Advent 9

The Second Tuesday of Advent December 9, 2008

Isaiah 5:13-17, 24-25 

But the LORD of Hosts sits high in judgement, and by righteousness the holy God shows himself holy. 

In verses 24 and 25 it appears that the judgement of the LORD is fire and uprooting, desolation; it is military defeat, captivity and death.  It is Dust Bowl, Katrina, and the destruction of the Twin Towers. 

I wonder. 

Could it be that droughts, earthquakes, floods, and terrorist attacks are, like death, simply part of the human condition, part of what happens when sinful humans live together?  Is it possible that these terrible events happen because we are people who, even at our best, are imperfect, plagued with illness, envy, greed, ignorance, and fear? 

If these things are just Life, then what is God’s judgement?  What is the righteousness by which he shows himself to be holy?  I suggest that it is by his mercy that he shows Himself holy.  A human god would destroy those underlings who displeased him; but Yahweh saves.  Time after time He redeems His people.  He restores the arid land, He parts the Red Sea, He opens the barren wombs, He brings His people back to their homeland.  He doesn’t do this because His people who were bad are now good, but because He is good.  It is His nature to create, and to redeem what He has created.  From Genesis to Malachi, God declares His undying love for His creation; and then, a few pages later, He personifies this love, actually comes among us. 

As a child. 

We stumbling, broken, mixed up humans will watch Him grow up, will deny Him and ill treat Him; but He will die for us. After He rises, we will eat His body and drink His blood, weekly, in an attempt to take His nature into us so that we may be like Him in the world.   

This, I believe, is how God shows Himself holy:  He comes to live among us so that we may live.