Just As I Am – The Second Sunday in Lent

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.

We bring a lot of variables into the great equation of God’s plan. As we pray in the daily office, “Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.” Despite our best attempts to ruin God’s great plan for His creation, He overcomes our ignorance with His revelation; He cleanses our sin with His Son’s blood; and He takes us broken vessels and makes us fit for His honorable use, just as we are.

This truth is worth reminding ourselves of during the Lenten season when we wrestle with our sins that need exposing to the Light of Christ.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, Whose Blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come.

There are many a dark blot upon our souls. When one comes to Christ, you are found in the filth and stench of one’s sins. We must not forget that while we cry out that we are going to Christ, it is actually Christ who comes to us. Because without His strong arm pulling us out of the swamp of our sins, we could never move out of the pit we have dug. The only direction left for us in our sinful state is to dig deeper. The only way we can rise out of this pit is through clinging to our Savior who rises out of the grave.

Perhaps you find yourself trying to keep a holy Lent, yet failing miserably. You sink your hands into the muddy walls of the pit of your life and you claw but only sink deeper with the muck and mire between your fingernails. Rest, weary sinner, for Jacob’s ladder has come down to you. Let the One who spoke to Jacob take hold of you and haul you forth from the depths of the earth and back onto solid ground.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come.

Alas, maybe clawing your way out of the pit is not your trial, but you endure temptation with worldly doubt, satanic fears, and fleshly desires. Cast them out as Christ casts out the demon in today’s Gospel. Recall that faith is not substance to be measured as to whether we have enough, but is a grace and gift from God whose mere presence – even the size of a mustard seed – will move the mountain of your sin from the column of “death” into the column of life eternal.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind:
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come.

Shall we be honest for a moment? Lent done right is a dastardly thing. We see just how blind we are and how diseased we are by our multitude of sins and depravity. It can become so hopeless – but do not let it be. Remember your baptism. Remember your cleansing. Remember your faith is not within yourself but is in the King who bears the sin of the world upon His back. He is the King of gifts and has bestowed your faith in Him and your love for Him, and is redeeming you for charity towards God and your neighbors.

St. Paul writes the Thessalonians imploring them to remember the One who loves them and to flee from the sins of death and fling towards the sanctified life of righteousness in the Holy Spirit: “we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” (Epistle lesson, 1 Thessalonians 4:1, KJV). While we remember our sins and weep, let us not weep deeper into the pit of despair but instead rejoice that God has raised us up. We are led as an army of captives from death into the great heights of heaven by the triumph of Christ’s death, descent, and resurrection.

Shall we forget that, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” (Ephesians 4:8, KJV). Namely, when Christ ascended it was so His Holy Ghost might descend upon us. Yea, we are troubled by temptation and sinful flesh, yet today and in this Lent, we should not wallow in our past sins that are forgiven nor should we create new sins and crucify Christ again. No, we should put on the armor of God Himself and do battle.

Paul reminds us, “For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus,” they have not changed – but we have. (1 Thessalonians 4:2, KJV). For now, we have been given the Holy Ghost “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, KJV). Our bodies are renewed and have been sanctified in faith by Christ and through His Holy Ghost so that we who freely receive may freely give to our neighbors through the Gospel of peace we share with our mouth and the toil of our hands that we share with those in need.

Christ saved you just as you are, but He did not leave you as you are. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7, KJV). Therefore, let us not remain stagnant as the water in the pit where Christ found us, nor should we ignore the gracious gift of the Holy Ghost, as “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 4:8, KJV).

Therefore, let us pray to the Lord who helps those who cannot help themselves:

Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect of the Day).

Just as I am: Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come.

Lent is a long haul and is a warfare of the soul that seeks to subdue the body to glorify God. However, perhaps your soul and your body have taken quite the beating. Maybe you feel distant from the Lord, aloof, far off, even a foreigner to the Almighty Father?

Do not stop seeking the Lord, for He shall never stop seeking and searching you out. We need to be reminded, and this is why we keep praying every day during Lent our first collect of the season:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (Collect of the First Day of Lent, Ash Wednesday).

