Who Are Those Wailing People?
A reading from Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, by Mthr. Fleming Rutledge
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7)
Something has happened. John’s preaching has set it in motion. With the announcement of John, the world begins to turn on hits hinges. The final reckoning is going to take place. The Judge of all the universe steps on the scene. With every bit of earnestness I can muster, I ask you to imagine this picture and to think of the secrets of your heart. Not someone else’s secrets, but your own—your secrets that you will bring before the throne of God. The Judge confronts us.
But it is not as we feared. The face of the Judge is marked with infinite compassion and infinite suffering. His hands and feet are torn by spikes driven in with violent blows. His brow is pierced by the crown of thorns, and his expression bears the tokens of utmost humiliation. The judgement has already happened. It has taken place in his own body. The Son of God has bourn it all himself. The Judge who is to come has given himself to be judged in our place, “to save us all from Satans power when we were gone astray.”
Reflection
By Mrs. Barbara White
Prophets tell us things we don't want to hear. In this passage, Mthr. Rutledge describes a warning of the prophet John the Baptist. His warning is something that modern Christians like to forget: Christ will return as our judge.
This makes us very uncomfortable. We know that God’s judgement will be just, that “with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:4), but that doesn’t mean that we are off the hook. We have harmed the poor and meek. We have done (and left undone) things that deserve judgment. We have hurt those closest to us. We have put ourselves above God’s will for His people and His world. We have Crucified the Son of God.
And this, as Mthr. Rutledge tells us, is the wonderful mystery of the Cross: the one who is returning to be our judge has already received the death sentence that was due to us. The one who will judge us knows the secrets of our hearts, because those dark secrets left their mark on His body. And so on that day when Christ returns I think we will fall down before the throne of the Judge, but out of thanksgiving, not fear. Who could bear to stand under the loving gaze of one who was willing to bear what Christ bore?
Connection
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Take a picture of your home Advent wreath and send it to news@saintlukesauburn.org! If you haven't found the time to observe Advent at home, there's still two weeks of Advent left! Come by the church office and pick up materials this week.
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.