“He Will Come Again In Glory…”
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. So it is that Christians profess when we say the Apostle’s creed, and so it is that the Scriptures say. We have come to that time of the year when all the readings at Mass speak of the return of Jesus and the final judgment. The theme will resound again for many weeks to come.
Jesus is coming back.
The truth of the final judgment, correctly understood, is good news indeed. It is astoundingly good news. Unfortunately, the goodness of it is distorted through many misinterpretations of the apocalyptic language of the bible. The main point of all the apocalyptic language of the bible is this: Jesus is coming to save us. He is coming to save anyone who welcomes him. All the works of Jesus are saving works, and so his return in the last judgment too is essentially saving. In order to see how this can be so, let us place squarely before our eyes three undeniable truths.
First, each one of us is fallen and radically broken. Or, to say it more personally, I myself am radically broken. My thoughts are filled with distortions and errors. My desires and passions run wild. I say many things I want to take back, I do many things I wish I could undo, I live with many regrets and doubts and disappointments and delusions. Lying, cheating, stealing, lusting, violence, malice, envy, hatred, arrogance, vanity, pride, scorn, contempt, condemnation, criticism, divisions in the will, vacillating emotions, fickle impulsiveness, excessive indulgence, total indifference to others, and every other kind of disorder is woven deeply into my mind and heart and emotions. I am morally ill. A Christian is someone who is brutally honest about this and says: I am sinful and broken and I cannot fix myself. I simply cannot fix myself.
Second, our society is fallen and radically broken. I do not mean just our society here in the United States. I mean every society of all times and places. I mean human society. We look around our own society and what do we see? We see divorce, we see families falling apart, we see child abuse, we see poverty, we see drugs, we see suicides, we see a multi-billion dollar sex industry, we see adultery, abortion, post abortion trauma, and the celebration of every sort of sin that leads to all of this. The economy is messed up, the health care system is messed up, the educational system is messed up, the government is messed up, the media is messed up, our families are messed up, and there are wars and riots breaking out right now, especially in the Middle East. Every day there is a political demonstration about something, and we all have a keen sense that no one is listening to demonstrations any more. No one cares about shouting and slogans and marches. I need not labor the point about how messed up society is. The twenty-four hour news stations tell us every day. They tell us of one bad thing happening after another, and they say it for hour after hour after hour after hour.
Third, no human being on earth can fix it all. Everything is just too radically broken. Politicians cannot fix it, professors cannot fix it, psychologists cannot fix it. If we gathered all the politicians, and all the professors, and all the psychologists together in a room, all of them combined could not fix it. No human effort, no matter how well intentioned and well coordinated, could fix the human race completely. Our best efforts can have some, limited, moderate, and semi-adequate success at keeping things somewhat functional. Somewhat functional, but not completely healed. There is no utopia on earth, there never has been, and there never will be. It is important to see this point clearly because of the place and time we occupy in history. We live at a place and time when for several centuries now cultural elites have thought that if we just get the right sort of government, and get the right sort of educational system, and get the right sort of economy and health care system, then we really can solve it all. We can fix it. We can perfect humanity by our own efforts. We do not need God or religion or anything like that. We can build utopia on earth. But that whole account of human nature is not true, and if we are not careful we can fall victim to its delusions. No political party can save us. No educational program can save us. There is no right combination of political, economic, educational, or social factors that will make all the disorder go away. Jesus says: “the poor you will always have with you.” And when he speaks of the end of the world he tells of wars and rumors of wars. There will be wars and rumors of wars until the end.
Let us recap the three undeniable truths. I am really messed up. Society is really messed up. No one on earth can fix me or us. No one.
Now if we consider just these three truths, there is a good chance of becoming terribly depressed. A dark cloud of negativity can settle over our minds and deep black despair can become our daily mentality. But that is not where the story ends.
Do you think that the world is going to be completely messed up forever?
No.
For there is someone who has the power and authority to set all things right. There is someone who has the capability and the will to make everything new. There is someone who is going to fix all the disorders of the world. There is a Messiah. There is a Savior. Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of all. He is the living and true God, and he has the power to set all things right. He himself submitted to all the disorders of our world when he died on the cross. And he came back from the dead and trampled down death and showed that all the disorders of this world have no power over him. He ascended to the Father, but he is coming back. And when he comes back he is going to set all things right. The last word on our world is not going to be the disorder and injustice and death that we see in our own lives and the world around us. The last word is going to be Jesus. Jesus is coming back to set all things to right.
