"if God's will were to be imposed on earth, at God's sole initiative, and over-riding the earth's built-in processes for change, then we would see that what is needed is not a few minor tweaks here and there; cataclysmic over-turnings are needed. Fainting from fear changes are needed."
Year C, Season of Advent
First Sunday of Advent
Sunday Between November 27 and December 3 Inclusive
Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
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Anyone who remembers being in church two weeks ago will be puzzled about why we are hearing this end of the world stuff all over again.
What a difference a couple of weeks can make in how a text can speak to us. We have a whole new Year; a whole new Season. And so a whole new question:
Hands up, who spent today expecting, anticipating, being alert for the coming of the Son of Man? Being alert for the fulfillment of God's promises? For the coming of God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven?
Hmm. I wonder what it means when many, perhaps most, of us no longer live in anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promises in our lifetime? But this is precisely the God-sized anticipation that the Season of Advent calls us to re-new and rehearse.
The powerful, violent, fearsome images used by Jesus in this passage remind us of how far we are from God's heart's desire - if God's will were to be imposed on earth, at God's sole initiative, and over-riding the earth's built-in processes for change, then we would see that what is needed is not a few minor tweaks here and there; cataclysmic over-turnings are needed. Fainting from fear changes are needed.
But to those who have been well schooled in the teachings of Advent, who have taken its lessons to heart, who have not been distracted by the cheery songs and glittery gifts, whose hearts continue to long for God's deeper purposes - for these ones, Jesus says:
Don't faint from fear. Instead, stand up. Raise your heads. Your salvation is drawing near.
As one whose Advent this year is being lived within the experience of a cataclysmic injury in our family, I can attest to the truth of this teaching. Though terribly frightened, we have not fainted. We have stood up; raised our heads; and - though we are in the early days - are beginning to see faintly that our salvation is drawing near.
So whatever we might want to make of Verse Thirty-Two 2,000 years later, our family can testify that Verse Thirty-Three still holds: Jesus' words have indeed not passed away.
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
* Link to Amazon.com Bibliography for Bruce Malina, et. al., Social Science Commentary on ... The Synoptic Gospels; The Gospel of John; The Book of Acts; The Letters of Paul; The Book of Revelation; and others.
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