Judge, Jury, and Redeemer
Scripture Reading: Malachi 3:1-4
A funny thing happened on the way to Christmas. What happened is this reading from Malachi, with its talk of a refiner’s fire and this messenger of the covenant whose coming no one can endure and in whose presence no one may stand. It’s beginning to look a lot like…judgment. Yes, the light of Christ is coming into the world, but one reason that the light shines so brightly is that the world was in darkness. Advent, as we heard last week, begins in the dark…in the long, dark shadow that sin casts over and around us.
On this second Sunday of Advent we hear from a second prophet who speaks of the coming of the Lord. Last week it was Jeremiah who prophesied that the day is surely coming when the Lord will establish justice and righteousness throughout the land. Today we hear from Malachi that the day of the Lord is also a day of judgment, in which the people will be purified and refined in fire like gold and silver. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire this isn’t!
Where to begin? How about with the prophet himself? Except, that’s a bit tricky because the prophet gives us few autobiographical details beyond his name. And even that may not be his real name because in Hebrew “Malachi” means “my messenger.” Thus Malachi is God’s messenger, but Malachi also prophesies about God’s messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord before the Lord comes. In the voice of the Lord Malachi writes, “See, I am sending my messenger [i.e., Malachi] to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.”
While Malachi may give us little to work with about his background, we can still piece together a picture of the time in which he lived. The Book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and while the order of the books in the Bible doesn’t proceed strictly chronologically, Malachi was among the last books to be written. We know that because the prophet addresses a community that has returned from exile in Babylon.
Last week we read from Jeremiah who was writing at a time when the Babylonians had surrounded Jerusalem and had already begun carrying off some of the city’s elite into exile. Once the city fell and the temple was destroyed, a much larger exile would ensue.
Malachi is writing perhaps 100 to 150 years after this. The exile has ended. The exiles have returned home. The temple has been rebuilt. Priests are once again serving in the temple and making sacrifices. The glory days are back! Jerusalem has been made great again!
At least, that was the expectation at the time of the restoration. But all is not well. Disillusionment and cynicism fill the air. Evil is called good. Lies are accepted as truth. Corruption runs rampant throughout the priesthood. The leadership has failed the people, the people have failed themselves, and all alike have failed to be faithful to the God who delivered them from exile.
Ignoring their own sin, the people question God’s seeming indifference to it all. “Where is the God of justice?” they ask. In fact, the book begins with the Lord saying to the people, “I have loved you, but you say, ‘How have you loved us?’” How have you loved us when nothing’s changed? How have you loved us when the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? We thought you were going to restore the glory of Jerusalem!
Boy, oh boy! An end to the exile, a rebuilt temple, a return to the way things used to be. Who would’ve thought that getting everything you wanted could be so disappointing?
This is not a problem unique to Jerusalem after the exile. It’s not unique at all but universal. It’s part of the human condition. It’s like that Jackson Browne lyric from the song “Your Bright Baby Blues” off the album The Pretender:
No matter where I am
I can’t help thinking I’m just a day away
from where I want to be.
Even when we arrive at our desired destination, we still have a long way to go to escape the feeling of disappointment and discontent. That’s because everywhere we go, we bring ourselves with us—all of our baggage and all of our regrets. The problem isn’t the destination necessarily; the problem is us.
The problem is thinking that some external thing will validate us. If I can just make more money, then I could retire comfortably. If only my son or daughter would settle down, or get a new job, or straighten their life out, then I could stop worrying. If only the news were less depressing, then I wouldn’t live in existential dread. We’re looking all around us to identify the source of our discontent when we ought to be looking in a mirror.
Who would’ve thought that getting everything you wanted could be so disappointing?
This is the exact situation of the postexilic community in Judah, whose ancestors had gone through the same thing. If only we were not here in exile but were back home, things would be perfect. If only the temple could be rebuilt, then I would feel that God cares about us. If only we were free to worship, then our hearts would be aflame for the Lord. If only God would show up and bring to justice the guilty, then I would believe. If only God would hear my prayer and do something!
As always, God hears us. As surely as you’re hearing me preach this sermon, God hears our cry, our plea, our prayer. More than just hearing it, God has determined to do something about it. Verse 1 of today’s reading says, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.”
The one who prepares the way of the Lord has come. John appeared in the wilderness proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” He was tough to miss. He was not refined in appearance or subtle in speech, but more of a bulldozer for the Lord. He wore funny clothes and ate a strange diet, but more importantly he preached a message of repentance. He called on everyone, particularly those in positions of power, to repent.
Repent because the Lord is coming. He is coming to establish justice and righteousness in the land. He is coming to humble the proud and lift up the downtrodden. He is coming to transform weapons of war into tools of peace. Prepare the way of the Lord, for he is coming.
In the Old Testament when the prophets speak of the coming Day of the Lord, it has both hopeful and ominous overtones. On the one hand, the Day of the Lord is welcomed because God is coming to judge the world and set things right. But on the other, yeah, God is coming to judge the world, and we—all of us—are a part of that world, and we are a part of what has gone so wrong in the world. That’s why Malachi can say that the Lord in whom we delight is coming, but at the same time also say, “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”
In one sense, the answer is no one. No one can stand blameless before the holiness of God. We need to be purified. Even Moses, as he stood before the burning bush, was told to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. And so Malachi writes, “For [the Lord] is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” Like a blacksmith working with precious metals, the Lord will burn away the dross, all the impurities and waste, until only pure gold or silver remains. Like a fuller, someone who works with wool, he will scrub and cleanse all the dirt and oil mingled with the wool before it can be turned into a sweater, a suit, or a rug.
But in another sense, the answer to the question, “Who can endure the day of his coming?” is everyone. Everyone can stand when the Lord appears because the Lord already came to the place prepared for him. And the people who witnessed it looked up toward that place and saw the fullness of his glory. Except they didn’t recognize it because they weren’t looking up at a royal throne but at a Roman cross. And atop that hill called Calvary, upon that cross to which his limbs were nailed, they saw the judgment of God carried out against the full weight of humanity’s sin—yours and mine.
The judgment of the Lord is a fearsome thing, but it is also a thing to be welcomed. In fact, it is an absolute gift—an outpouring of overflowing grace—because the one who is our judge is also our redeemer. And as our redeemer Jesus refines us and washes us clean, so that when he comes again in final judgment we will stand before him radiant like gold, as those whom he has already redeemed.