Confirmation of Seve Beach
Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13; St Luke 21:25-36
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
End of the world films are popular now. They seem to fall into two forms. Either a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future in which most of humanity has been eradicated or disappeared or whatever (they never seem to say or care), and a remnant attempts to survive amidst a return to tribalism. These types tend to focus on the rebuilding of relationships and society, on trust and character; parring away to what is truly needful and essential. They are meant for the viewer to question their own choices and paradigms and perhaps learn from an imagined future how to live better in the now.
The other kind are big budget type films where a cadre of semi-disfunctional superheroes work together to stop the annihilation of the world or the galaxy or the whole universe, depending on the team. These sort tend to show flawed saviors redeeming humanity from diabolical plots from extra-terrestrial, inter-dimensional, nearly omnipotent beings. Sometimes humanity is aware of the threat to the imminent destruction of the known universe, other times not. If so, man is portrayed as frantic, ill-equipped and unprepared. Once more the point of such films seem to be: enjoy what you have in the now, for when the end comes, there’s nothing you can do.
As entertaining and visually satisfying as these films may be to you, they are all, as a rule, theologically incorrect. Sorry to burst your bubble. This is the downside of watching movies with a pastor.
The prophet Malachi, preaching 400 years before the advent of our Lord Jesus, says, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. This is not to suggest that the wicked and unbelieving will be annihilated, leaving only a remnant of believers on the earth to enact a millennial reign of Christ or something.
That’s unbiblical too. Rather, Malachi uses the imagery of heat, fire, and burning to portray the Day of Judgment. To describe the everlasting state of the eternally damned. Jesus warns, If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ (Mk 9:47-48).
What Malachi and the other Old Testament prophets portrayed, Jesus capitalized upon, invoking the imagery of Gehenna as hell on earth. Gehenna is the Greek name of the valley of Hinno, a narrow valley south of Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to pagan gods by fire. After Malachi, the term Gehenna is used generally to denote hell, the place of final punishment by fire of the reprobate.
All of this is to say that the dystopian future portrayed by Hollywood films cannot and will not exist. The terrible day of the Lord is coming. Contemplating its imminent advent is not meant to cause you to really be thankful for what you have now and just enjoy life’s little treasures. Not merely.
The imminence of the Day of the Lord is proclaimed in order that you may be brought to repentance. That which is coming upon the arrogant and evildoers is also meant for us. This is what justice requires. We are the wicked. Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. Not so that we can just really live in the moment and appreciate the sunsets and fine wine. But that we might repent, mourn over our sins and many transgressions and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, that is, through the Gospel, the preaching of Christ’s vicarious suffering and innocent death for us sinners, we might have hope.
For the terrible Day is coming. But for we who have hope and joy now in Christ, that Day will be pure joy and hope shall be complete. Our Lord directs our attention to what’s going on in the world now. In politics and climate change, in violent crime and loss of rights, in news of wars and reminders that sometimes the sky rains down bombs on young soldiers and sailors relaxing on a quiet Sunday morning in Hawaii.
We see signs of the end. In disasters, economic upheaval, litigated cake makers, and the simple sorrow of being the target of gossip. We see that this world cannot endure. But Jesus doesn’t want to turn us into Chicken Littles, scrambling about in panic. He wants us to lift our heads and hearts in glad anticipation. Our redemption, our Jesus, is drawing near. Rejoice!
Look to these signs in sun, moon, and stars, in earth, sea, and even your own life. Look to the Cross, to war, to death, and see beautiful blossoms, doves, and rainbows. They point you to God’s grace and promises. The oven is only for those who do not fear the Name of the Lord. For those who do fear His Name, for you, the fire is not a destroying oven, but the warming and life-giving sun. Malachi gives one of the most delightful pictures of joy, whose meaning is lost in a post-agrarian society: You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. We would probably say, “You will frolic like puppies or kittens or toddlers.” What he means is that you will be overcome and surprised by joy, free at last to be as the Lord intended. Free to be loved and not judged, free to bask in the forgiveness and acceptance of the Lord.
For the day of wrath is also the great and awesome Day of the Lord. It is the day when St John’s proclamation turns the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. He turns them away from themselves and to one another by proclaiming the Lamb’s arrival for the sins of the world.
The great and awesome day of the Lord that St John announces in the spirit of Elijah, is none other than the day of our Lord’s rejection by the Father. His bloody and innocent sacrifice on our behalf. The Lamb’s roasting in His Father’s wrath on the Cross which was meant for us. The whole point of calling Him the Lamb of God is that He is to be slain as a sacrifice and roasted. This is the real hero. Not dysfunctional or flawed, but perfect in every way.
Straighten up and raise your heads, beloved, and behold the Fig Tree of His Cross. It blooms. it blooms for you. The summer of His second advent is near. Fruit to eat and wine to drink will so be here as well. You know what the fig buds mean. It means summer is coming. So look and see the fig buds of Jesus’ Body and Blood. His inspired Word which will not pass away, but endure forever.
This self-same Word inscribed on you once in Holy Baptism and continuously in the Holy Absolution, giving you a share in His eternal divine nature, fellowship with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. This is how not only Seve, but all you confirmands and catechumens live according to the Word of God and remain true to Him, continuing in this confession and Church, suffering all, perhaps even death, rather than falling away. His Word which endures forever has been attached to you and you to Him.
You may suffer now. You have hardships, most of them secret and internal. You endure in prayer and faith, by Word and Sacrament, waiting for the day of revelation, for the apocalyptic culmination of your hope. For then, at last, the wrath of God will pass over you, for you are marked with the blood of the Lamb. The Lord Himself is with you, for you, on your side. He loves you. And He is coming back to get you.
