“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:2, ESV). Amen. Have you ever sat across the table from someone else, or right next to them on the couch, and wanted to touch them, but you couldn’t because they seemed light-years away? What got in the way? Was it some hurt you kept nursing? Some unconfessed sin? Was it something for which you blamed them—or your own inner shame? Whatever it was, they were so near and yet so far away, so far off out of reach that you were in danger of losing them. And maybe you did lose them.
Now consider this: Have you ever felt like God was distant and far away like that? Some of you may be in a spiritual “funk,” distracted by the things of the world, having a hard time focusing on God’s promises. Perhaps your prayer life is barely there, or even non-existent, because you can’t find the right words to say, and you’re not even sure if God is listening. For many of us, our guilt gets in the way of God’s grace. We look at our many sins and imagine there’s no way God could ever forgive us. Or maybe in a time of crisis, you’ve cried out like David and Jesus: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me…?” (Ps. 22:1; cp. Matt. 27:46). In times like these, there seems no way God’s love can reach us.
The early Church—a Jewish Church—had to overcome racism and fear before welcoming uncircumcised Gentiles (like the Ephesians) into fellowship (Acts 15). In our epistle, Paul writes to the church at Ephesus: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from… Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise…” (Eph. 2:12). At one time they had “no hope” and were “without God.” In a sense, before they came to Christ, the Ephesians were atheists because even if they worshiped the gods and goddesses of Greek religion, a “god” that can’t see or hear or speak is only as good as a dead god, and not really a god at all (cp. Gal. 4:8-9; Acts 19:26). And those who worship them are like them (Ps. 115:1-8).
Yes, at one time the Ephesians were “strangers and aliens” to God—but not anymore (2:19)! And so Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians and reminds them of their close connection to Christ. “Now in Christ you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). Jesus came and died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)—not just for Jews, but for Gentiles too! In his body, Christ healed the brokenness in the relationship between God and man by unifying God and humanity in his flesh (Eph. 2:16). “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (2:14, 17). Because of Jesus Christ and his forgiveness, the Ephesians had peace with God and each other. Nothing and no one could get in the way of their relationship with God ever again.
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There was a scribe, a student of God’s Word (something like today’s seminarians), who went and asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (Mark 12:28).
Jesus answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God…’” and “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself…’” (Mark 12:30-31).
But the seminarian felt a strange need to grade Jesus’ reply: “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that… to love [God] with all the heart…, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all… sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33).
To which Jesus nodded and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (v. 34). Not far—but not there quite yet. He still had a long ways to go. The scribe still believed his life depended on pleasing God, and as long as he was hung up on the Law, he’d miss out on the Gospel.
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As a teenager, I struggled to believe in God’s goodness and grace. All I knew about God was that he had impossible standards: all the rules and regulations and commandments I couldn’t keep (Eph. 2:15). Because of my selfishness, pride, and lust, I worried that God would never love me. How could he? My conscience accused me and said that because I was such a terrible sinner, I’d never be good enough to God. Sure, I kept going to church and reading my Bible in the hope of finding a loophole. But every time I left church, I felt worse than before I went because I knew I’d never measure up. God remained silent and distant—“far off” (Eph. 2:13). As long as I wrongly believed, like the scribe, that my relationship with God depended on doing and saying the right things, I’d never get anywhere with God.
Not until my senior year of high school, when I finally visited a Lutheran church, did I hear the Gospel for the first time. In the pastor’s preaching I heard the Good News that God’s love for me was unconditional because Christ died on the cross for my sins. I didn’t have to live a perfect, holy life to prove myself deserving. I didn’t have to speak in tongues or ask Jesus into my heart. I didn’t have to do anything except believe and receive God’s grace—and even that was a gift. As Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
In an amazing miracle of God’s love and grace, I discovered what I now know: God loves me and is with me always. More than that, Christ lives in me, dwelling in my heart (Eph. 4:17). God is not far away! And even if, at times, I struggle with loneliness and spiritual depression, I have Jesus’ promise that because of my Baptism, he is with me always—even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19-20)!
You see: No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done, you’re never too “far off” for the love of God to reach you. Let me tell you another story…
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There was once a rebellious young man who despised his father and demanded his inheritance even before his father died. It was a shameful thing to do. It was like telling his father, “Dad, I wish you were dead!”
And yet the father loved his son so much that he gave him his share of the estate anyway. The son went away to a “far country” and wasted his wealth (Luke 15:13), squandering it on wine and women and whatever other kind of worldliness you can imagine. Before too long he ended up drunk and penniless, sleeping in the gutter. One morning, he woke up hungry and hung-over. Finally coming to his senses, he decided to go home.
This prodigal son didn’t know what to expect, but as he stood by the side of the road sticking out his thumb like a bum, hoping for a lift, he practiced his apology: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-20).
Eventually, the young man got picked up and hitchhiked his way towards home. After what seemed like a million miles, he was finally let off at the end of the driveway. He was weary and travel-worn, but the sorrow in his heart weighed him down even more than his feet. He rehearsed his little speech one more time.
But “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). The son stammered out his apology, but the Father wouldn’t even let him finish his confession. Instead he just kept on squeezing him to his great big bear of a chest.
“My son was dead!” declared the father, “but now he’s alive again! He once was lost, but now he’s found!” (cp. Luke 15:23). He once was far off, but now he was near. And so the father threw a homecoming party for his renegade son.
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Dear brothers and sisters, know that you are never too far off for God’s grace to reach you. You are never too far gone for God to find you and bring you home. He never stops watching for you by the window and reaching out to you. Even if at one time you were lost and without hope—“and without God in the world… now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:12-13).
Nothing can get in the way of God’s love for you (Rom. 8:38-39). For while we were still far off, God came to us in the flesh of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Eph. 2:17). And he still preaches peace, even today, coming to us in his Word and drawing near to us by the blood he shed on the cross and pours out for you at this altar.
God is not distant. He’s never far away. God is here. And he draws near to you in the body and blood of his Son. You are “not far” from the kingdom of God (Mark 12:34). So stop keeping God at arm’s length! Let go of whatever is stopping you, and let Jesus bring you home. You will have no rest until you are home with Jesus. It’s not too far to go. So by the blood of Jesus, dear friends, draw near. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.