The Spire Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church March 2016
Some say he lived an ordinary life. He certainly lived well and accumulated many things highly prized in this life. After his death, however, when his affairs were settled, he found himself in Hell. His friends, concerned about his sad, though some thought well-deserved fate, went down to Hell, and were moved by the man’s misery and cries for help. They rattled the great iron gates, calling out to whomever might be listening, “Let him out! Let him out! He was our friend and a decent chap!” But their pleading accomplished nothing, and the great iron doors remained locked shut. Distinguished dignitaries were summoned, powerful people, intellectuals, prominent personalities and celebrities of all kinds. All of them stood at the gates and put forth many plausible reasons, explanations and excuses why the man could not be held responsible. Some said that due process had not been followed in the man’s eternal sentence. Others said he should not be held accountable for being born in such a corrupt society, while others argued that Hell was only an illusion created by a weak mind. Still, the great iron gates remained strong and unmoved. In desperation, the man’s pastor was summoned. The pastor approached the gates of Hell, fully robed as if he were to lead a great Sunday requiem. After an appropriate liturgy and eloquent eulogy was read he cried out “Let him out! He was not THAT bad after all. Why I remember he came to church regularly twice a year, he even contributed to the church building fund and once he served on the church council! What more can you ask for? I demand that you “Let him out!” But the gates were deaf and stood fast. Their judgment was final, secure and absolute. Then, after all the friends and mourner finally departed the seemingly hopeless situation, the man’s aged mother appeared at the gates. She stood there, stooped and frail, tears filling her eyes and only able to whisper softly, in maternal love, “This is my child. Please, let me in.” Immediately the great gates of Hell snapped on their hinges and collapsed before the awesome power of such love. It was not logic, liturgy, or legal wrangling that freed us from a lonely existence, separated from love and all that is good, but the overwhelming sacrificial love of God our Father. Easter is our Father’s cry from the Cross to a lonely people shut behind iron bars created in their hearts, “Let me in.” CS Lewis captured it best when he wrote, “In the long run, the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is... a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that that is what He does.” “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.” Luke 4:8 (NIV) I hope to see you Easter Morning!