Advent 2025 : day twenty

 

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.

Hell is separation from others, from God and from our neighbour; also from ourselves as an intended integrated whole. Hell is not a place, geographically speaking, but a state of existence, in which we all live – even as some of us also live as citizens of heaven.

Sometimes we are separated from others by our own choices – by our actions, or our refusal to act. Sometimes we are not the agent, the actor, but rather the one on whom hell acts. Jesus told a story of a poor man, Lazarus, who lived for many years in hell at the gate of the rich man Dives. Both men died, and from Sheol – the Grave – Dives lifted his eyes and saw Lazarus far away, being comforted by Abraham. Dives – narcissist, sociopath, incapable of empathy or honest self-evaluation – demands that Abraham send Lazarus to him, to bring him comfort in his torment; and Abraham informs him that this is simply not possible, for a great gulf lis between them that cannot be bridged, even should one wish to do so. I cannot rescue you from the hell you have created for yourself, in distancing yourself from others. I cannot bridge that gap. Only you – and only then strengthened by God – can bridge that gap. And you cannot bridge the gap I have created between myself and others. Only I – again, necessarily strengthened by God – can do so.

The Babe of Bethlehem grows up to be the Harrower of Hell.

Advent invites us to gaze on hell, to recognise our surroundings – to recognise the Other at our gate; to recognise that the gate of hell has been removed from its hinges – and to return from the Grave.