At
this time of the year before Advent begins, the readings always focus
on the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. We do this
because it was one of the things that Jesus taught. Jesus taught that
he would come again and that when he does come it will be for a time
of judgement. All people will be judged. Each week we say in the
Creed, ‘He will come again to judge the living and the dead’.
It can be
tempting to discard what we don’t understand, especially if it
sounds a little silly. The idea of Jesus appearing in glory and
coming on the clouds to judge the world may seem hard to swallow.
However, it would be a great mistake on our part if we began to just
take the parts of Jesus’ teaching that ‘make sense’ and leave
the other ones. Perhaps a better approach is to say we accept all his
teachings, but we don’t understand many of them. ‘I don’t
understand, but I believe.’ That’s what faith is.
If the Lord is
to come to judge the living and the dead, it implies two things:
First, that there must be a heaven and a hell. Otherwise there would
be no point in judging us if it were going to make no difference.
Heaven is the total happiness that being in the presence of God will
bring. This is something that we cannot understand, because we have
no experience of it yet, but this will be the most complete happiness
we could ever know and this is what God has planned for us; that is
what He wants for us and God will make that happen unless we
consciously and deliberately reject God.
Then there is
the total loss of God for those who reject him, and this is hell, the
loss of everything that can bring happiness. Jesus has taught us that
this is real, otherwise it would make no sense that we have free
will, the power to accept or reject God.
The second
thing that the Lord’s coming implies is that we will have to make
an account of our lives to God. We will be held accountable for our
actions. I often think that when we hear about so many of these
tribunals which cost millions and show the wholesale corruption that
goes on, it can be very frustrating, because the people who get away
with the most never seem to have to pay, either because they are
powerful enough, or because of the legal system. They always seem to
get off the hook. It’s wrong and it happens every day. But if a
young person steals something from the local supermarket, you can be
sure he or she will be brought to court and they’ll pay for it with
a fine or with jail time. Yet even the rich and powerful must
remember that their power and wealth won’t be with them when they
die. They too will have to give an account of themselves to God
and nothing is hidden from God. I find this consoling, not because I
wish evil on anyone, but because at least I know that in the end
there will be justice.
Is this a
reason for us to be afraid? Of course not, unless we are deliberately
trying to fool God. If we try to live as the Lord teaches us
and make even the smallest effort, then we have nothing to fear. If
we just get on with the day to day tasks that we are presented with
and try to be honest before God, then we have nothing to worry about,
because this is what Jesus teaches us. The fact is that we are all
sinners, we all fall short of the mark and none of us ever get it
exactly right, but God isn’t put off by this. God sees the heart.
God knows when we are doing our best and trying to live as best we
can. He knows all the pressures that we are under. He knows how
difficult it is to try and survive in the world. The Lord looks at
each of our hearts and judges us by what is in our heart. So, there
is no reason for us to be afraid if we make even the smallest
effort.
It is also
important to remember that God is infinitely merciful and mercy is
something which is not deserved. God’s justice and mercy go
together. Think of all the times that we see people in the
paper convicted of some terrible crime, and we say, ‘I hope he gets
life,’ or ‘I hope they kill him…’ It’s just as well
for our sake that God is more merciful with us, than we are with each
other, or none of us would stand a chance.
Another reason
why we can never judge someone else is because we don’t know what’s
in their heart. We don’t know what has influenced another person’s
actions, or what pressures they are under. That’s why Jesus teaches
us, ‘Do not judge and you will not be judged’. Only God can
judge, and only God will judge perfectly justly. We can judge the
outward actions of a person, but we cannot judge the heart.
There is a
story of a young man who was in Napoleon’s army. He deserted
because he was tired of war and afraid, but he was caught. The
punishment for desertion was death and so he was to be executed. But
his mother happened to work in Napoleon’s house. She managed to
meet with him and she pleaded on her son’s behalf. She explained
that this man was her only son and all that she had in the world. She
asked Napoleon to show him some mercy. Napoleon replied, ‘He
doesn’t deserve mercy.’ The woman said to him, ‘If he deserved
it, it wouldn’t be mercy.’ Mercy is not deserved, but it is given
out of love and compassion. You can see this from the extraordinary
compassion that Jesus showed to the various people he met during his
life on earth. Even the ones whose lives were a total mess, he showed
such respect and love.
God is
infinitely merciful and so if we try to do what is right we have
nothing to be afraid of.
Jesus Christ
is Lord and He will come again to judge the living and the dead.