Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 26:20-27:13; 1 John 4:1-21
”But to you who fear My Name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.” (Malachi 4:2)
In Sunday's gospel, the Lord warned: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
Today, the Lord echoes that warning in Malachi: “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments” (Malachi 4:4).
What will Moses do for you? He will teach you to confess what Jesus says: the Day He returns will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. No one, left to their own merits, works, worth, preparedness, or righteousness will be ready. Not even us. Not even us!
So, why bother? If no one can prepare themselves for that Day, why not just give in to all our fears and all our sinful urges? Why not just medicate ourselves with carousing, drunkenness and the cares of this life?
Oh, that's easy! Remember what the Lord also spoke through Malachi: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5). God did that when He sent John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10). What did John do? Well, he invited everyone into the water, didn't he? That is why he is called the Baptist. He came, and with water and the Word washed the people's sins away. (Luke 1:76-79)
There's preparation for the coming of That Day! You don't prepare yourself for His coming, He prepares you. He prepares you by clothing you, washing your filthy garments, handing you over to the Father, baptized — holy, clean, spotless and blameless in His sight (Ephesians 5:25-27). There is your healing!
The problem is, you think of Baptism as a one time deal. True, we believe in “one Baptism for the remission of sins,” as the Nicene Creed teaches us. But, did you know that your Baptism has wings? That is, the cleansing you received in Baptism reaches beyond the Font into every day of your life, even to The Last Day. How? Jesus said yesterday: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Luke 21:33). That's how. You are God's child now, holy and clean. Your Baptism says so. And was that promise not repeated for you yesterday in sermon, Supper, and liturgy? So, live as God's child. Learn from Moses to fear God. Learn from him the works that please God. And trust they are pleasing to God, because you are now pleasing to Him in Christ The wings of Holy Baptism still say so. They always will!