Tag Archives: Reckoning

Chapter-a-Day

The Reckoning

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“Again, [the kingdom of heaven in the end times] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.”
Matthew 25:14 (NIV)

In yesterday’s post/podcast I talked about it being the beginning of my 60th lap around the sun and being mindful of wanting to finish this earthly journey well. I continued to think about that yesterday and it was still rattling around in my heart and mind as I entered the quiet to read today’s chapter.

This week I’ve been looking at these final chapters of Matthew’s version of the Jesus Story with a wide-angle lens. Each chapter connects to the events around them, and I found it profitable again this morning to be aware of the context of today’s chapter.

Jesus is on the Mount of Olives in the final week of his earthly journey. During the day He taught in the Temple to the crowds during the week of the Passover festival. The Temple leaders were humiliated by Jesus’ criticism of them and their resounding defeat in every attempt to debate and refute Jesus. Now He is having an intimate evening conversation with His closest followers.

This intimate evening conversation began in yesterday’s chapter, when the disciples asked Jesus about the end times and His return. I found it important this morning as I read to consider that the three parables Jesus tells in today’s chapter (and there’s that number three again) are all told in reference to Jesus return and to what is referred to as Judgement Day.

The first parable is about young women who are bridesmaids for a member of their household. As bridesmaids, one of their tasks is to be ready to welcome the Bridegroom when he arrives to take his bride. Because they don’t know when he will arrive they have to constantly keep watch and have oil lamps ready as his arrival could be in the middle of the night. This illustrates Jesus’ command to His disciples in yesterday’s chapter to “keep watch” for His return. It’s about living this day mindful of the end versus living daily being mindless of it.

The second parable is like it. Once again the important figure, this time it’s a boss, is away and those in the parable don’t know the day or time of his return. His servants have been entrusted with their boss’ gold. Two invested it and earned interest. The third hid it in a mattress. This parable is about diligence versus complacency, once again in light of being mindful of what will happen in the end.

The third and final parable is about Judgement Day events. It relates back to another parable Jesus told regarding weeds and crops growing together in a field. At harvest time the farmer had to harvest the crop and separate the weeds at the same time. The harvest was put into the barn and the weeds burned. It also hearkens back to Jesus telling His followers that true disciples are those who do the things He taught and put them into practice.

In this final parable, a King separates people like sheep and goats. He rewards the sheep and punishes the goats. What’s fascinating in this parable is that there are sheep who do the right thing and had no idea that they were doing it while there are goats who thought they were doing the right thing but completely missed the point. Those whose lives were marked by tangibly loving the down-and-out, the poor-and-needy versus those who went through religious motions but didn’t bear the fruit of God’s Spirit in how they treated others each day.

In each of the three parables of today’s chapter, there is a final reckoning. Those who do well in this reckoning are:

Mindful
Diligent
Loving servants of others

In the quiet this morning, I find that the lesson is pretty clear. As a disciple of Jesus, I am to be mindful of this day that lies before me in light of another Day that I know is eventually coming.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Day

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Swing the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
    for the winepress is full
    and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”
Joel 3:13 (NIV)

I have been fascinated of late by the headlines. Corruption is everywhere. That is not news, of course. Corruption is always there, on both sides of the aisle, and around the world. History has taught me this. Corruption is woven into the fabric of the kingdoms of this world. Netflix is rife with documentaries uncovering the breadth of it. Corruption is part of the human condition since the Snake slithered in the Garden of Eden. The kingdoms of this world create systems to keep their corruption from public view and most of the time those systems work to protect corrupt elites from both exposure and consequences. Of late, the reality of corruption has been seeping out the cracks of the closed doors and smoke-filled rooms across the political spectrum. I’m not convinced that it will amount to anything. Along my life journey, I’ve observed that the systems meant to protect the corrupt will occasionally crack but rarely do they break.

Once again, I’m talking about both sides of the aisle and across the gobal political spectrum. Corruption has always been an equal opportunity racket for powerbrokers of all persuasions, even religious ones. The Godfather taught me this, not to mention the events of Jesus’ arrest and execution.

The result of corruption is always suffering and injustice. You’ll see it everywhere is you have the stomach to honestly look, and let’s face it, most of the time I don’t. I hold endless mental distractions in the palm of my hand most of the day, every day.

The Great Story, however, never ceases to remind me of what I often would choose to ignore. The overarching storyline from Genesis to Revelation is the human condition and the havoc it wreaks on everything from my individual willingness to make wrong choices to the corrupt systems you’ll find lurking in every human institution, especially those of global politics and finance.

The prophetic message of the ancient prophet Joel stands out among the ancient prophets because his metaphorical message points to a Day of Judgement at the end of the Story. It goes by different names like Judgement Day, the Day of the Lord, a Day of Reckoning, and sometimes just The Day. It is described as the day when the “books are opened” and everything, both good and evil, is accounted for. Justice is meted out on the grand scale of God’s Kingdom once, and for all.

