Trinity 26 (observed), 2023
Second-last Sunday of the Church Year
(Trinity 26, observed)
Daniel 7:9-14
November 19, 2023
AC IX: “Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that Baptism is necessary for salvation [Mark 16:16] and that God’s grace is offered through Baptism [Titus 3:4–7]. 2 They teach that children are to be baptized [Acts 2:38–39]. Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace.”
Children are “offered,” committed, handed over in Baptism. We hand our children over when we need help, when they need something we can’t do for them ourselves. You ever handed your child over to a surgeon? You hope you get him back, but there are no guarantees. In suffering and trial, God is teaching us to relinquish control, to hand over all our cares to Him. 1 Pt. 5: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” [vv6f].
It doesn’t always seem like He cares. It often seems the opposite, as though God has abandoned us. There are good things to enjoy in this life, but over all of it hangs the cloud of judgment. God’s Word perpetually puts us in mind of the coming judgment, and world destruction.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem tells us why this world must be destroyed:
Since corruption, and theft, and adultery, and every sort of sins have been poured forth over the earth, and blood has been mingled with blood in the world, therefore, that this wondrous dwelling-place may not remain filled with iniquity, this world passeth away, that the fairer world may be made manifest.
“This world passeth away.” Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me! In Baptism we hand our children, and ourselves, over to that judge. His judgment is the theme of today’s OT reading:
“As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
These books contain what you have said, what you have done, even what you have thought. For the Lord knows the thoughts of man. Every idle word you have spoken shall be subject to the judgment. Your gossip. Your plots. Your stratagems. Your words spoken in corners that you think no one else hears.
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
The Son of Man comes, and before Him no man can stand. He alone can stand before the Ancient of Days, meaning, the Father. Recall how this Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, was handed over to an unjust judge. Pilate declares Jesus to be without guilt, yet executes Him anyway. In this act, Jesus receives and accepts the judgment that hangs over us. In Baptism, as at the Supper, we hand ourselves over to Him. St. John tells us, “We have an advocate with the Father; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.”
Handing ourselves over is also what happens at the Supper. St. Paul in First Corinthians gives us a warning about it. That warning is the basis for the ancient practice of Closed Communion. St. Paul tells us, “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” [1 Cor. 11.27f]. Paul is specifically addressing divisions in that congregation. The problems were numerous, but fundamentally the people were not treating each other as fellow members of the same body. They treated each other as though they were members of a different body. The remedy was two-fold: self-examination, and love. It’s shortly after this text that comes the famous “love” chapter, usually just pulled out of context to read at a wedding. But it’s not a chapter about romantic love; it’s an admonition to people in church who were treating each other poorly. “I will now show you a more excellent way… Love is patient, love is kind, love keeps no record of wrongs.”
It all starts with self-examination: what is the record of my wrongs? And self-examination is looking at one’s life in anticipation of the judgment. “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” [11.31f]. He doesn’t then tell them to stay away from the Eucharist, but to commune together, as one body, undivided.
The reckoning is coming, the day when we stand before the Ancient of Days, the Day when the books are opened. Divine Service is the rehearsal for that Day. We stand before the throne and confess that if we open the books, it doesn’t look good for us. In this and every Eucharist, we hand ourselves over to the One who, in judgment, remembers mercy. Pray this with me as we hand ourselves over to His judgment:
“Blot out my sins, Lord, and do not blot out my name from the Book of Life. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, that You have shown me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, but give me Thy Holy Spirit.” +INJ+