By Rev. Peter Haugen
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
On that first Maundy Thursday, our Lord Jesus proclaimed that a day is coming, the great and awesome day of the Lord, when He Himself will judge all people, separating the sheep from the goats, the Christian from the non-Christian. There is a rich irony in this. The Judge is about to be judged. Nevertheless, He will have the last word.
Those who stand before our Lord, receiving from His hand His blessings in faith, with eyes fixed on Him as their own Saviour, will receive credit for works they do not remember. And they will remain with our Lord and be brought into heaven, to the place prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
And those who stand before our Lord content to be judged based on what they have done and not done, those who stand before Him convinced that they at least have been good enough or Christian enough or nice enough, those who stand before Him desiring a lord who will judge them according to their works – they, too, will get exactly what they want. And they will be damned, sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Do not ask when you have ever failed to do what you were given to do. That is the question of damnation leading to hell. Do not be afraid to lift up your eyes, to fix your gaze upon the Shepherd, and to ask instead when Christ has done His work for you.
God says, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out” (Ezekiel 34:11). He Himself will seek His sheep and rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered. He Himself will gather them, bind them, heal them, strengthen them, feed them.
This is a comforting word for us when we cannot see the good we have done, but only how we have failed, only how we have failed those we love most. This is a comforting word for us when we cannot see the crosses that God lays upon us as the blessings they are for us, but only as curses. This is a comforting word for us when the infirmities of age and of this dying life catch us up, when we finally see the spectre of death hovering in the corner of our room, and we know our judgement is looming. The very one who judges is also the one who has promised to be our Shepherd and to search for us and to seek us out.
So do not fear. Do not look to yourself, to what you have done or not done. Fix your eyes upon your Judge, upon your Shepherd, upon your Jesus, for He has done it all for you. Fix your eyes upon your Jesus, and hear Him say to you, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (St Matthew 25:34). Amen.
Leave a Reply