Luke 21:28

REDEMPTION

‘And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.’

Luke 21:28

Redemption dawns, as order out of chaos, and rides triumphant on the storm of a shattered world. Is not this the way of God? ‘He knoweth whereof we are made; He remembereth that we are but dust.’ The infinite pathos of life appeals irresistibly to His infinite pity. And they run ever side by side—wrath and redemption, punishment and pity, doom and restitution.

I. Redemption!— Note the expression. It is a word with which we are familiar in the writings of St. Paul—as the paying of purchase-money to secure the captive’s liberty; and it emphasises the fact, which we are so apt to miss, that a purpose of God runs through all which seems to be most turbulent and irresponsible in the dealings of men. And, further, it declares to us that the help we look for is from above, that the life and death of Jesus Christ are not so many lessons on which the reformer may base his precepts, but the working out of a Divine purpose and the extension of Divine help to meet the sore needs of human trouble.

II. It may be true that anxious times are before us in Church and State, but if so there is redemption behind them.—There are anxious questions whichever way we turn, portents and signs of wickedness, of immorality, clever enough to steer clear of criminality, and more deadly because more clever; of heartless luxury, of indifference, of the shaking of great principles and the abandonment of fundamental beliefs. And yet here, too, there are signs of coming redemption, the timid leaves of better things are starting forth. It is an immense thing, for instance, to be able to feel that there is a real growth in sincerity. If there is far less official religion than there used to be, or a respectful conformity with despised traditions, there is an immense growth in earnestness. The man who belongs to no party may enjoy the cynical contempt of the gods of Olympus looking down on a struggle which they despise and avoid, but he will carry no weight nor get a hearing for his message. There is a bright side even to the restlessness which is such a characteristic of our times. Those of us who know least of the writings of St. Augustine know the famous passage in his Confessions where he says, ‘We were made, O Lord, for Thee, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.’

—Rev. Canon Newbolt.