It
is traditional to spend time in Advent reflecting on the four great themes of
Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. These may not sound especially promising,
and yet, they are precisely what we need at this time.
What
we need, more than anything else, is to be seen – and to see ourselves – rightly.
That is, a matter of Judgement. And to be seen – and see ourselves – rightly
requires seeing with the eyes of both justice and mercy. Seeing through what we
want to see, to what actually is. And seeing the one we look on as one we are
committed to, in faithful lovingkindness. This is how God sees: accurately and
lovingly.
This
is God’s judgement: that his people, weakened by sin, are unable to save
themselves from its tyranny – and so God will intervene, decisively, in a way
that cannot be earned, that changes everything, that cannot be (and does not
need to be) repeated, that cannot be undone.
Jesus
comes – the one in whom the fullness of divinity and the fullness of humanity
are united, for ever – comes as the judgement of God, the one through whom and
in whom God’s judgement is given. First, for a particular people in a
particular moment – ‘first century’ Jews under the weight of the Roman empire –
then for the families of the earth God intended to bless through the
descendants of Abraham, those who shine like stars in the night sky, lights in
the darkness.
And
in his judgement we might come to see ourselves rightly, as he sees us.
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