Br. Bernard Delcourt, OHC
Advent 2A - Sunday, December 8, 2019
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
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It is my great pleasure to preach on a psalm today.
As a monastic community we are psalm-drenched on a day by day basis. Maybe that is the reason we have not used psalms in our Sunday liturgy in a long time.
But the Sunday liturgy offers a psalm in a smaller morsel than the platefuls of psalms we are used to. You can savour it in a different way.
My brothers and I have decided to experiment with a Sunday psalm again for this season of Advent. So I had to preach on the psalm before they might disappear from our Sunday liturgy again. “Quick, quick, preach me!” cried the psalm.
More seriously, I have thought a lot about judgement in the past few years. And I want us to visit with judgement for a bit.
Divine judgement is a perennial undercurrent of Advent. Part of Advent is to wait for Christ’s return at the end of time as we know it.
A lot of the scriptural passages that form a basis for this event speak of judgement. Often the judgement is presented as retributive; a painful sentence is doled out to those found lacking and there does not seem to be further redemption from it. The sheep get paradise and the goats get hell, forever one would assume.
I am afraid of such kind of categorical judgement. For one thing, I am not so sure that I may not be found lacking myself. And for another, I know several people whom I love and whom I fear might be found lacking as well. Would nothing save them from eternal retribution at the final judgement?
Don’t get me wrong. I think God is fully entitled to judge us. And I think it would be a good thing for us to be presented with a fair and just judgement of our actions, motives and character. I am just hoping that the judge would be extremely lenient in the sentencing.
You see, I have a grave problem with letting God be presented as a retributive, vindictive judge with a strictly dualist mind. My reading of scripture, and of the gospel in particular, has the arc of God’s desire for creation landing in the neighborhood of peace, justice, righteousness, prosperity.
And that’s without dwelling too long on love; as in “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44) or “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
Psalm 72 speaks of a King. Is it an earthly King or a heavenly King? I think it speaks of both divine authority and earthly authorities. And it asks God to enable the earthly leaders to emulate the divine king.
Psalm 72 focuses on justice and righteousness. In Hebrew, the word for righteousness would be tzedakah, a complicated noun that has elements of charity and “social justice” woven into it. Tzedekah as social justice means that no one should be without the basic requirements of existence.
Of course, food, safety and shelter are basic requirements. But as an advanced and wealthy society, it behooves us to consider the basic requirements of a just and fulfilling life for all. What common good constitutes righteousness for our country today?
We might want to think about what are some basic requirements of a righteous life in these 21st century United States. Does it include access to education and healthcare without getting into crushing debt? Does it include fruitful livelihoods that support a serene life? Does it include an economic system that preserves the ability of nature to sustain us?
I think that the Lord Jesus, the embodiment of the king that psalm 72 called for, came to bring us peace. And that Christ’s peace is to be sought through nonviolent justice.
This is opposed to peace through victory of a violent kind. That latter kind of peace, is the peace of domination systems, of empires.
I believe that nonviolent justice is what Christ will deliver at the final judgement. I hope he will want to yet again give us the option of repentance from our sins and transformation of our hearts at the final judgement. I believe in an infinitely merciful and loving God who seeks the redemption and restoration of the greatest number of his creatures.
That still leaves unrepentant die-hards who will in fact choose punishment rather than redemption by refusing to be swayed from their belief in the superiority of evil. My hope is that there will be very few such die-hards.
But when will Christ’s return in glory usher in the final judgement? No one knows. Despite some who regularly make firm predictions on the timing, they always seem to get it wrong.
No matter, until the final judgement comes, we need to live as Christians. We are called to do our best to embody the justice and righteousness of God here and now. We are called to be just and righteous leaders in our spheres of influence, no matter how small they may be.
And we should endeavor this in both our personal lives and our corporate lives, including the life of our nation. In the coming election year, this means we should continue to hold candidates, elected officials and other leaders to the highest standards of justice and righteousness.
To that effect, do we choose leaders that encourage justice, social justice, hope, adequate shelter, care for all creation, including the non-human?
As for us, as John the Baptist enjoins us, we should bear fruit worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8). Like him, we may not be worthy to carry Jesus’ sandals, but we are worthy to carry on the work of righteousness to empower the poor, the suffering and the needy.
As the prophet Amos thundered in yesterday’s matins reading: “...let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)
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