As we enter Holy Week, I’m bringing our lent readings through N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope to a close. In today’s reading Wright talks about Jesus as the coming judge who will finally bring all things to divine justice. Now this idea of judgement comes with some negative overtones, but Wright reminds us that it’s actually what humanity has been yearning for. Divine justice means that the systematic sins of, “injustice, bullying, violence, arrogance and oppression” will finally mean their end in exchange for justice in it’s purest refined form. Addressing individual sins, Wright states that “God will judge the secrets of all hearts through Jesus the Messiah” (139). Now while this does mean that God will judge our actions, it is done according to Jesus, a judge who “loved sinners and died for them; the Messiah who took the world’s judgment upon himself on the cross” (141).
I like to read the Huffington Post. I like that it’s accessible, free, and invites it’s users to comment and dialogue. Depending on who you ask, the HuffPost is left leaning, but I really like that it has a religion section that invites Evangelical leaders to post the current events from their point of view. In everything I read on the Post I can’t help but to feel disheartened by the world. I read today about a woman who after paying off her credit card debt to a big well-known bank was still being harassed by the credit agencies hired by this bank to pay a debt she has already paid. Everyday I read of the death of soldiers and civilians alike. I read stories of people who have had to leave their entire lively hoods because the home they live in is being foreclosed on and it makes me long for the day when God will put all things to judgement and ultimately restoration. I don’t know how or when this is going to happen but their is much hope knowing that God’s judgement is actually something humanity can long for because it will be the day when sin, injustice in all of it’s subtle nuances will be made right.
Steve Dang 