As I read today’s final chapter of Joel, it echoed everywhere. In fact, the verse I quoted at the top of the post is clearly present in John’s Revelations:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 
Revelation 14:14-19 (NIV)

As a disciple of Jesus, I cannot escape the fact that He mentions this Day of Judgement again, and again, and again.

In the quiet this morning, I feel myself holding a certain tension. It is both the cynical weight of human corruption and the seemingly foolish hope that The Day will, indeed, one day arrive.

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
-Jesus (Matthew 12:35-37)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Justice

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Justice (CaD Rev 10) – Wayfarer

I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Revelation 10:10 (NIV)

Over the past couple of days, I have been watching a documentary about Roman Catholic priests who committed terrible acts of child abuse and subsequent horrific crimes to cover it up. The institutional church also aided in stonewalling the victims, as did the local authorities. There have been multiple times that I’ve come close to turning it off and walking away. It’s hard to watch.

Our fallen world is full of injustice. It always has been. And, the institutional church has been complicit. Just a few weeks ago the Southern Baptist Convention announced the results of an independent investigation which revealed that the denomination had hidden countless acts of sexual abuse by pastors and volunteers for decades. Even in the conservative small town where we live, there has been scandal and cover-up.

Our children’s generation has championed social justice, and they’ve been critical of previous generations of believers, and the institutional church, for not doing enough to address injustice. My ears and my heart are open to this critique. This world will never be found wanting as it relates to the need for justice. The Great Story is filled with cries for justice from Abel’s blood to the prophets, Job, the psalmists, and Jesus.

And that brings me to Revelation. The judgments envisioned and prophetically predicted for the end times are God’s judgment on a corrupt, unjust, and unrepentant world.

Today’s chapter is an interlude between the sixth and seventh “trumpet” judgments. A giant angel descends to earth holding a small scroll. John is told to eat it. It tastes like a treat from the dessert bar, but once it’s finished it turns his stomach sour. The prophetic words of the scroll are what John is told to proclaim and prophetically predict. The final stomach-churning judgments. Seven bowls of just reckoning and Judgment Day.

Kind of like the documentary I’ve been watching, it would be easy to shut the book and walk away. Revelation is not an easy read. But, it’s a necessary read in understanding the whole of the Great Story.

In the quiet this morning, I circle back to the stories of adults wracked with pain and anger because they were victimized by men who were supposed to be God’s servants. On one hand, it has my heart crying out for Judgment Day. On the other hand, I’m reminded of my own sins, my own complicities, and the injustices I’ve not only failed to address, but to which I’ve contributed either by word, act, or omission.

I hear the question of Jesus’ followers echoing in my heart: “Who then can be saved?”

“With man it is impossible,” Jesus replied, “but with God all things are possible.”

I sit in the quiet and ponder what this means for me on this day. The words of the prophet Micah rise within my spirit, words that Micah proclaims are God pleading his just case to the mountains and the hills:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

And so, I enter another day of this earthly journey intent on doing so.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Day of Reckoning

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And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.
Jeremiah 39:2 (NIV)

It’s an old-time phrase: “day of reckoning.” I learned this morning in a brief etymology search that the root of the word reckoning is Dutch in origin. Reckon in Dutch and German means “to count.” The original meaning phrase is rooted in commerce and the settling of accounts. Which makes sense if you know that in the 1600-1700s the port of Amsterdam was the epicenter of global trade and commerce. Dutch bankers were the Wall Street brokers of their day.

The “day of reckoning” is, therefore, the day the bill comes due and accounts are settled. It later took on a broader metaphorical meaning and became “The Day of Reckoning” meaning spiritual judgement and becoming synonymous with what theologians dubbed The Judgement Day of Christ. Most popular in the early 1800s, use of the phrase “day of reckoning” has been in steady decline since then, though there was a slight resurgence of use around the turn of the century when the world was a bit more obsessed with impending apocalypse and the Y2K virus.

The phrase came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter. It tells the story of the day that Jerusalem falls to King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army, just as Jeremiah has been steadfastly and prophetically predicting for 38 long chapters.

Specifically, today’s chapter is about the “day of reckoning” for King Zedekiah of Judah. Just yesterday, Jeremiah was still assuring Zed that if he surrendered he would be spared and the city would not be destroyed. Whether it was pride, political expediency, or a little of both that led to Zedekiah’s continuous refusal to believe or trust Jeremiah, we’ll never know. As the Babylonian army breaches the wall ofJerusalem Zedekiah flees with his officials. They are quickly caught. It didn’t turn out well for Zed or his family.

The chapter ends, however, with a ray of hope. Jeremiah is spared by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah sends a prophetic word to Ebed-Melek, the African eunuch of Zedekiah’s court who had Jeremiah rescued from the bottom of the well. Jeremiah prophesies that Ebed-Melek will escape the horrible end he fears at the hand of the Babylonians as a reward of his faithfulness.

