Sunday,
September 7, 2008
17th Sunday After Pentecost
"A Second Chance"
By: Jim Van Der Wall
Around 1260 B.C., the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites who were living in their country. This was not a happy turn of events for the Hebrews. So God sent Moses and Aaron to convince Pharaoh to loosen his grip on the Israelites. Instead of freeing them, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. He did not heed the words of God's ambassadors. Therefore, in order to change Pharaoh's mind, God unleashed a series of plagues. They affected everyone - Egyptian and Israelite alike.
The first plague involved turning the water of the Nile River into blood. Surely, it was thought, this catastrophe would be an obvious sign of God's discontent and would cause Pharaoh to free the Israelites. But it didn't. So God sent a second plague. Egypt was overrun by frogs. Still Pharaoh didn't budge. God's third and fourth plagues were gnats and flies. Don't you hate it when bugs fill the air? But Pharaoh held firm. The fifth plague was diseased cattle. As a result, the food supply of the Egyptians was in jeopardy. But the Hebrew slaves remained Pharaoh's captives. The seventh plague was hail. The eighth plague was an explosion of the locust population. The ninth plague was darkness. And the final plague was the death of the firstborn in each household.
God
had a plan to spare the Israelites from the effects of the final plague.
It began with a specific meal. Each household was to slaughter a lamb. They
were to take the blood of the lamb and smear it on their doorposts. This
would signal the angel of death to "pass over" that household.
They were to eat the lamb along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Since they were going to leave in a hurry, the bread would not have time
to rise. Bitter herbs were added as a reminder of their experience in Egypt.
The Israelites wanted to leave Egypt. As they ate the Passover meal, their
hearts were hopeful. Moses was preparing their escape. God was giving them
a second chance.
When Sterling Green was my District Superintendent, he came to hear me preach. The title of my sermon that day was: "A Second Chance." After the service he commented that he loved the title of the sermon. It is a great phrase. Isn't that what we all want in life?
A friend was in the check-out line at the grocery store. The person in front of him was a single mom who was obviously trying to stretch her grocery dollars. As the total of her order increased, she was forced to remove a package of crab meat and set it to the side. The cost of that package was a budget buster. My friend had a thought: "Maybe I'll buy the crab meat for her." But then he thought further. "It's crab meat. She doesn't have to buy something that extravagant." And he decided not to make the offer. When she left, and he moved forward to the cashier, he saw that, along with the crab meat, she had also placed some essential items off to the side. "I should have gone with my instincts and helped her," he thought.
Ever happen to you? God was nudging him to assist her, but he didn't respond. He can't do anything now about that missed opportunity, except to learn from it. "If I had to do it all over again, I would have helped her," he thought. Here's hoping that God presents him with a second chance.
I attended mass with my brother and his wife in California. It was August and the school year was just around the corner. From the pulpit, the priest gave an impassioned plea. Some children attending Catholic school could not afford their uniforms. A special offering would be taken to buy uniforms for needy families. I was touched by the plea. What a great cause! But I was a United Methodist pastor. Surely God didn't want me to contribute to the Catholic school uniform fund. Or did he? I thought about my failure to contribute to that cause. I view it as a missed opportunity. Was I that narrow minded that I couldn't help little Catholic school children? Next time I will do better. I know God will give me a second chance.
One Sunday
my mother-in-law had a heart attack. She was rushed to Nanticoke Hospital
in Seaford, Delaware. They gave her nitroglycerin to make her comfortable
and then scheduled a stress test. The test revealed a blockage in one of
her arteries. The doctor recommended a cardiac catherization. During that
procedure, a long, thin flexible tube is used to remove the plaque that
has built up inside the artery, restricting the flow of blood. It is an
amazing procedure that rarely has any serious complications. It was a no-brainer.
Mom got the catherization. The blockage was eliminated and life continued
for her. The catherization gave her a second chance after her heart attack.
And isn't that what we all want?
Have you ever made a mistake? Have you ever said the wrong thing? Done the
wrong thing? The greatest gift anyone can share with us is the gift of a
second chance. I would love to be granted a few second chances. How about
you?
Or better yet, are you willing to offer any second chances?
That's what God's grace is all about. God says to us: "I choose to forgive and forget. Please try again. And this second chance I am offering will give you another opportunity." That's the good news. God chooses to forgive our sins. God's Holy Spirit then empowers us to do better. That's the Gospel message of a second chance.
