The Lord disciplines those whom he loves...

Text: Hebrews 12.11-17

The Lord disciplines those whom he loves...

I was among the last children to have been disciplined by corporal punishment.  In fact, despite a ruling by the European Court of Human rights in 1982, the UK Government chose to hold off from banning Corporal Punishment until just after I had finished my education, in 1986.  I think they may have feared the collapse of the education system if Kennar couldn't be whacked with a stick, now and again.  They were probably right. 

I'm pretty happy that caning has disappeared from our community life.  There really isn't much evidence that it did any good.   Certainly, my mates and I were perfectly capable of getting up to great mischief, even with the threat of the cane hanging over us!  

Real discipline, however, is about much more than the supposed control of naughty children.   Real discipline is about living a life that is framed, moderated and structured according to a 'discipline' - a set of rules of conduct.    To 'discipline' someone, is to encourage them (or try to force them) to accept the discipline - the rules, laws and accepted conduct - of the community.

It is perhaps too obvious, for such an educated congregation, for me to point out that the words 'discipline' and 'disciple' are intimately linked.  A disciple is someone who has accepted the teachings, rules and standards – the discipline - of a rabbi. 

In today's New Testament reading, the writer to the Hebrews is exploring what it means to come under the discipline of God.  Quoting from the book of Proverbs, he says this:  "My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts."

The writer to the Hebrews is encouraging his readers to embrace discipline, along with discipleship, and the life of Faith (which has been his focus in the previous chapter and a half).  He has just listed all the ways in which men and women of Faith have been guided and formed by the discipline of God.  He is telling his readers - including us - 'don't be surprised when God disciplines you too'.

Now at this point in any sermon about discipline, it may be common for some preachers to harangue their listeners about all the ways they fail to live disciplined lives.  It's easy, for the preacher, to pick the low-hanging fruit of Christian discipline, and to go on about the need for disciplined church attendance, disciplined prayer-lives, and disciplined giving.  Or - as I've said before - making every sermon a plea for coming to church more, praying more and giving more!  Even the writer to the Hebrews falls into the same preacher's trap, when he encourages his readers to "lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees".   (He's referring to the drooping hands of worship, and the weak knees of prayer).

But I'm not going to do that.  Worship, prayer and generous giving are fundamental to a life of disciplined faith.  But you know that already.  If carried out with discipline, day after day, week after week, those three disciplines have the power to utterly transform us, to make us true and faithful disciples.  But, you don't need me to tell you that.

Instead, let us ask what the writer to the Hebrews means when he says that "the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts".  He is suggesting that God, in fact, wields a metaphorical heavenly cane, over all his children.  He is suggesting that God actively applies discipline, in the old fashioned sense...that he permits things to happen to us which have the possibility of driving us back to the true path of Faith.

What can the writer to the Hebrews mean?

I think he is saying that God is intimately involved in all human life. - and that God can use the circumstances of life, the tragedies and the trials of life, to call us back to the Way.   I am not, for example, the first preacher to suggest that the Covid Pandemic could be one such act of discipline upon humanity.  I do not suggest, for a moment, that God has sent this pandemic among us.  That was our fault - our excess flying, our cutting down of habitats, our lack of political competence in how to handle it.  But God is present in the consequences of what we have allowed to happen.  Through what has happened, I believe that God is calling us to examine our lives, and to ask how far we have strayed from the paths of common sense, and yes, of faithful adherence to the discipline of faith.

God has told us, through Jesus and all the prophets, 'live simply' and 'do not covet'.  But we have said 'greed is good' and we've sprayed jet fuel and carbon into the skies for our personal pleasure.  

God has told us, through Jesus and all the prophets, 'do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth'.  But we have said, let's build massive ships to move our treasure all around the planet...ships SO massive that they get stuck in the very canals we've built to move them around!

God has told us, through the great story of Adam and Eve, that our task was simply to tend the garden, and take care of it.  But we have said, 'let us plough up the hedges, cut down the trees, wipe out the insects, for the gaining of profit, and the manufacture of frivolous toys and beauty products'.

God has told us, through the prophets and through Jesus, to offer healing to the sick.  But we have privatised our medicine, to make profits for shareholders, and to make medicine unaffordable to the poor of the world.

But through Covid, God has invited us to think again.  He has shown us how quickly we can act to find cures for illness - when we are sufficiently motivated to do so.  He has invited us to think about how differently it is possible to work, without the tyranny and waste of the daily commute.  He has asked us to find new ways of resting and taking holidays without burning up the skies with jet-fumes.  He has asked us to think about different ways of socialising without the pure hedonism of night-clubs and all-night bars.

God, through Covid-19, has been disciplining and chastising those whom he loves - us his children.  I wonder whether we are listening?  Or whether he's going to have to use an even bigger stick to call us back to the disciplined life of Faith.

Amen.