, “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,” Joel 2:13. Despite our worst sins, despite us seeking only our wellbeing, despite us running away from God, God is still seeking after you! This isn’t the life he wanted for you either. Rather, he desires to lavish you with his gifts. He desires you to return to him. For he has had mercy on us. He hasn’t stretched out his hand against us in wrath, but in love. Thus, he calls us back. He calls us to seek after his will. Instead of working only for us, for our own interests, we start caring selflessly for others. Instead of asking, “What’s in it for me?” we can start asking “How can I help you?” “How can I serve God and his will?” For consider that everything God does is for us. Not himself. Even as we heard, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is the heart of Ash Wednesday, the answer to the great why question. Everything God does… he does for you. Because he loves you. Because he cares about you. Because you’re precious in his eyes and he wants to spend all of eternity with you. So, he sent Jesus. He placed your sins upon his own son. He forgave you even though you didn’t deserve it. And his mercy… yes, he acted in mercy towards you… because he carried out his wrath on his own son. God abandons Jesus on the cross, giving him your punishment, so that you would never have to suffer eternally.

            And yet, we ask again, why? Why do all this for me? This is the unfathomable love and compassion of our God that he acts not selfishly as we do in our sin, but rather, sacrificially offers up his son for us… because that’s who he is! He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love! In Jesus’ name! Amen!