2024-04-25 A Meditation on a Kind of Judgment
“12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:12-28 ESV)
The duty of jury mind reckons us accidental moralists, for judgment as it pertains to the community, comes about in clear-sightedness only through what is faith-based. We base ourselves in faith, we unfurl gospel colors across the soldiering Call, we are Cross and persons who talk up a point for the sake not of being sycophants and empty voices, but no longer deceptive, to obtain the clarion and urgent willingness to stare down war in the face.
The judgment needed is a product of a doctrine invented anew, were it not already in the Good Book, that of the Fall, and of veering off course even amidst our best efforts to gain Knowledge. Useful knowledge, “obvious” moves, empty warmth or what is worse than the fleshiness, mental flesh, lock stock and barrel of the mind that thinks itself a bit too precious or elite for common consumption.
To Fall is also to know the genuine sympathy of that Pastor, Jesus, who took away the incrimination and the endless guilt: we are worse off when we are under condemnation, and better off when we are under the banner of forgiveness. To be beloved and forgiven, is to have the courage to see where we have fallen away. It is to know that while “sin doth remain yet in the regenerate” (Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles), it is that we might be found coached and quieted in our Master Christ Jesus.
No vain pronouncement, no empty balderdash, no false pomp, the notion of a Peace in Him is the product of a puzzled-over but cherished reflection: with this student of friendship, with this meandering conversational partner, with this enraptured discussion and gladsome exchange, began the Faith: we of all people wealthy though poor, happy in the fellowship.
Therefore the call is puzzled-over by the onlooker, curiosity and unacknowledged Vantage Point to the observer, something that lightens whilst reckoning, judging while lifting that burden and obligation heavenward: we are those curiously forgiven. We are soldier of a Cross most benign. We are servants of a heavenward-tack, a proclivity to aerate and lift by helium, a buoyancy most Divine.
The soldier gladly waits for the morn, through the long hours of blackness and night, which hours coach, teaching a manner of light footed work regarding encouraging the sisters and brothers, brethren generally. The black gives way to bright shade and eeking forth morning dawn. The surety and reaction is of a more noble tone, note, gestalt. The soldier heals because her or his night season came with it complete mercy and second chances. It came with it an end to coded insults or slights. It came with it the bright beginnings, of the end to colorless wan expression and the beginning of wow factor, spiritually—man, I’m under attack—meeting a rather regal season of Prayer: we Pray, because we can and because it heals the mind and soul to think through so much that is under our purview, in our conscious dwelling-place, our flag and colors and banner and Hope. We were accused. We were hopeless. The judgment came down: forgiven!