February 17, 2011

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:11-12)

Pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring Training, and before we know it the competitive 2011 version of America's Greatest Pastime will be underway. I would imagine that it's safe to say that most of us know the basic rules of baseball, but I will be the first to admit that I have no clue how to score a game and also probably couldn't be considered an expert at analyzing any of baseball's detailed statistics. One statistic that I do know is important however, when judging a player's worth in the game of baseball, is batting average. How many times out of a thousand does a player get a hit? Hitting "1000," would be perfection. Today in the Bigs, if you hit in the "300's," (or 300 times out of a thousand you get on base) then you are considered an All-Star batter. From this baseball jargon comes the sarcastic slang phrase, "I'm sure batting a thousand today..." Which really means that I'm failing at everything I'm attempting today and I'm just striking out at everything I swing at today.

After looking at the Old Testament Lesson and the Epistle Lesson and the Gospel Lesson for this upcoming Sunday (Epiphany 7), I got the sense that these passages were heavy on Law and light on Gospel. Finally in the Psalm of the Day, Psalm 103, I found the gorgeous glorious guarantee of the Gospel in the verses we are considering above.

The Old Testament Lesson tells us to, "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2). After looking in the mirror it's not hard to see that our own holiness doesn't even compare to the holiness of the LORD our God - it's a swing and a miss for all of us. The Epistle Lesson speaks to the fact that our bodies are temples of the Holy spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) After looking in the mirror we might remember all the times we used, or rather misused or bodies as though they were our own - this too is a swing and a miss for us. The Gospel Lesson speaks to the fact that we should be loving not only our neighbors and those who treat us well, but also our enemies and those who don't treat us well. After taking an honest look in the mirror we might see ourselves doing things to both our enemies and our neighbors that couldn't be considered anything other than hateful - another swing and a miss. The Gospel Lesson closes with the command to, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) and we don't even need to look in the mirror to know that we're swinging hard and missing hard on this one. When we used these passages as a mirror to see how we look, and compare that to how we should look, we will quickly realize that when it comes to what God demands of us in these passages that sarcastically speaking, "we're sure batting a thousand!" The apostle Paul realized this very same thing: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. What a wretched man I am!

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:18,24,25) Because of His immeasurable love, God didn't leave us on our own to keep swinging and to keep striking out. He put in a pinch-hitter, His only Son Jesus, who actually could, and actually did literally "bat a thousand," - as he lived a perfect life for us, in our place. And then because He died on the cross and rose victorious from the grave, we are now the winners. Jesus took all our transgressions and knocked them not only out of the infield, not only out of the playing field, not only out of the park, but knocked them to infinity and beyond! Our transgressions are removed, forgiven and forgotten. When God looks at the "Jumbotron" for the replay of our at-bat, He doesn't see all of our swings and misses. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25) Jesus gives us a new uniform, as he clothes us in robes of righteousness, so that when God looks at the replay He sees us in our new uniforms ,totally right with Him, literally "batting a thousand." "I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.." (Isaiah 61:10)

The more we look into the mirror of God's Law, the more we will see and realize how often we whiff - how often we swing and miss. The Law forces us to easily realize that when it comes to obeying God's commands that we are sarcastically speaking: "really batting a thousand." (this of course doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep swinging - God gives us the strength to hit some pitches and conquer temptations- which is a topic for another devotion)... But the more we look at the perfect play of God's Gospel, the more we will see and realize how awesome it is that the only person who could literally "bat a thousand" when it comes to following God's commands - Jesus - has hit perfectly. And through the gift of faith in Jesus, His perfect record is ours. Thanks be to God that in His immeasurable mercy and grace for us, He put in the pinch-hitter Jesus, who has knocked our transgressions so far out of the park and away from us, that they are now even out of God's sight.