This morning I’m thinking back on my life journey up to this point. There have been several events in my life and the lives of my loved ones that I would label days of reckoning. The day an unexpected phone call brought surprising news of death. The day the security of a dad’s job melted into fear of poverty. The day my high school friend uttered the words “she’s pregnant.” The day the divorce decree was final. The day the contract ended. These are just the ones that quickly come to mind as I sip my coffee. There are others. I’m sure you have a few of your own that come to mind.

There is a spiritual lesson, I believe, staring me right in the face this morning. It is rooted in simple wisdom as much as it is in the dramatic telling of Zedekiah and the supernatural messages of the prophet Jeremiah. “You reap what you sow,” is one way we say it. “What goes around, comes around,” is another. Each day my thoughts, words, and actions are a spiritual, relational, physical, and/or social expenditure or deposit. Mindlessly we go about our day either investing or squandering life. Eventually, the bill comes due. There is a day of reckoning.

This morning I’m meditating on the day ahead, and the ways I can make better investment of my thoughts, words, and actions.

FYI: A new message was posted to the Messages page today.

featured photo courtesy of www.SeniorLiving.Org

Chapter-a-Day

Reckoning

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“Your own conduct and actions
    have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
    How bitter it is!
    How it pierces to the heart!”
Jeremiah 4:18 (NIV)

Reckoning is word we don’t use very often any more. It is the the process of settling accounts. It is the day that the bill comes due. Metaphorically used, a “day of reckoning” may not have anything to do with money. It’s when our actions come to their natural conclusion.

On a national level, I’ve been hearing economic prophets crying in the wilderness about a “day of reckoning” for as long as I can remember. We spend more than we take in. The U.S. national debt was at 20 trillion dollars and growing when I looked at it this morning. Every bill our congress passes has a host of pork barrel riders and appropriations (often called “earmarks”) for spending money on pet local projects our lawmakers have promised to the people who’ve lined their pockets back home. The President has no line-item veto so if he wants credit for the main bill he has to quietly put up with all of the quiet little pork barrel projects no one talks about. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Say no more. This is not a political issue, by the way. This is a systemic issue. Everyone does it on both sides of the aisle. Making hard choices won’t get you re-elected, so we continue our game of cost-shifting. How long can it go on? [cue: the economic doomsday prophets]

On a personal level, I make daily choices that impact my health, my relationships, and my physical, social, and economic well-being. Eventually, there will be a day of reckoning when my seemingly insignificant choices will come to their natural conclusions.

It is very human to cry “Why me?” when the shit hits the fan. Yet along life’s journey I’ve discovered that the answer to that question isn’t usually as elusive as I’d like to pretend. If I turn around and look at the choices I’ve made and the steps I’ve taken across my journey, I can usually see the path of seemingly small, insignificant choices that have led me to this place. I have no one to blame but myself. But, blame-shifting is as common to the human condition as cost-shifting. I’ve observed along my journey that God often gets the blame when we humans adroitly employ our penchant for blame-shifting.

In today’s chapter, Jeremiah is poetically prophesying doomsday scenarios for his nation. Anticipating the eventual blame-shifting the people will employ on the day of reckoning, he reminds them that on that day it will have been their own choices that will have brought them to that place.

This morning I’m thinking about my own life, my own choices, and my own circumstances. Another word we don’t use very often is “repentance.” The original meaning is a word picture of turning around and moving in the opposite direction. Each day represents an opportunity for me to turn away from foolish choices and to start making wise ones. Every day affords the opportunity to change my day of reckoning from a doomsday scenario to that of blessing.

I hear the whisper of my mother’s voice…or is it Holy Spirit?

“Make good choices today.”

Have a good day, my friends.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Zechariah 14

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“Note well: God’s Judgment Day is on the way….” Zechariah 14:1 (MSG)

As a child, there were fewer words that hung in the air with such ominous, impending doom as “Wait until your father gets home.” Growing up in a pretty traditional household, my dad was the provider and the strict disciplinarian. My mother, you should know, was no slouch. She handled the daily policing of children deftly, and she could mete out her own effective forms of parental judgement. But, when mom made a point of deferring judgment to dad, you knew it was serious and you knew there was going to be trouble for the perpetrator (and the satisfying opportunity for the victim to see justice handed out).

The threat of impending judgement had a powerful effect. We don’t often think about, or talk about God’s judgement. At least, it’s not talked about much in my community or circles of relationships. Judgment is an uncomfortable subject in a culture that likes to look on the brighter side of life. Spiritually speaking, however, we have to know that we are all waiting for our Father to come home. God’s Message reminds us over and over and over that there will be Day of judgment, and a Day of reckoning.

As a child, I lived my day knowing that I wanted Dad’s daily homecoming to be a moment of joy and not a moment of justice. Am I doing the same now as an adult, in view of God’s promised judgment?

Am I ready?