Empty Courtrooms

 

Nativity of John the Baptizer

Malachi 3:1-5 (CJB)

⁵ “Then I will approach you for judgment;
and I will be quick to witness
against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers;
against those who take advantage
of wage-earners, widows and orphans;
against those who rob the foreigner of his rights
and don’t fear me, says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”

“Then I will approach you for judgment;”

I always pay attention to the syntax. It sounds to me as if the prophet is speaking on behalf of God in a literary form that is almost like the script of a play. I heard this passage in my mind’s ear just like that. The prophet is on a spotlit stage and I am in the audience in the dark, silent theater, listening to Malachi promise that God will stand witness against “those who take advantage of wage-earners, widows and orphans; against those who rob the foreigner of his rights and don’t fear me,”

But here’s the thing that rocked me: God says “I will approach you for judgment.” In this scene, God is presenting the case before us, and waiting to hear what our verdict will be.

 

Matthew 11:2-19 (NRSV)

^7b“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. ⁹What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ ¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 

 “the kingdom of heaven has been overpowered by violence and the violent seize it by force.”

How can that be? Here’s Jesus talking plain; telling us in no uncertain terms that the Realm of Heaven is vulnerable to violence; that it has been invaded, occupied, and subjugated by “those who take advantage.” It’s a nearly ruthless vision of a different kind of Heaven; the Realm within us, in which God dwells. Could it be that we are being called upon to protect this fragile, holy ecosystem? Could it be that it all comes down to us? That we are the invaders, the advantage-takers, the violent.

This Realm of Heaven has no border fences or ports of entry. It has no walls around it with sentry-towers and gun emplacements. There is no heavenly security force. The only protection this Realm has is our own acknowledgment that we ourselves are the threat. We can’t point fingers at anyone else. We can’t grant citizenship to some people, and extradite anyone who doesn’t qualify. We can’t afford to appoint ourselves as the gatekeepers of Heaven.

If God is quick to bear witness before us to all the awful things that we do, we’d better climb down off that judge’s bench real quick!

If each one of us is greater than old Baptizer John, even though he is the greatest prophet of all time, then maybe we better look to that indwelling Realm of God in each of us and ask ourselves this:

When God approaches the judge’s bench and begs us to pass judgment, what sort of judgment will we give?

Will God stand silent if we aim our accusing finger at someone else, and complain that it’s not our fault?

Maybe if we go stand with God and point a trembling, accusing finger at ourselves, we might find out just exactly what it means to follow Christ. After all, that’s what Jesus did— counted himself among the sinners, sitting down to eat with grifters, thieves, prostitutes, and all sorts of unsavory folks.

Maybe that’s what Paul meant when he said, “What Christ has freed us for is freedom!”

Freedom from the burden of sitting on that judge’s bench, maybe?

 

Old Man Zen says, “No sense in hanging out in an empty courtroom, is there?”