This is not the end we deserve, but it is the end that He has promised, the end that He has won for us, to be continued into eternity.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13; St Luke 21:25-36
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
End of the world films are popular now. They seem to fall into two forms. Either a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future in which most of humanity has been eradicated or disappeared or whatever (they never seem to say or care), and a remnant attempts to survive amidst a return to tribalism. These types tend to focus on the rebuilding of relationships and society, on trust and character; parring away to what is truly needful and essential. They are meant for the viewer to question their own choices and paradigms and perhaps learn from an imagined future how to live better in the now.
The other kind are big budget type films where a cadre of semi-disfunctional superheroes work together to stop the annihilation of the world or the galaxy or the whole universe, depending on the team. These sort tend to show flawed saviors redeeming humanity from diabolical plots from extra-terrestrial, inter-dimensional, nearly omnipotent beings. Sometimes humanity is aware of the threat to the imminent destruction of the known universe, other times not. If so, man is portrayed as frantic, ill-equipped and unprepared. Once more the point of such films seem to be: enjoy what you have in the now, for when the end comes, there’s nothing you can do.
As entertaining and visually satisfying as these films may be to you, they are all, as a rule, theologically incorrect. Sorry to burst your bubble. This is the downside of watching movies with a pastor.
The prophet Malachi, preaching 400 years before the advent of our Lord Jesus, says, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. This is not to suggest that the wicked and unbelieving will be annihilated, leaving only a remnant of believers on the earth to enact a millennial reign of Christ or something.
That’s unbiblical too. Rather, Malachi uses the imagery of heat, fire, and burning to portray the Day of Judgment. To describe the everlasting state of the eternally damned. Jesus warns, If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ (Mk 9:47-48).
What Malachi and the other Old Testament prophets portrayed, Jesus capitalized upon, invoking the imagery of Gehenna as hell on earth. Gehenna is the Greek name of the valley of Hinno, a narrow valley south of Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to pagan gods by fire. After Malachi, the term Gehenna is used generally to denote hell, the place of final punishment by fire of the reprobate.
All of this is to say that the dystopian future portrayed by Hollywood films cannot and will not exist. The terrible day of the Lord is coming. Contemplating its imminent advent is not meant to cause you to really be thankful for what you have now and just enjoy life’s little treasures. Not merely.
The imminence of the Day of the Lord is proclaimed in order that you may be brought to repentance. That which is coming upon the arrogant and evildoers is also meant for us. This is what justice requires. We are the wicked. Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. Not so that we can just really live in the moment and appreciate the sunsets and fine wine. But that we might repent, mourn over our sins and many transgressions and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, that is, through the Gospel, the preaching of Christ’s vicarious suffering and innocent death for us sinners, we might have hope.
For the terrible Day is coming. But for we who have hope and joy now in Christ, that Day will be pure joy and hope shall be complete. Our Lord directs our attention to what’s going on in the world now. In politics and climate change, in violent crime and loss of rights, in news of wars and reminders that sometimes the sky rains down bombs on young soldiers and sailors relaxing on a quiet Sunday morning in Hawaii.
We see signs of the end. In disasters, economic upheaval, litigated cake makers, and the simple sorrow of being the target of gossip. We see that this world cannot endure. But Jesus doesn’t want to turn us into Chicken Littles, scrambling about in panic. He wants us to lift our heads and hearts in glad anticipation. Our redemption, our Jesus, is drawing near. Rejoice!
Look to these signs in sun, moon, and stars, in earth, sea, and even your own life. Look to the Cross, to war, to death, and see beautiful blossoms, doves, and rainbows. They point you to God’s grace and promises. The oven is only for those who do not fear the Name of the Lord. For those who do fear His Name, for you, the fire is not a destroying oven, but the warming and life-giving sun. Malachi gives one of the most delightful pictures of joy, whose meaning is lost in a post-agrarian society: You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. We would probably say, “You will frolic like puppies or kittens or toddlers.” What he means is that you will be overcome and surprised by joy, free at last to be as the Lord intended. Free to be loved and not judged, free to bask in the forgiveness and acceptance of the Lord.
For the day of wrath is also the great and awesome Day of the Lord. It is the day when St John’s proclamation turns the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. He turns them away from themselves and to one another by proclaiming the Lamb’s arrival for the sins of the world.
The great and awesome day of the Lord that St John announces in the spirit of Elijah, is none other than the day of our Lord’s rejection by the Father. His bloody and innocent sacrifice on our behalf. The Lamb’s roasting in His Father’s wrath on the Cross which was meant for us. The whole point of calling Him the Lamb of God is that He is to be slain as a sacrifice and roasted. This is the real hero. Not dysfunctional or flawed, but perfect in every way.
Straighten up and raise your heads, beloved, and behold the Fig Tree of His Cross. It blooms. it blooms for you. The summer of His second advent is near. Fruit to eat and wine to drink will so be here as well. You know what the fig buds mean. It means summer is coming. So look and see the fig buds of Jesus’ Body and Blood. His inspired Word which will not pass away, but endure forever.
This self-same Word inscribed on you once in Holy Baptism and continuously in the Holy Absolution, giving you a share in His eternal divine nature, fellowship with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. This is how not only Seve, but all you confirmands and catechumens live according to the Word of God and remain true to Him, continuing in this confession and Church, suffering all, perhaps even death, rather than falling away. His Word which endures forever has been attached to you and you to Him.
You may suffer now. You have hardships, most of them secret and internal. You endure in prayer and faith, by Word and Sacrament, waiting for the day of revelation, for the apocalyptic culmination of your hope. For then, at last, the wrath of God will pass over you, for you are marked with the blood of the Lamb. The Lord Himself is with you, for you, on your side. He loves you. And He is coming back to get you.
This is not the end we deserve, but it is the end that He has promised, the end that He has won for us, to be continued into eternity.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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