A hint of restoration appeared as we meditated through Advent 1. This hint should nudge us to a question: Why restoration? Advent 2 answers that question. Restoration happens to make way for righteousness. That righteousness shows itself so prominently in the Advent 2* readings makes sense. We are anticipating Jesus’ arrival and the reason Jesus arrived was to make us – you and me – righteous.
The theme of Advent 1 – restoration – brings with it hope. I am broken and you are broken but Jesus will restore us to what we were created to be. Restoration is still offered to me if I am the perpetrator of my brokenness, but it is also offered to me in cases where I am broken because I am a victim. An offer of restoration, then, invites introspection and it may provide an opportunity for me to see my guilt and to repent, but restoration does not seem to have guilt as a necessary precursor. Advent 2’s theme, though, brings a different kind of hope. The hope that comes with righteousness is a hope that includes a little bit of a shadow. If Jesus is going to make me righteousness I must be starting from a place of unrighteousness. Unlike receiving the coming restoration, receiving the coming righteousness requires that I look at myself and see a sinner.
The readings from the past week demonstrate the mode of righteousness. Righteous is not something I become. Righteous is something I am made to be. I may allow this to happen, but allowing it to happen is the only area where I can make a choice. I do not have the capacity to initiate righteousness because I rejected righteousness. That’s true of everyone. People were created as righteous and we had a right relationship with God. We broke that relationship. It makes sense that if this relationship is going to be repaired that it is God who does the repairing. If God did not choose to repair our relationship, it would not be repaired.
I desperately need repair. Repair is not always pleasant, however. Being made righteous can be painful. Again, this makes sense. Even though the way I live is sinful, it is still the way I live, and I am used to it. Change, even good change, can cause friction and difficulty. Ezekiel uses a vivid image to convey this. God makes us righteous in the same way that a surgeon makes us healthy:
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God**.
God is doing three things here that make his people righteous. One, he is removing them from where negative relationships get in the way of righteousness. Second, he is removing idolatry – the pull to worship false gods – away from them. Third, he is removing a sick, sinful heart and replacing it with a healthy one. These amount to an absolute change of character for God’s people. Certainly, this is a change for the better, but it does mean old comforts and norms are being rejected.
The reason that becoming righteous can be painful is because it involves judgement and conviction. This can be – maybe even should be – intense. Divine judgement has a negative image in a context that is steeped in a worldview that seems equal parts live-and-let-live and outrage. We are very good at pointing fingers. In some cases, this is good and right because we are pointing at evil. In other cases, I’m not so sure. Outrage for the sake of outrage seems to be a theme of the day. Typically, though, such outrage is punctuated with the idea that no one should point a finger at me. In this type of context, the church’s role is two-fold. First, we must demonstrate that righteousness is a positive and beneficial way to live. Second, we must demonstrate a radical forgiveness as part of our response to evil. Being repulsed by sin is not good enough for Christian righteousness. Forgiveness and righteousness must be closely aligned. Each is a characteristic of God.
Isaiah explains to us that God’s judgement is how his people learn to be righteous. Alternatively, if evil is rewarded there will be no impetus to turn toward righteousness. How things are going right now is pretty good, thank you very much.***
Part of my job at the homeless shelter I work at is to do housing assessments for the men who use the shelter long-term. As I consider the idea of righteousness, I cannot help but think of this process. Our starting point with these assessments is that everyone should have access to safe and affordable housing. The purpose of the assessment is not to determine whether someone deserves housing. That people deserve housing is a truth so readily assumed that it is unspoken. The purpose, instead, is to understand how we can best support someone to maintain their housing successfully after they move in. One of the questions I ask during these assessments is whether the person I am talking with has anything positive that they look forward to doing during the week. Another question I ask is about whether they have social relationships and whether they consider such relationships to be positive. In my view, the answers to these questions are the areas where negative influences can most likely derail a person’s housing success. In these two aspects of someone’s life – activities and associates – I see why moving toward righteousness can be painful. My guys have to look at a deeply personal part of their life and ask, “Is this hurting me? Am I willing to set it aside even if letting it go is difficult?”
Advent is a joyous reminder that such change is good, despite the pain. Replacing a stone heart with a flesh heart is possible if we look to the correct surgeon. Righteousness comes with Jesus. When we allow Jesus to change us, change is possible and good, even when the process is difficult. This has been a theme in the church since its earliest days. Peter, who was the apostle who Jesus chose to be the foundation for the Christian church, said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” **** This is the good news. This is the gospel.
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*I am using Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary to guide my scripture reading this Advent. http://www.commontexts.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DailyreadingsB.pdf
**Ezekiel 36:24-28, ESV
***Isaiah 26:9-10, ESV
**** Acts 2:38-39, ESV
**Ezekiel 36:24-28, ESV
***Isaiah 26:9-10, ESV
**** Acts 2:38-39, ESV
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