Extravagant Love
Lent 2C
Genesis 15:1-12; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
2/28/10
Lorraine Ljunggren & Jim Melnyk

        I wonder how many of us have fallen in love – the head-over-heels, lost-to-the-world, can't-get-the beloved-out-of-our-mind, kind of love? If we haven't ever come close to that, maybe we've experienced it in a novel or a motion picture or in the lines of a poem. If we have, then we've come face-to-face with the extravagance of love. It's when the reality of another person's worth – another person's well-being – another person's presence in our life is so compelling that the rest of the world seems to recede into the background for a time.

        Simply put, the sacred stories of our faith – the words we turn to time and again to catch a glimpse of God – the words we turn to time and again to find some semblance of meaning in our lives – these sacred stories are stories about God's love for us. The stories of our faith are stories about the extravagance of God's love for us! To read the Holy Scripture in its fullness is to come face-to-face with a God who is, indeed, head-over-heels, lost-to-the-world, can't-get-you-out-of-my-mind, in love with us. And as we read through this witness of God's love for us we can see it in all its glory – in everything from the tantrums to the love poems, from the promises to the pleading, from the wooing to the arguing, from the sweet talk to the yelling – all of it on both of our parts, we might add!
        
        The extravagance of God's love – it's the kind of love that takes Abram by the hand and walks with him under the midnight canopy of stars and promises a legacy of children and land – who promises fruitfulness in the midst of ancient barrenness – who promises the lushness of life in the midst of wilderness – who seeks to banish Abram's fears. God is the one who reaches out to make the promise – God is the one who initiates an ancient ceremony whereby the two of them enter into what will be an everlasting covenant of love and fidelity. And, though trials may lie ahead, so do trials enter into any relationship of love. But God doesn't skimp on the love which sets into motion a relationship which still bears witness to this day of just how far God is willing to go to be in relationship with us.

        We can look at the likes of Paul who is so sure of his theological views that he is willing to see others die to protect those views. And yet, the extravagance of God's love opens Paul's eyes to a way of being, to a citizenship that transcends anything this world has to offer – a citizenship that transforms and sustains Paul even in the midst of his greatest trials. Paul comes to understand that in and through God's love we humans can live in a fullness of life that worldly powers and temptations cannot equal, much less surpass. So, across time, Paul calls us, as he did the church in Philippi, “…to stand firm in the Lord…” It is there we will come to learn more and more what true and lasting love is.

        The extravagance of God's love for us can be found in the witness of Jesus, who like a mother hen yearns to gather us all under the wing and protect us from the dangers of this world. When some of the Pharisees warn Jesus that one of those dangers in the person of Herod is out to get Jesus, the response might not surprise those of us who know the whole story of Jesus' life. But, imagine, if you will, a longer response by Jesus than Luke's Gospel gives us: “You tell that old fox Herod, that this mother hen isn't afraid of him one bit! You tell that old fox that I am going about the work God has given me to do – and nothing – absolutely nothing he thinks he can get away with will stop me from proclaiming the promise of God's reign. Nothing,” says Jesus, “nothing that old fox can do will stop me from caring for the very people he's supposed to be caring for as a shepherd of the flock of Israel!”

        Either way, the message of Jesus is straightforward and very clear. Even as he makes his way towards Jerusalem, with its great palaces and fortresses, gardens and a colossal amphitheater endowed by Herod, Jesus' ministry of healing and restoration goes on. (Synthesis, p. 4, 2/28/10) Herod may be a master-builder with bricks and mortar, but Jesus is a master-builder with healing, compassion and justice. Herod may be able to muster soldiers with their weapons, but the kin-dom of God, the kingdom of God, the reign of God isn't made from iron and steel, but from kindness, forgiveness, and love.

        In retrospect we can say to Herod: for all your wealth – for all your power – for all your influence – for all your craftiness and sly cunning – for all that you stand for that oppresses your own people – you cannot ultimately stand against the extravagance of God's love! You, Herod, cannot even imagine the lengths to which God will go to protect God's creation.

        The other day I read a moving excerpt from the writing of Lutheran professor David Zersen regarding an experience he had while in Tanzania:

        “This last fall,” Zersen writes, “I spent several months in Tanzania where each day and night I passed the chicken house on the way to and from the campus where I taught. Regularly, the mother hens had new broods of downy chicks that stayed close as they pecked around in the grass. At night, one by one they climbed under her breast and you could see nothing but the hen on guard, her chicks lost somewhere under her feathers. When a fox attacked at night, she could not run away. Not a mother hen! She bared her breast and the fox took her first. In the morning, there was nothing but clusters of feathers here and there, and little chicks running around on their own.”

        Zersen goes on, “The mother hen represents a new form of power and leadership, the one for others, the servant leader, the one whose extravagant love considers the welfare of her own foremost. Thus the means of survival over against the attack of the wily foxes of this world is provided not by retaliation or brute force,” concludes Zersen, “but by gathering the innocent, the victims, into a community in which the love of the mother hen lives on even after her death!” (Synthesis, 2/28/2010).
        
        Such an extravagance of love, my friends, is the love of Jesus the Christ. Jesus teaches us a form of power and leadership unlike that the world would have us believe is best. Jesus is one for others – Jesus is one for us. The servant leader, Jesus, is one who puts others foremost. Jesus shows us the way of God isn't found through brute force or coercion; it isn't through retaliation or deceitfulness, that the promises of God are fulfilled.
        
        The way of God is found in loving as God loves – in loving ourselves in like manner and in loving our neighbors as extravagantly as God loves us. We are to translate this love into extravagant action – whether it be insuring local food pantries are full or kids in need of help have tutors, whether it be literally working for affordable housing or being an advocate for affordable, accessible health care, whether it be preserving diversity in our schools or bringing about just immigration policies, whether it be eradicating racism or establishing equity in hiring.
        
        As we wind our way along the pathways of life this Lent, may we keep foremost in our hearts and minds that we are called to lives of healing, compassion, and justice, of kindness, forgiveness, and love. It is only in these ways that the kin-dom of God, the kingdom of God, the reign of God will be made real in our time.
        
        May God bless us with the faith of Abram, the willingness of Paul to be transformed, and the extravagant love of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

©2010 Lorraine Ljunggren & Jim Melnyk