It was an important game. What was at stake was a place in the World Cup competition next year. So the ref was under a lot of pressure. And the game was nearly over - France and Ireland were level at 1-1. And then it happened! Thierry Henry's hand helped France score the winning goal. (This is football in case you’re still wondering, and you’re not supposed to handle the ball, unless you’re the keeper, which Henry isn’t). Ireland were outraged and called for a replay. France are embarrassed but rather relieved to be in the World Cup. The referee was not in a position to see the handball when it happened. But the whole world saw it caught on camera, so Henry had little choice but to admit his misdemeanour. Is this what the Last Judgement will be like? That when we furtively put our hand up (as it were) to tip things in our favour, and hoping we’ve got away with it, it will come out at the end of time? Is the Great and Powerful Judge recording all our deeds and words, ready to play it back on the Day of Judgement? What about Jesus’ warning that what is done in secret will be made known to all and what is whispered in secret will be shouted from the housetops? If so, I for one will be praying for a technical fault in the heavenly DVD player! Maybe we would be better taking Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians and making it our own: “May he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Blameless – we’ll come back to that…
At first glance we may feel a little uncomfortable about this central Advent theme of Judgement. But I want to persuade you this morning that we don’t need to; indeed more than that, that it is a tremendously hopeful concept and one full of promise.
The first thing to say is that we can’t avoid the topic. It was there in our collect and it’s there in our creed: ‘He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end; it’s also included in our Eucharistic prayer. And it’s in our liturgy because it’s in Scripture; in both the Old and New Testaments. Judgement, and especially a Day of reckoning, is there throughout Scripture. So what’s our problem? Why might we be afraid that like Thierry Henry we will be found out and horribly held to account? I want to suggest that it’s because we have things the wrong way round. We take our human experience of judgement and apply it to the divine. When we are young we may be judged by our parents; we certainly are judged by our teachers (testing usually reminds us more of our weaknesses than our strengths). And as adults we are judged by all sorts of people. Most of all, if we are caught breaking the law, we will stand before a magistrate or worse, a Judge. The role of the Judge is to draw attention to a person’s weaknesses, their failings, and then to punish them for them. It’s no wonder that the idea of standing before the Divine Judgment seat at the end of time is not very appealing. But this is taking a human view of judgement and applying it to God. What we need to do is the other way round – allow a theological understanding of divine judgement to shape our approach to justice.
Let’s just pause and stand back a moment. What happens to you when you watch the news on TV, listen on radio or read a newspaper. Don’t you sigh and long for a better world? Don’t you get angry at the way human beings treat others? The greed, the fighting for power, the violence, the self-centred use of resources, the pride, the deceit, the corruption; don’t you long for things to be put right and for people to be held to account for all this? Have the bankers who allowed the financial crunch and ignored the warnings of others got away with it? We want to know. There is that sense of fair play within us as human beings. In fact, we don’t have to wait till the end of time for some things to come to light. Like the inquiry now underway into the Iraq war, if we suspect foul play we will call for accountability. And there IS accountability in many areas. Schools have league tables, hospitals have targets, even banks are supposed to be better regulated now. There is a sense in which a drive for justice is written into Creation. Which is not surprising, because justice is found in the character of the Creator. And God calls us to justice. In the prophet Micah we have that wonderful summary: ‘He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’
In fact we can go further back than that. There is only one stated reason why God chose Abraham to be the great founder of nations and of monotheistic faith; it comes in Genesis 18:19. ‘I have chosen him to teach his children and all who come after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.’ two Hebrew words are used here, and I was interested to hear Jonathan Sachs (Chief Rabbi) expounding on this verse last week. Mizphat is justice – the legal aspect, and Zedekah, which is translated ‘righteousness’ but has the idea of mercy and charity behind it. The sort of community God wants is not only one where justice is established, but where mercy oversees justice. Jonathan Sachs gave this e.g. If I give you a £1,000 because I owe it to you, that is justice. If I give you a £1,000 because you need it more than I do, that is mercy or charity. And as both are present in the character of God, both should be there in the communities of faith which claim to honour him. Advent is a good time to take stock of our giving. As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s Coming, we are challenged to reflect on how we are living, particularly, what we are doing about economic injustice. Increasing our giving to charity is in line with seeking to live as those who believe in a God of justice and mercy. I was both humbled and challenged on Friday when I was invited to go to Thornbury Mosque just up the road here, to represent the churches at. They were moved by the flooding disaster in Cumbria and had committed to raising at least £5,000 to help victims – a donation they wanted to make through Churches together in Cumbria. So with two other local church leaders I received a cheque on behalf of the churches in Cumbria. Muslims giving to churches – that is an example of Zedekah.
Now if justice and mercy are central to God’s character, it tells us what His Judgement is about. We’re back to that question – should we fear the Day of Judgement? What IS the Day of Judgement? It is a way of speaking of a critical moment in history. Indeed, the Greek word for judgement is ‘krima’ from which we get ‘crisis’ and ‘critical’. The message of Scripture is that the One who created this world will not allow it to continue forever in evil, corruption and rebellion. God cares too much for those who suffer pain and injustice, to allow it continue forever. Judgement is putting everything right, so it is an act of mercy. It is as though the Lord of all picks up the Cosmos in both hands and literally shakes the hell out of it! Evil is exposed and removed for all time; so that what is true and just and good can triumph. That is the picture of Judgement we are given in the Bible.
And let’s remember who it is who comes as Judge. It is the shepherd/judge – the one who separates the sheep from the goats as a Good Shepherd. And the one who came to die for us while we were still sinners, the One who whose justice is overseen by mercy. Only if we have ignored his words, which will not pass away, do we have anything to fear. We know that as sinners we cannot stand on the Day of Judgement. But we put our trust in the One who Judges justly and who has been merciful to us. We know that in only in Christ are we blameless, not in ourselves. When He comes, may He find us looking to Him, trusting in His mercy and living our lives as people of mercy and justice.
“May he so strengthen our hearts in holiness that we may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Amen.
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