Christ Speaks to Forgetful Saints

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 1, 2016

James 1:22-25

Christ Speaks to Forgetful Saints

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Senior moment. Mind like Swiss cheese. Scatter brain.

We have many ways of remembering that we're forgetful. We forget where we put the remote, the wallet, the eyeglasses, the bills. I am currently still trying to find my keys, so if you've seen them, let me know, will you?

We complain about being forgetful. We're too busy, we're too old, we're too young to be expected to remember important things.

Here are some important things:

You shall have no other gods.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Honor your father and mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

We are forgetful sinners; we are forgetful saints. Even as forgiven children of God, we still forget these commands daily. It is well confessed by our liturgy:

For the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do.

We could say that last part: the good I have forgotten to do. So too often we are the ones described by James:

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (James 1:22-24 HCSB)

We hear God's Word today, and tomorrow we forget. In Christ's eternal presence of the world to come, we will never forget. We will remember forever. But until then, even with our best intentions of remembering, we will still always forget.

But there are things we can do to be less forgetful. When you forget your keys a bunch of times, you finally remember to try and put them purposefully in a dish by the front door. When you go in and come back, the keys go in and the keys go out.

Same with God's Word. When you fling God's Word around haphazardly, Christ will still find you and forgive you. But why not keep God's Word in the same place, even the same time, every day? You have a place for your keys; why not a place and time for God's Word?

Daily read God's Word. Recite a part of the Catechism (you could say the Ten Commandments, for example) and then take a few moments to compose a few short prayers asking for specific help for yourself and others.

O Lord, help me find my keys.

O Christ, keep me from losing my temper.

O Father, watch over my grandchildren.

This is why Jesus said:

Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:23b-24 HCSB)

When Jesus speaks to you every day and you in turn speak to His Father, you will see more clearly the good works He has prepared for you to do.

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25 HCSB)

I might not find my keys. Tempers still will be lost, but sometimes they will be found. Some grandchildren have great parents, others less so. But for forgetful saints, forgetful believers, daily seeing the Commandments of our Lord and seeing our sins and our evil shows us daily our Savior. And in this remembering that our Savior Jesus has purposely forgotten our evil is where our joy is made complete.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21