Jeremiah 33:14 – 16 / Psalm 25:1 – 9 / Luke 21:25 – 36
This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, November 28, 2021.
“THIS -OR- THAT,
OR BOTH?”
(Homily
texts: Jeremiah 33:14 – 16 & Luke
21:25 – 36)
Whenever
my wife as me a question which involves the word “or”, I often answer “yes”.
For example, when she asks, “Would you like chocolate or vanilla?”, I
answer “Yes”. Why would I want to choose between two good things like that,
after all?
Let’s
apply this somewhat humorous illustration to the two major themes that are
present in the Advent season (since we are at the beginning of Advent), and ask
ourselves the question, “Would you like a Lord who is gracious, full of
compassion, and the provider of all good things, or would you like a
Lord who comes in righteousness to judge the world, and to root out all causes
of evil and wrongdoing?”
Our
answer ought to be, I think, “Yes!”
Christians
have often fallen onto one side or the other of this double offering.
Sometimes, Christians want to have a Lord who simply gives them “good stuff”. A
good example of that view would be Marcion, who, in the second century,
believed that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was a different god
from the God of the Old Testament. Marcion said that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ is a god who simply wants to give us “good stuff”. Marcion then went on
to reject much of the New Testament writings, preferring instead to permit most
of St. Paul’s letters and excerpts from Luke’s gospel account.[1] (I
would submit to you that the spirit of Marcion is alive and well in our own
time.)
But
Christians have also chosen to concentrate on the judgment that our Lord brings
and represents. Those who set their sights on this aspect of our Lord’s
character can be found in the hellfire and brimstone messages of some
televangelists, for example, or in the medieval Church, whose vivid depictions
of eternal damnation and judgment are still to be found in the carvings and
statuary of many of Europe’s old cathedrals.
Choosing
one of the two aspects of our Lord’s character and our Lord’s coming (Advent)
among us over the other aspect puts us in an uncomfortable position.
If
we choose to believe that our Lord’s purpose is to simply shower us with “good
stuff”, then why should we bother to submit ourselves to the Lord’s scrutiny,
in order that the ways in which we all fall short of God’s standard of holiness
can be brought into line with that standard of holiness. Such an attitude can
lead to the idea that God is simply going to accept any and all of humanity, right
where we are, without change or amendment of life. That sort of a conception
lives by the name “universalism”. Sorry, there’s no support for such an
attitude or such a view in Holy Scripture, no matter how much we might want to
believe it’s true. It does matter that we pay attention to the ways in which we
fail to meet God’s desires for our ways of living. It does matter that being an
active part of the Church entails regular worship, regular study of the Bible,
an active prayer life, regular confession to God of the ways in which we fall
short, and putting our faith into tangible action. If all of these things
aren’t important, then it naturally follows that the Church isn’t important,
either.
Now,
it’s worthwhile considering what adherence to the other option represents.
If
the Lord is this thunderbolt-throwing Lord who only comes to judge and condemn
us, then I don’t know about you, but I’d want to run and hide somewhere. Purveyors
of this sort of a message (to the exclusion of the other side of the Lord’s
character) can be tempted to engage in manipulation, as they goad people into
coming to a relationship with the Lord by creating fear and anguish. (To be
sure, a healthy awareness of our own sinfulness is a necessary ingredient in
each of our relationships with the Lord.) The witness of the gospel accounts
doesn’t support the idea that our Lord ever used such tactics in His relating
to people.[2]
Mature
Christian believing and living involves the use of the word “Yes.”
We
say “Yes” to the idea that the Lord wants to shower us with all good things.
After all, that’s the ancient promise of Jeremiah, in our Old Testament reading
this morning, which assures us that God would provide a great blessing to His
people, a promise that was fulfilled in the coming of the Christ.
We
say “Yes” to the idea that the Lord comes to reveal by His righteous light the
ways in which we live in darkness still. But when the Lord’s light is cast upon
us, it is always with the idea that redemption, reformation, and amendment of
life is the goal, not destruction and being cast away from God’s presence.
That’s the message of our reading from Luke this morning, which places before
us traditional biblical language of judgment. The Lord is coming in judgment,
in the fulness of God’s time and in the way that God will choose.
A
healthy balance is necessary to the mature Christian life, a balance that isn’t
always easy to strive for.
May
the Holy Spirit enable and enlighten us to be able to say “Yes” to the two
natures we see in Christ.
AMEN.
[1] It was the challenge posited by Marcion that prompted the Church, in part, to consider just what was proper to include in the books of the New Testament.
[2] That said, the Lord was quite capable of bluntly putting before those with whom He interacted their shortcomings or the things in their lives that were less-than-pleasing to God. The Lord’s harshest condemnations were reserved for the chief priests, the Pharisees and the scribes, for they thought they had all the answers, and refused to see God at work in the things the Lord came to do.
