Readings for the Day:
Original Manuscript:
There’s a show called The Good Place that goes on a journey with a group of characters through the afterlife. It takes many unexpected turns in the story, and as someone who is still working through the series myself, I will try to limit spoilers. Suffice it to say, there comes a point in the show where some of the main characters try to teach human ethics to a demon.
As part of these discussions, they try to teach the demon about the Trolly Problem. Basically, you have a runaway trolly that you can send down one of two tracks, one with a bunch of people and the other with just one. The problem is which track do you choose.
Later, as the demon becomes closer to the main characters, he finds himself helping them out of a tough situation. He tells one of the characters then that he’s figured out the solution to the problem. As he states, it’s simple really. The solution is you sacrifice yourself, and that’s what he does to let his new found friends get away.
It’s the same thing we see God do time and time again. We see it first today in Genesis.
What you may have missed in the reading are the particulars of Abram’s covenant with the Lord. They follow the common practice of Abram’s day by laying out two halves of animals for them to walk between. These halves represent what will happen to either party should they break the covenant.
The other thing you might have missed, because it is so subtle, is that only God walks between the animal halves. That means if either party breaks the covenant, only God will suffer the consequences. God is willing to sacrifice Himself for Abram.
God continues to be willing to sacrifice Himself for us in the Gospel today. In that reading, there are some Pharisees who wish to warn Jesus of the danger Herod poses to His life. Instead of running away from the danger, though, Jesus runs towards it. He heads to Jerusalem, knowing it is there He will die. Jesus could have avoided it, but He knows what His sacrifice means. He knows His death provides the path of salvation for the world. So He goes forward anyways.
God is the God willing to sacrifice Himself for our good. Even though God does no wrong, and we do a great deal that is evil, God takes on the punishment for us anyways. That is the depth of His love for us.
This is the reason for the Psalm this morning. It cries out in love for our Lord. It cries out with full Trust in God. We can rest easy knowing we are ultimately safe in our Lord, even with enemies all around, because God will be there to save us, even when we deserve to fall and even when the very thing we are being saved from is our own fault.
The depth of God’s love for us is that He is willing to sacrifice Himself for us. He is willing even to die. That is the love we are called to remember during this season of Lent. That is the love we are preparing ourselves to receive at Easter.