Keep this prayer on your lips. Memorize it. Return to it daily in Lent and throughout the year because you are never too far off to be a foreigner to God’s mercy. The prodigal son could not outrun the distance of his father’s grace – neither can you. The foreigner to Israel’s covenant cannot be separated from God’s salvation either. The Gentile woman of faith learned this firsthand in today’s Gospel. The non-Jewish mother approaches Jesus and despite her lack of Abraham’s blood, she bore within her something more precious: Abraham’s faith.

The woman of Canaan, an outsider to the Mosaic covenant, approached the throne of grace – Jesus – and “cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” (Gospel lesson, Matthew 15:22, KJV). But behold, “he answered her not a word.” (Matthew 15:23, KJV). Perhaps you are residing in a time and place where it seems God does not hear you. At least, it appears as though God is deaf, or at best not listening. To rub salt in a wound, perhaps even some in the Church wish to turn their backs on you, saying like the disciples, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.” (Matthew 15:23, KJV).

Do not let ignorant disciples dissuade you. Do not let the silence of God translate into thinking God has neglected you. The same God who heard Israel’s cry as slaves in Egypt is the same God who hears your plea. Keep praying and keep crying out like this Canaanite woman, for God is never deaf to your cry. Christ too cried out for long hours in a silent Garden of Gethsemane. But eventually, the Father spoke, and Christ was obedient. Because of Christ’s obedience, He heals us and is healing us from the broken world, our disordered affections, and our rebellious hearts that plague us.

The continual cries of this mother might have been ignored by the disciples, but Jesus eventually turned and answered her, though not with what she had hoped: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24, KJV). Such a response from the Lord Jesus should slap up sober. Too often in the Church, we hear preached a Jesus who conforms to our sensibilities but this response offends our sensibilities. We wonder, why would Christ respond so harshly? After all, should not Christ and His disciples be amazed that this Gentile recognizes Jesus as the Son of David who has the power to cast out demons? Yet Jesus tests the faith of the Gentile mother in addition to the faith of His Jewish disciples. Is salvation limited to the blood of Abraham? No, it is to the Jew first, but it is also to the Gentile. This Gentile woman responds in faith, “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.” (Matthew 15:25, KJV). This Gentile woman falls down in worship – something no Jew has done in Matthew’s Gospel. She cries aloud for the Lord Jesus to have mercy upon her. Perhaps you too are praying this prayer in your present sufferings, afflictions, trials, and tribulations. You do well. But again, we so-called moderns are shocked when Christ replies, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast to dogs.” (Matthew 15:26, KJV). Does this woman give up? Does she take offense to being called a dog? Does she turn away? No, unlike St. Peter who denies Christ thrice, this woman keeps her eyes set on Jesus and for a third time professes faith in Christ, stating, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” (Matthew 15:27, KJV).

Incredible words from a humble mother. She does not deny but confesses what our Lord Jesus has said is all. She is a dog, indeed we all are. But are we dogs unworthy because we remain in the filth of our sins or are we “a dog for my Lord,” as The Hillbilly Thomists sing? This humble confession that this dog will wait for grace and salvation and enjoy the meager crumbs that fall from the table of grace results in our Lord Jesus praising her, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” (Matthew 15:28, KJV). Throughout the tortured prayers of this Gentile saint, the silence of God is broken by the answer of the Lord Jesus, “And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:28, KJV).It is no wonder that Thomas Cranmer crafted the Prayer of Humble Access for us forgiven sinners to remember who we are, dogs invited to the table of our risen Lord every time we commune with Him in the Lord’s Supper:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body, and our souls washed through his most precious Blood, And that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. (The Prayer of Humble Access).

Persist in prayer like this Canaanite saint who refused to give up petitioning her Lord, and our Lord, for His mercy. Despite the silence of Lent, faithfully and charitably spend your love on others, just as our Lord spreads out His love for us on the Cross. For though we sit in silence, soon we shall hear the joyful trumpet of our Lord’s return. Albeit for a moment there is emptiness, soon it shall be filled with the roars of rushing waters. The deaf and mute space shall be filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind. The peal of thunder draws near, it cracks as the Father sees the Son’s sacrifice upon the cross and shall echo once more when Lo! the Son comes with clouds descending. Wherever you are, and whoever you are, simply come as you are, for the Son of God has come for the low and meek in order to raise them to be Sons of God.

Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come.

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