Yes, looking at our world can be depressing, but we know when Jesus comes back there will be justice for all. In the end, everyone is going to get exactly what he or she deserves. God knows about the injustices of this world. He knows how the proud and high and mighty crush other people and put them down. He knows about each and every abuse. He knows about every disorder. He knows who is guilty. He knows which person knows what and who should have known better. He knows who deserves punishment for what and how much punishment and why. He knows well the difference between those who fundamentally oppose His teachings and those who basically welcome his teachings but struggle to live them out. He knows the difference between those who make light of his mercy and those who throw themselves at his feet. What will he do to those who basically oppose him? The Scripture says that God will strike them on the mouth, break their teeth, and make them his footstool.
Why does the bible use this sort of language? It can sound so harsh, and seems hard to reconcile with a God of love. The basic point being made in this violent language is that there will be justice in the end. In the end, everyone will get what he or she deserves. But proud, mighty, violent, and malicious human beings are not moved by abstract language. If you think of a big shot lawyer, a partner in a powerful firm, who has an enormous amount of worldly power and who is corrupt and uses it for evil or if you think of a politician who is utterly dominated by egoism and blinded by political interests, do you think that hearts as hard as these will be moved when they hear it said abstractly that there will be justice in the end? No. God speaks to the mighty and the proud in a language that the mighty and the proud can understand. God says He will strike them on the mouth and break their teeth and make them his footstool. This is the only language that proud and violent men can understand. In his love and mercy God chooses just the right words to give fair warning to those who oppose him.
Right now we are in a period of waiting. At this point in time, the word goes out to all that there is mercy and healing available from Jesus. At every Mass we receive in holy communion the healing and renewing power of Jesus. Through faith in Jesus and the sacraments of the Church, we can experience for ourselves a new beginning in our hearts, a new world springing forth amongst us in the love we have for God and one another. We can get a taste of how Jesus can renew all things and liberate us from evil and transform our whole world. We live with hope for the future because of this encounter with the Lord of love that we have in the present. And we look forward to his second coming. The good and gentle Jesus is coming, and he is going to set all things aright. The world is not going to be messed up forever. Isn’t that good news? The early Christians heard the good news in the announcement of the final judgment. They saw how marvelous it is to ponder how in the end the world is going to be healed and saved. Jesus is going to do it. He is coming to save us. The last word in the bible is “maranatha!” Come Lord Jesus! Come! We can hardly wait for him to come and set all things right. A Christian should be dying with excitement for the Lord to come.
Now, there are surely some among us here today who are afraid of the second coming and afraid of judgment day. That fear is a sign that it is time to fly to confession. The sacrament of penance is a preview of judgment day. If you go to confession, tell the priest your sins, and repent of them, you will hear in confession the same sentence that you will hear on judgment day. Mercy. Forgiveness. Peace. Reconciliation with God. It is high time for Catholics to return to the sacrament of penance frequently and regularly. Everyone should go to confession at least once a month. Even if you have no serious sins but only daily faults and the little things that weigh you down, go to confession at least once a month. If you refuse to go, if you run and hide, if you play games and tell yourself that the priest does not really have the power to forgive sins or that there is no need to go to confession and tell everything to the priest, what will it be like for you on judgment day when there will be no where to run and no where to hide?
God is patient. The bible speaks again and again about how God waits for human beings to repent. He waits and he waits and he waits. Isn’t it this long patience of God that sets God up for the charge raised against him in the problem of evil? “Look around the world,” his accusers say, “and see all the pain and sorrow and evil. Where is God? He does not really exist. If he did, why does he not do something?” The answer is that God is patient. He is patiently calling and waiting for us to repent. Time and again God gives to all human beings chance after chance to turn to him, to believe in his mercy, and to repent of our sins. Now is the time of mercy. And the Lord tells us how to live in this time, how to live in the sunshine of his constant compassion. We are to live with a constant awareness of our need for healing and mercy and renewal. We are to live with great confidence in his kindness and compassion and love. We are to receive His generous offer of healing and mercy and renewal in the Church and the sacraments – especially in frequent confession. We are to live a life of mercy and charity to all with the name of Jesus ever on our lips. Jesus tells us to live in prayer and fasting and constant critical awareness of the seductions of sin all around us in society. He tells us to look forward to judgment day. It is going to be a glorious day. The world is not going to be messed up forever. The Lord is coming to save us. He is going to set everything right. He is going to put down those who oppose him and raise up his friends. It is going to be glorious.
By the Director of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity
Dominican Province of St. Joseph