What To Do with Jesus and Judgment Part 2: The Cliffs of Dover & Driver's Ed Videos

So yesterday we talked about Jesus' judgment parables having nothing to do with being left behind at the end of all times. They have much more to do with the immediate context of the people of Jerusalem. They will kill him and they will be judged for it. And of course they are, in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple.

So this has nothing to do with us...and everything to do with us. If the Jews of Jesus' day will be judged for rejecting their coming Messiah, so will we.

And so we still have to wrestle with the question of Jesus and judgment. How are we to read these parables of judgment and trust that God is good, gracious and loving?

I've never been there, but I've been told that the Cliffs of Dover have warning signs: if you get too close, the wind is strong enough that you can and will get blown over the edge. The signs warn you that you will plummet to your death if you're not careful.

The signs have no malicious intent. They are stating facts. They are posted out of concern for the health and well-being of all who approach. They are warnings.

And so it is with Jesus. Warnings are warnings. They are given to us to keep us away from getting blown over the edge. Certain behaviors carry with them natural consequences.

The universe is designed a certain way: fall off the edge of the Cliffs of Dover, you splat down below. Push away the God of the universe, it results in certain un-pleasant eternity alternatives.

And so Jesus warns, pleads, weeps and even warns us: "let all who will, let them come home!" This is the point of the warnings in the gospels. They are stern and harsh sometimes, like a driver's ed video, to alert you to the sober reality of what's at stake.

We must remember that Jesus' "no" is always there to serve his "yes." The parables that speak of judgment are there as an emphatic "no" to our self-absorbed or foolish or ignorant or arrogant movement away from God in order to bring us into the "yes" of a life deeply connected with his grace and love and mercy.

A life that will run in that same direction for all eternity.