The Day of the Lord

Nov, 12, 23 - Pentecost 24

Amos 5: 18-24; Matthew 25: 1-13

Pastor Deb - BRCC

I’ve always called our son the “sandpaper kid” because he was always pushing on the boundaries of obedience we set for him and testing the limits we set to hold him accountable. He’s 52 now, and still a bit like this, but at 16…he tested my limits plenty! I recall one time when we had guests at our house and I asked our son to do something he didn’t feel he should have to do. In front of our guests, he mouthed off to me telling me I could “go jump in the lake”…or something a bit more colorful than that! I’m sure he thought that I would be too embarrassed to deal with his misconduct in front of guests…but he was wrong. I took off after him as he ran upstairs to his bedroom and tackled him to the floor. I literally sat on him while he struggled against my authority until he finally apologized and agreed to come down and apologize to our guests as well. To this day, he claims he doesn’t remember it….but I do!

As all of us listen helplessly to the daily news of terrible war, destruction and inhuman acts continually unfolding, don’t we wish God would be the parent who would tackle, to the ground, forces of evil intent that keep destroying life in order to control life?

All of our difficult texts this morning are about the DAY OF THE LORD, when Jesus returns and justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an everflowing stream. The prophet Amos is speaking here to the Israelites who thought the day of the Lord would be a time of great victory over their enemies…yet Amos announces that it will be a day of darkness, not light. A day when true obedience will be tested, not just empty platitudes of entitlement. A day when the LOVE of God WILL wrestle all sin to the ground and restore right relationships of justice, truth and mercy that are beyond the limits of our own understanding. Amos says, be careful what you ask for…because a HARSH CORRECTIVE OF GOD’S LOVE isn’t just for those we point our finger at…but for the one whose three fingers point back to as well.

A wise author described it this way: “The Gospel that meets my needs MUST give way to the needs I didn’t know I had, and the healings I didn’t know were even possible.” [Pause] In other words, THE GOSPEL of GOOD NEWS…is meant to wrestle ME and YOU and bring healing. You see…RIGHTEOUSNESS (that is the restoration of what is right and eternal) always involves JUSTICE. Justice that we cannot create for ourselves. It must come out of the heart of God…the FATHER that knows us better than we can know ourselves. The God who will NEVER let the light of His LOVE burn out.

Lately, the image of Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem, haunts me as I watch the terrible destruction of life in Israel, and now Gaza in these modern times. There seems no righteousness can be found right now. We might ask how those who experienced the pogroms of ancient history, and the holocaust that sought to exterminate over 6 million Jews…could now engage in a pogrom of revenge that destroys the life of another entrapped people? Haven’t we learned that hatred and revenge begets more hatred and revenge? Is it justice at play? Can righteousness be born through the dark acts of war? Anti Semitism is on the rise, fear distorts reason and turns neighbor against neighbor… Why do you want and desire the DAY OF THE LORD, says Amos, when you know that darkness must be challenged? Even the psalmist today laments “let those who seek my life be put to shame and let those who take pleasure in my misfortune draw back and be disgraced! (Ps 70:2) Yet…the psalmist will not…cannot live in despair. He cries out in his needy and helpless condition: “Come to me quickly O God. You are my helper and deliverer; O Lord, do not tarry!” (vs. 5) Perhaps there is something in our humanity that truly does want our Lord to tackle the foolish destructiveness of our sin and lift us into the light…even as we run from it. LOVE US, O GOD! LOVE IS ENOUGH TO CHANGE US…FIX US…RESTORE US!

I attended the funeral of my aunt Ruth in North Dakota last weekend. Aunt Ruth died at age 101. In her 101 years of life, Ruth was authentically REAL in her search for Christ’s truth. She was a WWII nurse and experienced much of the darkness war can bring. She returned home to N Dak. and married another veteran who had also returned to inherit his family farm. Together, they built that farm into a multi-generational potato raising enterprise that provides potatoes for Frito Lay potato chips. Her husband's family was raised to be conservative Baptists whose commitment to the Lord was held to a very standard or strict piety. Because her oldest son Lyle, and I were first grandchildren and born a day apart, we were always close, and would spend time visiting each other’s farms in the summertime. I remember many times when I witnessed my aunt Ruth, who was raised Lutheran, struggle to bend her will and understanding to their church’s strong message of guilt and obedience. One time, I was visiting and they took me to their church. I must have been quite young, because what I remember was becoming very scared when the pastor was preaching and I started to cry. My aunt Ruth took me out to their car and I know she wanted to stay and comfort my fears, but she was compelled to leave me in their car and return to what was a multiple hour Sunday morning routine. Over the years, as I watched the religious differences that shaped me and my cousin, Lyle, I also noticed how my aunt Ruth secretly questioned the strength of her faith, asking over and over again whether she was worthy enough for Christ’s love and grace. Whether her light was strong enough and her witness brave enough to meet the continual challenge for testimony and proof among her religious peers. There was no doubt that aunt Ruth loved Jesus, but I know that she felt pressured to prove that she had a REAL relationship that couldn’t be denied by others around her.

