One Fine Day In the Shadow of His Wings

How do you imagine God’s Judgment? What kind of pictures do you draw about the last days? Do you imagine the mighty God of Revelation? or Have you stopped to consider He might just surprise us One Fine Day?

The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Gathering and Protecting Mankind, Frans Floris 1562, oil on panel, 65 X 90.6 inches, Louvre Museum, Image Web Gallery of Art

I think often we allow God to be surprising for us in the scriptures, but then we imagine that Judgement Day will be the day when everything will be set right and justice will finally be given….I’m not so sure God’s version of justice really fits our picture.

Today as I consider week #9 of the Apostles’ Creed, try to imagine things contrary to what you may already think:

“He is seated at the right hand of the Father and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of the Saints, the forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” Amen

In looking for a painting to express these ideas, I discovered the above work by Frans Floris that calls us to consider God and Jesus’ sacrifice in a new light. What if the manner of his death on the cross is a window into the nature of our Judgement day? What if God’s justice is the polar opposite of what we might imagine. I think there is certainly precedence for thinking he might surprise us. After all this is the same Jesus who taught that we should forgive “seventy times seven” Matthew 18:22 and “the last will be first and the first will be last” Matt 20:16….or better yet “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” Matt 21:31

I love this little poem that expresses polar opposites so well:

One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back-to-back they faced one another,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
One was blind and the other couldn’t see,
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout “hooray!”
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came and killed those two dead boys.
A paralyzed donkey walking by,
Kicked the copper in the eye,
Sent him through a rubber wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
(If you don’t believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man — he saw it too!)

Anonymus

When we read this…we laugh and we scratch our heads and say “Now that is just silly….that just doesn’t make sense”

But so far…from what I can see… this is exactly how God will be:))

So imagine with me how great it will be on that day when Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, will be in charge of the world’s judgment and let us dream about how we will be the fulfillment of God’s heart…..like a mother hen;)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings….” Matt 23:37

Let our meditation of this inspire us to act in surprising ways this week.

May we let our light shine into the world to reveal God’s glorious banquet and let us perceive with our inner eyes of faith the sumptuous table He has spread before us. And if I  may ask… what is God serving  you at your banquet table to enrich your life?

“You prepare a table before me…you anoint by head with oil, my cup overflows”     Psalm 23:5

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY AND PEACE BE WITH YOU!