The event we celebrate this day runs counter to modern sensibilities- feast of the what? Some may ask. The Roman Catholics discarded it in their liturgical reforms as they got with the times- but we still celebrate, if with a wince, the circumcision of the God Child and Savior of the Human race Jesus Christ. This is in fact the Saviors first shedding of blood in his holy sacrifice for the remission of sins and our redemption from iniquity and the curse, punishment and death. How could we not stop and worship Him on this day?

He did not need to undergo the suffering and humiliation of circumcision for his own sake- He was the lawgiver he did not need to subject himself to the law. But we needed him to come to where we were and rescue us, and so ...when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Gal. 4:4-5

When we are enveloped by the power of God’s love in Christ, by what he has done for us, by our freedom and glory then all of the present sufferings will be as nothing to us. Sure, there are times to mourn and grieve in this life but it never eclipses the deep abiding presence of Joy and Peace because we know, we know deeply and feel the reality that this is all very temporary and will soon pass away as if it never existed and there will be only light and glory. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being- a Man- has been born into the world.

Christs first coming which inaugurated the age of perpetual coming, which age we are in, is the age of mercy for sinners. As long as we are in this age, there is still opportunity to respond to the Evite- the call for repentance which is the prerequisite for entry is still being sounded. The door has not been shut, get your oil now- we are in the age of longsuffering.

Even though the King of Justice has come and brought Judgment- that judgement is still largely redemptive, it is for the purpose of leading us to repentance. The day will come that He will come again bodily and the time of repentance will be over, the time of redemptive judgment will be over, that will be the final judgment- the reconciling and closing judgement- when the tares are pulled and burned, when the goats are separated from the sheep.

I suppose folks just don't want to think about the Judgment, it's so unpleasant and negative, while the birth of the Holy Babe is so sweet and joyful. But this is to misunderstand both the Judgment and the Birth. The Birth in fact begins with the great kenosis, the divine humiliation. Talk about negativity- He crossed the infinite divide, and went down. It then proceeds with the death of the Holy Innocents, moves on to exile, scandal, suffering rejection, trauma, and crucifixion.

The Judgment on the other hand, while being a negative experience for some, is in reality, the great and final victory dance for those who have prepared for it. It is the consummation of the power of God poured out on those who love Him. It is their hope fulfilled, the final destruction of their enemies, and their complete and total perfection brought to completion.

In the last few verses of our reading St. Paul prays that their love may abound. This is a thematic prayer of St. Paul in his epistles. Our love needs to grow and be perfected. We need to love more, and love better. One of the perennial problems we face is sluggishness in spiritual zeal, pulling up short, atrophy, lolly gagging, coasting, half hearted effort, maybe not going in for that sin whole hog but dancing around the edges, playing with fire- snooze button faith- I told my class the other day whoever invented the snooze button was probably inspired by a demon.

Paul runs with vigor, fights with force, presses on towards the high calling. This is what he earnestly prays for when he prays that our love would abound. If you have been sitting on the sidelines, it’s time to get back in the race.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast is really about the uncompromising nature of God, which is just, good, and holy. And if we're going to enjoy the wedding feast with His Son, we must be clothed with goodness and holiness. Simply because darkness has no fellowship with light. Simply, because light destroys the darkness. This is not a moralism. This is just a metaphysical reality: light destroys darkness.

Would we have God become darkness, so that we might feel a little better about Him in this parable? Would that make Him kinder, gentler, more merciful? If He became a little bit dark? So that this poor old sap didn't get thrown into outer darkness? If He were to become part of the evil? Is this the kind of God we would imagine that would be more loving? Or do we cry out with the holy ones for justice, for God to destroy evil in the world, and in our hearts? To liberate us from the tyranny of sin and death, to set all things in order? To set all things rightly: that is what justice is.