Eucharistic Meditation, Third Advent

John 5:30: �I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.�E

Jesus comes to do the Father�s will, and this means that the Father�s will is manifested in what Jesus does. He comes to give Himself for us, and this is the Father�s will. He comes to show us the Father, and this is the Father will, for the Father does not want to be hidden from us. He comes to heal, to save, to rescue, because this is the Father�s will. And, as we�ve seen this morning, Jesus comes to judge, for this too is the Father�s will. The Father is the Creator, Lord, and Judge, and He has given all judgment into the hands of His Son.

Advent means coming, and our text shows us that Jesus�Ecoming in advent is a coming to judge. The Judge cannot come, does not come, without passing judgment. And this is true also here at this table. The Father is a kind and good host, and spreads a table for us, His children. At this table, the Father gives life through the Son, just as Jesus promised. But when Jesus comes to meet with us, He also comes as the agent of the Father to judge. This table is a table of judgment, a savor of life unto life and a savor of death unto death. We should come to this table with rejoicing, confident that God our Father will bless us. But the warnings are there in Scripture, that some are sick and some have died because they took this table wrongly.

Do you come to this table harboring resentment toward one of your brothers or sisters in the Lord? Do you come here nurturing and petting an unconfessed sin that you refuse to give up? Do you come here with a hardened and unbelieving heart? Are you bitter against God for the way your life has gone �Efor the husband or wife God gave you, for the failures of business, for the behavior of your children? Then beware: Jesus is here, and He is the judge who will bring every careless word, every careless act, every careless thought into judgment.

But we have confessed our sins. And if you come here genuinely acknowledging and confessing your sin; if you come here having made every effort to be reconciled with your brothers; if you come here in faith that the Father forgives for Christ�s sake, then you have nothing to fear. For you too this is a table of judgment, but it is a table of judgment until life. For here at this table we commemorate again the great gospel truth: That the Judge has been judged in our place.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, December 12, 2004 at 08:43 AM

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