Fullness and Lent Pt 3

Anyone who understands grace as all getting and no giving, doesn't understand grace. The God who provides more than we could ever repay, still demands something from us. Just because it isn't equal to Christ's sacrifice, doesn't mean a sacrifice isn't required. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, "when Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die."

Exodus 23:15, Exodus 34:19, and Deuteronomy 16:16-17 are all passages that have to do with bringing sacrifices before God. In each of them, the same phrase appears:

No one is to appear before me empty handed.

But why? Why must we give to God who needs nothing?

For the simple reason that love demands response. For the simple reason that creation act in right response to its Creator.

And, as strange as it may sound, our inability to be right enough doesn't excuse us from trying to be right. The fact that our sacrifice is never enough doesn't make it unnecessary. The same hymn which says "nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling" also states "not a mite would I withold."

Our giving up and making sacrifices at Lent isn't simply about being filled with the presence of God, but also responding to that fullness, by being poured out as living sacrifices.

But what about the times God says "I desire mercy, not sacrifice", when He counts care for the poor as true fasting.

That gets us to what else Lent and emptying and fullness are about.

Deuteronomy 15:7-14 states that when those who are in need come to us we "do not send them away empty handed." Empty handedness is a no no with God. We are called to be people who give, give to God and give to others.

And why? That takes us back to out first Lenten meditation; because Christ gave himself up for us. Because God gave His only Son.

In Exodus 3:21, before God has freed His people from slavery, He assures them that He will cause the Egyptians to be favorably disposed towards them so that they "will not leave empty handed."

God's provision has always come first. Our giving at Lent, giving up, giving to God, and giving to others, all goes back to what He first gave to us. We must be willing to make this sacrifice and to live our "lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For [we] know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that [we] were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to [us] from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."