Given my intuitive understanding of my aunt’s spiritual journey through her 101 years, it was really interesting to attend her funeral in a very old, very staunch Baptist Church in a small North Dakota town. The first hour was filled with testimony after testimony by each of her three grown children and all of her grandchildren. It was obvious Ruth was beloved and that her presence was esteemed. Her light shone through all of them. And then…the Baptist Pastor took over for the next hour and we were off to the races so to speak. Bible passage after Bible passage led us through a 6 point sermon that laid out EXACTLY what my aunt Ruth experienced in her dying into the Lord, promising that indeed, my aunt Ruth HAD done the work needed to gain her crown of righteousness, and that as she aged, her doubts had given over to absolutes that everyone could count on to bring her into heaven. As I watched all those heads nod in agreement, I felt a bit sick….for this is NOT the God and Lord of my Lutheran understanding. To make sure we got the full deal…including a call to give our unsure hearts over to the Lord, the pastor summarized all 6 points at the chilly gravesite.

Now why do I share this story with you today? Because I think it illustrates what a misguided interpretation of a text like this parable of Jesus can bring when we hear it from a legalistic point of view. For the text makes it seem like being READY for the return of Christ IS ON ALL ON US. WE have to be obedient enough; wise enough; patient enough; faithly witnessing and, if needed, hoard our own light against the foolish who just don’t get it! In our culture today…a text like this becomes a clarion call to deny Christ’s love and acceptance to those terrible “others” out there. Whether it be a cultural difference; race difference; sexual orientation or gender identity difference; societal flaw or addiction….whatever it is…a text like this can easily be used to point a finger and say…. I have the light…but YOU don’t.

But I am here today to proclaim that this is NOT what this text is saying. Jesus is speaking to the reality that not everyone may realize God’s very presence and forgiving grace in this earthly walk…and that is indeed a foolish and lost opportunity. BUT, as scripture also tells us, at the sound of the trumpet…when the Son of man returns in His glory…EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AND EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS the truth that the ETERNAL LIGHT that overcomes all darkness, even death, HAS COME, AND HE IS JESUS.

This text is not so much a warning, as a wake up call. The Kingdom of God is described here as a METAPHOR…not a LAW. It falls in Matthew’s 25th chapter which shares some of Jesus’ last words before the story of his passion and crucifixion unfolds in chapter 26. It declares to all that Jesus has come to do what we cannot do…be obedient unto death for the sake of all that has been lost in creation to sin and rebellion. The Good news is that Jesus IS coming again, and all relationships will be restored to wholeness and healing. The REALLY GOOD NEWS is that Christ himself has and will do this…NOT US! Remember these amazing words from Revelation 22: “the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the lamb…on either side of the river is the tree of life…and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore…the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it…and there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

So what is OUR role in all this? How are we to live in this “already but not yet” state of semi-darkness, knowing that someday right relationships among ALL people will be restored and the wholeness of all creation will be healed because GOD, himself, will do it? It has been stated that the church wastes its time and resources if it is NOT about the business of mercy and love for others. Perhaps the REAL consequences of letting our lights go out is that someone might suffer because of our foolishness in not sharing our light as a WAY OF LIFE. A way that PARTICIPATES in the Holy Spirit’s work to CALL, GATHER AND ENLIGHTEN. The way that freely shares precious and unique use of gifts and resources that each one of us is given…Gifts like caring for the earth; bringing joy into life’s circumstances; assurance and hope when others are afraid; hands that touch, heal, uphold, calling for justice and truth and living it out FOR THE LONG HAUL. How is this possible given the heaviness of war and dysfunction all around us? It is not only possible, but assured in our salvation that Christ walks with us, shining his light through us. The WISE…keep Christ as their oil for lamps that can never go out. The WISE trust the wisdom of God and the mystery of His grace to extend to ALL in LOVE that we could NEVER attain for ourselves.

So…hear again this wonderful phrase that we proclaim in baptism: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” And trust that indeed…Christ is coming…He is coming soon. AMEN.