In ancient Israel, “the day of the Lord” was a day of crisis: a time when enemies threatened and the call rang out for the armies of Israel to gather. In the day of the Lord the tocsin sounded and those who were ready went forth to battle. When the leaders of Israel, first the judges and then later the kings, hit the alarm button, they called the People of God to the colors and summoned the host of Israel.
Later, the day of the Lord was invoked as a time of judgment that went beyond the straightforward call to arms. It still signified a crisis but of a different sort: a crisis of judgment. “Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light…” (Amos 5:18), according to the prophet Amos. “The day of the Lord is coming, it is near,” says the prophecy of Joel, “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!” (Joel 2:1-2). Isaiah called the People of Israel to “enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord… For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high” (Is. 2:10, 12). On the day of the Lord, judgment was prepared against Israel.
All was not gloom and doom, however, on the day of the Lord. Another note is sounded by the prophet Isaiah in our first reading. “In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house” (that is, Jerusalem) “shall be established as the highest of the mountains… they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Is. 2:1, 4). It’s part of the vision of peace in Isaiah that includes the wolf living with the lamb, and the leopard lying down with the kid. On the day of the Lord, “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain” (Is. 11:9), as Isaiah says in the eleventh chapter.
It is this day of the Lord in ancient Israel that provided the backdrop for Jesus’ prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man, in our Gospel today. “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42). Jesus is returning in glory on the day of the Lord, but none of us knows when that day is. It will come when no one is looking for it. As Jesus says, we’ll need to stay awake and be prepared for his coming. “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected time” (Matt. 24:44).
St. Paul, in our second reading from the Letter to the Romans, captures some of the immediacy and, indeed, militancy of the origins of the “day of the Lord.” Here we have his rousing cry. “The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light”(Rom. 13:12). For Paul, the time has now come to prepare for the coming of the Lord. The dawn can even now be glimpsed as the darkness begins to fade and the true light comes into the world. The long night is passing and, in Jesus Christ, the new day is near.
The “armor of light” strikes a militant note. In our reading from Romans, we can hear the tocsin sound and the alarm bells ring. The crisis is at hand. The Church is summoned to gather and prepare for battle.
With the call to “put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12), St. Paul is changing up the theme of Isaiah’s peaceable kingdom, the swords into ploughshares motif. Like the prophet Joel, who reversed Isaiah’s order by calling for ploughshares to be beaten into swords, and pruning hooks into spears, Romans issues a call to arms. Joel’s prophecy says, “Let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior’” (Joel. 3:10). In a very similar way, Paul is calling Christians to equip themselves for the crisis, for the battle that is at hand.
If you are wondering at this military metaphor; at what it might look like to put on the armor of light, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says, then turn to the previous chapter of Romans. “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers” (Rom. 12:9-13). The real battle is the internal one, the moral struggle that we are all engaged in. If we follow these practices, we will be fully equipped; well able to withstand the works of darkness that are in our midst.
Our confirmands and those being received today are reminding us of the common vocation that lies before us as Christians. They are stepping into the spotlight, inspiring and encouraging us, but the call is addressed to all of us together. In the face of the crisis we are all called to the colors, to gather as the Church, to put on the armor of light. As we wait in hope for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the final struggle, we must be ready to answer the call.
