“Wasted, in more ways than just one”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, December 3, 2021
Jude 1-16 (Forward, p. 35) CEV p. 1292
It is rather regrettable that Jude felt compelled to warn his readers about it: he would have preferred to speak about how God’s incredible and saving power was at work in their lives. However, there had snuck into the local assembly those who were teaching that ‘anything goes’, that it was alright to lead dissolute and depraved lives, because, after all, God is a loving and forgiving God, and forgive anything and everything that we do. Somehow, these folks have fallen into the illusion that they no longer need to obey Jesus as the Lord and Master.
Jude warns them that not only are they leading others astray, much to their doom and destruction, but also that they are wasting their own lives as well. Here, he latches on to numerous examples from the Hebrew Scriptures. It is quite a horrendous rollcall, all the way from the rebellious angels of Genesis 6, to Cain, to Balaam, to Sodom & Gomorrah, and to Korah and those who refused to follow God or His servants Moses and Aaron in the desert. All of them, Jude alleges, received God’s most appropriate judgment and punishment. And, he says, the same will be true of those today that grumble and complain and live only according to their own feelings and their own desires. Yes, he says, these people who brag about themselves and flatter others simply to get what they want.
So, we must ask ourselves whether any of this disapproval also applies to us today. What about our grumbling and complaining? What about our love of ease and comfort and our reluctance to embrace or try anything that will take us out of our comfort zones? What about our discomfort over anything that threatens the status quo of our established comfortable lives?
I’m not sure whether any of us would consider ourselves to be in the same category, or anywhere as extreme or depraved, as those that Jude addresses, but even so, it is worth considering our lives, just to be sure. And, to make sure that we truly are obeying, and not trading upon God’s mercy and forgiveness and presuming that all is well. It is a good exercise for us anytime, but especially during this Advent season. Amen.
Forward notes: “These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage (verse 16).
“This season can bring out the Scrooge (or shall we say “grumblers and malcontents”) in some people. Not unlike Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, ‘they indulge their own lusts’ and ‘they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.’ None of us are immune from this, of course, especially when the holiday season can beg us to overindulge in the glitz and glamour of a life we can’t always afford.
“But I’m also reminded of the redemption that awaits Ebenezer Scrooge, who transforms into a likeable character near the end of the story. There’s no doubt he becomes a bit friendlier and whole lot less miserly than he was before.
“And is this same transformation, and ultimately, redemption, not also for all of us? After all, redemption is found in a tiny baby, lying in a manger. And through Christ’s birth, transformation is extended to all of us, including the most grumbling and malcontent among us.”
Moving Forward: “What does it mean to believe that redemption is for every single one of us, most especially our grumbling and malcontent selves?”
