Jack Hardaway
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And they lived happily ever after.
And he lived till he was old and full of days.
And they rode off into the Sunset.
Could this be the end? Tune in next time to find out, or maybe not!
Amen. Amen.
Here we are at the end.
Endings.
This week is that.
The end of the story.
We finish the Christian year this week.
We not only end our readings of the Gospel According to Matthew, but we end with Matthew’s vision of the end of the world, where we stand before our Judge.
Endings.
But not the end as in it’s all over.
End has another meaning, it means goal, purpose, completion and fulfillment.
God’s judgement is about completion and fulfillment.
The end and purpose of all things.
We’ve been hearing scripture lessons the past several weeks that have been increasingly apocalyptic and disturbing.
And they are.
It is important to remember the word apocalypse means to unroll the scroll, which is much like how we say open the book, or turn the page. It means the next thing.
It is disturbing, the images.
They are not wanton cruelty however.
God’s judgment rips all the idols out of the world, out of our souls, out of our bodies, out of our culture, our economies, our politics.
Idols are these enslaving cancers and parasites whose many tendrils wrap around and warp everything. Idols enslave. When they are torn from us, they leave vast gaping holes.
There is trauma, there is withdrawal.
Vast gaping holes.
In these apocalyptic lessons we see the world going through the spasms of withdrawal as all that enslaves is ripped and broken and crushed.
Losing the idols that devour, that define, that enslave. Its ugly.
That is what God’s judgement is.
It sets us free to love.
It turns the page.
What stops us from choosing love?
From loving and serving the least of these?
God’s judgement is the ending of that.
We hear today a vision of cosmic addiction recovery.
And the world is in a cold sweat, shivering as it learns to love again.
It is a vision of surprise.
Everyone is surprised to find God, to find Jesus in the poor.
In Matthew Christmas happens twice.
At the nativity of Jesus as a baby, and in the nativity of Jesus in the poor.
I think in many ways today’s Gospel reading is the unofficial yet true vision statement of Grace Church.
Meeting Jesus in the poor and being set free by that encounter.
Welcome to Grace.
Turn the page.
I went through withdrawal once. It was when I was diagnosed as being a type 1 diabetic, when I began taking insulin, my body went through withdrawal from high blood sugar. It was ugly.
A very long confusing night of shivering and sweat.
Opioid and alcohol withdrawal is much worse, it can be deadly.
Learning to be free is not easy.
That is how we end the year.
And in that long confusing night we trust that Christ is King, the judge who sets us freed indeed, he’s got the whole world in his hand.
Ripping out and setting us free from the idols that enslave.
On the other side of that night is the morning.
We end by looking forward.
Turn the page.
Amen. Amen.