Zephaniah 3.14-20, Philippians 4.4-7, Luke 3.7-18
Bratton Clovelly, Sourton, Third Sunday of Advent, 16/12/2012
We believe in the Last Judgement. Our creeds affirm it; week by week we say together, ‘He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead’.
But such language might seem distant, disconnected from our lives, our loves, our hopes in a week when our judgements have mostly been on the level of who to include on this year’s Christmas Card list, or whether a grandson would appreciate an iTunes gift voucher more than a DVD box set.
So, do we believe in the Last Judgement? Our creeds affirm what the gospels teach us, that, after the Resurrection of the Dead and the Second Coming of Christ, every nation will be finally and eternally judged by God.
John the Baptist believed in the Last Judgement. That severe man had the prophets of old for company on his self-imposed wilderness exile, prophets like Zephaniah, who anticipated good times ahead for the exiled, oppressed people of Israel, in the judgement of God who said, ‘I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. [...] I [will] restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.’
In John’s view the Last Judgement was coming soon: ‘Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees’, he said, ‘every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’. And in John’s view the Judge who was coming soon is one who would judge in great power, great force, wielding a winnowing-fork ‘to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary’; burning the chaff ‘with unquenchable fire.’
The Last Judgement of John is a Last Judgement to fear. John’s Judge comes carrying tools of destruction. He comes wielding lethal fire. Those who want to escape that Judgement are motivated by the fear of death. Fear is the father of their good works, fear the impulse for their decent behaviour.
Is the Last Judgement of John the Last Judgement we believe in? Many people do. Many people believe that at the end of time we will each stand before the Great White Throne, where Christ will send us to either eternal life or an eternity in the lake of fire. Only His grace will save us, if we surrender and commit ourselves to Him.
But all this fear, and all this destructive fire: is the Last Judgement of John the Last Judgement we believe in? Or is the Last Judgement of Jesus something else altogether?
We know from the way the gospel stories unfold that John found it hard to understand Jesus, when he came. For he found that Jesus judged in quite a different way from the way John had foreseen it. John’s Judge came carrying the powers of death and destruction, in fearful fire. But Jesus the Judge renounced all such powers; he came as a child, came as a servant; he came as one prepared to give everything away in the cause of love and life; the fire he wielded was the gentle heat of God’s Holy Spirit.
Children and servants do have power to judge others. But it is of a different quality from the judgement of John. They judge from a position of vulnerability, their judgements are their response to the way that powerful people have dealt with them. And so a child will say, ‘I like my uncle, he always tells me stories that make me smile’. And a servant will say, ‘I can’t respect my employer because when I work extra hours he gives me no extra pay’.
These people judge in the way that Jesus judges, as he demonstrated when he said, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you [...]; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. [...] [For] just as you did it to one of the least of these my children, you did it to me’. (Matthew 25.34-36)
Jesus judges with a power of a different quality from the power of the judgement of John. Jesus relinquishes the power to destroy others and becomes a vulnerable one, exposed to the deathly powers of others, prepared to be destroyed, to give everything away in the cause of love and life. The Last Judgement of Jesus is something else altogether because it is not concerned with death. When it comes, it comes on the other side of death, death which he has overcome, and it carries the power of life in all its fullness.
Those who come to Jesus in repentance receive the promise which comes with forgiveness - that they have noting to fear at the Last Judgement. Their faith in Jesus has put things right. ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,’ writes Paul (Romans 8.1); ‘[You will be] blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Corinthians 1.18) [1]. Coming to him, regularly and often, in penitence and receiving his forgiveness releases us from the death sentence. No longer condemned in fear of death, it is a love of life which motivates those who place themselves under the Last Judgement of Jesus.
Jesus judges us in love, in self-giving generosity, in the gentle fire of the Holy Spirit. His judgement gives us the power to live. This is why Paul encourages the believers to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always [...] Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
In our wider culture there is currently a revival of interest in 1980s pop songs, and pre-eminent among them is one called ‘The power of love’ by the Liverpool group Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Now I expect that the members of Frankie would admit that, like the rest of us, they are are flawed prophets and moralists, but this song is of a high order indeed, and it clearly resonates with many people today. These are the words of its refrain:
The power of love / A force from above / Cleaning my soul
Flame on, burn desire / Love with tongues of fire / Purge the soul
Make love your goal [3]
Holly Johnson, who co-wrote the song, has said that ‘I always felt like The Power Of Love was the record that would save me in this life. There is a biblical aspect to its spirituality and passion; the fact that love is the only thing that matters in the end.’ [3]
In the end - here and now, and at the Last Judgement - love is all that matters. That is the spirit in which Jesus judges us. If we have faith in the Last Judgement of Jesus then our lives will be full, our good works will spill out from our hearts as they burn with the gracious fire of the Holy Spirit. We need fear death no more. There is no fear in love.
And so, make love your goal:
‘Let your gentleness be known to everyone,’ says St Paul. ‘The Lord is near.’
Notes
[1] Anthony C. Thiselton, The Last Things, A New Approach, p.176
[2] Frankie Goes to Hollywood Lyrics: The Power of Love.
[3] Wikipedia: The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood song)
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