The Day of the Lord's Coming

The Rev. Margaret Watson

Jeremiah 23:23-29 | Psalm 82 | Hebrews 12:1-7 | Luke 12:49-56

Yeehaa! If I ever wanted to preach a sermon about hellfire and brimstone this is the weekend isn't it? Did you hear that? Did you want to listen to that? I know I did not. And all that storm business seems a little close to home this week doesn't it? There I sat with the naked siding on my garage saying, "Oh Lord, you always bring the Gospel home. Here it comes." Did we hear judgment? Did we hear division? I know many times that this Gospel and reference to God's judgment can be very uncomfortable. In my lifetime I have heard it said when people get sick, "Don't worry it must be God's will." I have even heard some Christians say that terrible day in September when the towers fell that it was God's will. God has judged us because we have moved so far away from his commandments. How can this be good news?

Let's hear this story in context. Two weeks ago, Jesus asked a young man desiring a just division of his inheritance, "Did I come to be a judge?" And last week we heard Jesus said, "It is God's pleasure to give us the kingdom." So how do we reconcile the statement of Jesus that he did not come to be a judge and the statement that it is God's pleasure to give us the kingdom _ how do we reconcile that hope and reconciliation with our own devastating experience of the world around us and hearing this Gospel as judgment.

Well, we can reconcile these readings. One way to do it as Paul says, to lay aside every weight, every sin, everything that keeps us wondering, so we can run with joy to what is set before us. How do we do that? To train as athletes train in the Olympics. We practice week after week, when we get up, when we eat a meal, when we go to bed, when we cross the street or drive our car. We practice laying aside everything that keeps us from the love of the Lord.

Another way to understand this Gospel is to hear the words that Jesus says not as a judgment but as a revelation, as a proclamation. You see, these heavy words that Jesus says are in quotations. And what is he quoting, this division stuff, father against son, mother against daughter, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law (oh have we lived that one out!), these words are from Micah and they are not about final judgment, per say, but about the Day of the Lord's coming. The Day that the Lord comes, all of our assumptions and preconceptions that we assume to be true will be turned inside out. It's that Gospel thing again, the topsy-turvy world where the poor become the richest people on earth and the meek inherit the earth. For those of us that sit comfortably in our homes, comfortably in our managed realms of responsibilities and power, this will be a devastating Day, because everything we think is true will be turned on its head. But think again: This isn't judgment, this is glory. This is the Day of the Lord's coming.

Do I have a historical example of this? Yes. A day when the world was turned inside out—about one hundred and forty years ago in our own Civil War. Depending on which side of the Mason/Dixon line you stood, it was a war about States' rights, or it was a war about slavery. Lincoln, from his seat of power, issued the Emancipation Proclamation; he put an end to slavery. He also said, "All you slave holders, we have days of amnesty for you to turn around, and we have help. We can do this thing together." What happened? North against South, one household, one nation turned against itself. Families turned against themselves, father against son, son against brother. Families were ripped apart. People who had lived together for generations were torn apart. How can we reconcile this? It was a turning upside down of the whole nation. Was it easy? By no stretch of the imagination. Was it righteous? Yes.

The Day of the Lord's coming. Jesus is speaking about that present Day because who else is he? He is speaking in the present tense. He is speaking about the cross and the reconciliation that is offered for all that stuff, all that weight, all that sin that keeps us from running freely to the joy that is set before us. The cross is the judgment. The judgment is that God suffers all things for us so that we may enter into that new life. The judgment is not something that is going to happen at the end of our lives, no matter the stories we tell each other about meeting Peter at the pearly gates. The judgment has already happened and the judgment is Jesus on the cross, and Jesus resurrected. Because you see, God does judge, but his love is even greater.

So run with joy and set aside those things, that weight, that sin. If we can struggle to discern our assumptions and preconceived notions of how the world should be, and stop trying to reinvent the world in our own image, and embrace that which is set before us, which is, as Christians, the reconciliation of the whole world to God's love; because ultimately, in Jesus, we know for sure that God's love is far greater then our assumptions about judgment.

I ask you to hold those things in your heart, and over the coming days as the storm broil, over the mountains and you think you know what is coming, stand aware. Put it aside and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide and inspire confident that the judgment has already occurred and we stand in grace and love by believing through the power of the Holy Spirit, in, by, and through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.