Bring them here and slay them before me

We know Jesus Christ as our loving Savior and Lord.

Many people today, however, even people within the Church, often depict our Lord as a cartoon of fuzzy warm feelings, without a shred of what they would call being judgmental.

In order to do this, of course, these people must throw away the Gospels, especially passages such as the one proclaimed today (Luke 19:11-28): a parable of the last judgment, which ends with these chilling words from the messianic king:

Now as for those enemies of mine
who did not want me as their king,
bring them here and slay them before me.

Jesus loves us: this we know.

Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it.

But salvation in Christ comes not from the ways of the world, but from the way of Christ; not from what the world calls love, but from the love God created and showed us in his Son; not from enjoying the good life and the fruits of this world, but from bearing fruit that will last in Spirit and in truth, in word and in deed.

We can fool ourselves, but when we come at last to stand before the Lord, all things will be clear: including whether we have let ourselves be filled with eternal life, or have filled ourselves with this world's deeds and attitudes of death.

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, be merciful to me - a sinner.