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“Unbroken: God feels our pain and suffering”
Worship for March 23, 2025: the Second Sunday in Lent
IN-PERSON and ONLINE at 10:30 a.m.
The Rev. Matthew Emery, lead minister, preaching
Isaiah 55:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9
God becoming human in Jesus means God is deeply familiar with the pain and suffering of body, mind, and spirit. Jesus’ experiences of loneliness, sorrow, and betrayal alongside the pain of physical violence and death reveal that God suffers with and for us and all of God’s beloved creation. And it is in resurrection that God declares that divine love seeks to transform all that threatens to destroy that which God created.
In this week's reading from the gospel of Luke, we hear from Jesus clearly refutes the idea that suffering is deserved because of a person’s actions. Nevertheless, he uses the opportunity to reinforce the urgency of obedience. He then tells a parable that holds out hope that the timeline for ultimate judgment will be tempered by patience.
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