14 May 2010
Psalm 85, 86; 1 Sam. 2:1-10; Eph. 2:1-10; Matt. 7:22-27

Hannah’s prayer is answered and she sings with joy to the Lord who has heard her and delivered her from barrenness. Is this the way we typically respond to answered prayer? After years of being scorned and taunted by her rival, the other wife of Elkanah for her failure to bear him children, God has granted her request and given her a child of her own, Samuel, whom she has promised to Him. Barrenness was interpreted as a sign that God had forsaken her, that she was somehow unacceptable to Him. The pride of a man and woman’s union was to be fruitful and multiply, obedience to the command. The ability to be fruitful is itself a blessing from God and in this failure, Hannah was rejected by God until the day came when she became pregnant. Realizing that God’s favor was on her after so many years of rejection was indeed cause for this type of celebration.

The key to this passage is the last word Jesus speaks in the first paragraph. Why would he deny knowing those who had done great things in his Name? The answer is the word “evildoers.” The people who did these things were evildoers and in their acts they are condemned. The parable makes clear that hearing Jesus’ words is not enough, acting on them, righteousness, right belief followed by right action. It isn’t enough to have good theological belief, we must act on what we have heard, be doers of the word and not hearers only. What we do matters and here Jesus says it matters eternally.

Our works proved who we really are and we were dead in sin before grace arrived. We have been mercifully saved by grace from the death our sins deserved. Without Jesus not one of us has any hope of eternal life. Nothing we had done or would have done merited the divine favor shown us, it was a sovereign choice and work of God. Paul says, however, “we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Living out our salvation, the new life we have been given as gift, is important.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.