It’s hardly surprising that a culture bereft of history, tradition, and Scripture can’t recognize or understand Jesus. Who can wonder that it holds such strange and even contradictory views of Him?

Just looking at the first reading and the Gospel today paired by the Church shows how confusing it can be to get a handle on who Jesus really is. The first reading from Isaiah portrays the loving, merciful, humble shepherd, coming to take care of His flock. The Gospel passage from Matthew 25 portrays Christ the just judge, separating the sheep from the goats.

These are rather contrasting images–both stark, both real, both memorable, both important. One of the first things I learned studying theology was that to interpret Scripture well, you must interpret Scripture in the light of the rest of Scripture.

Jesus, being God, will always be a Mystery we can never fully comprehend. But it’s important to hold the concept of “both and” when dealing with Jesus . . .

Both God and man.

Both king and servant.

Both humble and strong.

Both shepherd and judge.

If we overlook Jesus’s divinity and the reality that He WILL judge each and every one us, we easily fall away. We fall into complacency and presumption. Jesus has no BITE then, no toughness, no reality, nothing that genuinely attracts our attention.

If we overlook Jesus’s humility, mercy, compassion, and love, we fall into despair–for we are all sinners, and if we are honest at all, we all know we deserve condemnation.

The fact is, as long as we are alive, there is hope. We can ALWAYS turn to Jesus in repentance, and He will welcome us with open arms. He created, knows, loves, and calls each one of us BY NAME.

But He is quite clear in warning that salvation without repentance, without turning away from sin and toward God and accepting God on His terms, without recognizing that we are NOT God and do not call the shots, is impossible. If we do not die to ourselves, we cannot find any joy in what heaven is.

Heaven, after all, is at core as complete a sharing in the divine life of God as we are capable of.

This coming Advent, repent and believe in the Gospel.

You are a mess. Your life is a mess. Your soul is a mess. Mine is too. But God sees and understands that mess. He takes compassion, for He doesn’t want to leave us in it. He sent His Son to offer us renewal, light, and life through repentance, faith, and Baptism. He sent His Son to conquer death–OUR deaths.