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Loving God – Judging God

March 30, 2022

Isaiah 49:8–15 | John 5:19–29 | Psalm 145:8–19

I find the readings today to be in challenging juxtaposition. In Psalm 145, 8-19, we get a God who has our back. This God satisfies the needs of every living creature. Wow! This God is merciful in all deeds. I like that! This God lifts up those who are bowed down. Preach! 

Then, we get the Gospel, John 5:19-29. First all that stuff about honoring the Son honors the Father, etc., etc., etc. (sorry, I just found it a bit repetitive!). That next paragraph, however, is a doozy. It’s Judgment Time, capital J, capital T. I kind of love that image of all the people in their graves waking up and looking around. But then they have to find out whether or not they are good or evil. Yikes. I want my loving God back. 

I have come to see good and evil as forces within each of us. The idea that someone is good and someone else is evil is hard to accept. Certainly, there are people who have done truly evil things. For many, that is a moment in time, not the sum total of a life. For the vast majority of us, evil is something we regularly wrestle with. So, how do John’s words speak to us? Maybe they are a reminder. After all, we do not know the day or the hour… 

Elizabeth McNamara

(Image credit: Photo by Krisztina Papp on Unsplash)