Apocalyptic Thinking

Luke 21:25-36  
Advent 1  
November 28, 2021

 

I read an article written in the past year that said

that with the pandemic and with other things happening

in this country and in this world, that a lot of people

are experiencing Post Traumatic Stress and anxiety.

 

And it said that one of the ways that we can alleviate that

is by stopping our “apocalyptic thinking” it used those words.

To keep our sanity, and our heads about us

we need to stop thinking that every moment

is the beginning of the end of the world.

 

This kind of thinking actually re-traumatizes us, it prevents us from

thinking and acting rationally, it justifies bad behavior.

In apocalyptic thinking, the candidate we oppose

is not just “the one we wouldn’t choose”

or even a “bad candidate”,  apocalyptic thinking says that

“they mean to end democracy and our way of life as we know it.”

Drama.

 

When we raise everything to the level of apocalypse,

then we live in a constant state of reactivity and emergency.

The article said we have to stop thinking that everything that happens

is a sign of the end of everything we know and love.

I thought that had a lot of wisdom in it.

Stop the apocalyptic thinking.

 

Apparently, Jesus has some other thoughts on that.

This chapter in Luke is called a “little apocalypse”.

Every first Sunday in Advent, we read these little apocalypses.

It doesn’t seem very Christmassy really.

 

Each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke)

has these little apocalypses.

They all start out with things that we fear:

Terrible suffering, wars, hatred, persecution,

vitriol from family, natural disasters.

And then, after that, things don’t get much better,

the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give out light

the stars will fall, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken

Very scary indeed.

And they’re all punctuated by Jesus plea to “Keep Awake”

And keep alert, stay on guard to watch out

for the signs that others might be ignoring.

Look at the signs and be alert to all of them.

In other words, to have apocalyptic thinking.

Apparently, Jesus and the Gospel writers have not read

Psychology Today or whatever I was reading.

 

Jesus wants us to keep awake during all this and notice the signs.

But what for? Why should we keep awake?

Does Jesus want us scared and nervous all the time?

Does Jesus enjoy our anxiety?

Is this a way to scare us and to control our behavior?

No, I don’t think Jesus is telling us this to raise our

anxiety, Jesus actually wants to lower it.

Advent is not just about waiting for Christmas

and waiting for the baby Jesus.

It’s about waiting for Jesus to come again.

When we hear that, waiting for Jesus to come again,

it probably fills us with dread, and who can blame us?

 

These snapshots of stars falling and the powers of heaven

being shaken are scary, combined with the weird imagery

from Daniel and Revelation, have fueled imaginations

over the last century or so and people have developed elaborate

fictions about how all this will all go.

I mean these fictions are terrible and people

can’t seem to do anything about thwarting it

because it’s “God’s will”.

It’s like we’re pawns caught in a battle between good and evil

That does sound terrible. More anxiety and worry.

More throwing up of hands and giving up,

Starry Night
Vincent Van Gogh

more reactivity, more bad behavior.

 

But the truth is, we don’t know what the end will look like

I mean there were times in 2020 when I was waiting

in line to get into a grocery store at 6:30 in the morning

that I was sure the end was upon us,

but it turns out I was wrong about that.

 

Maybe the problems is our problem stems from

our understanding of what an apocalypse is.

The word apocalypse is from the Greek

and it means “uncovering”, “revealing”, “revelation”

not necessarily the end of the world,

but the revealing of God’s presence.

 

All of these little apocalypses in scripture end in the same way:

there is fear, there is suffering, and then there is Jesus.

The suffering and fear are just a preamble to God’s presence with us.

They are an assurance to us that God is near.

When the sun is darkened and the stars are falling,

and things seem to be getting seriously worse for all involved,

that is the time that Jesus will be there and we will truly know God’s power.

Jesus says in this Little Apocalypse:

“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads,

because your redemption is drawing near.”

 
Our expectations about Jesus second Advent

should be shaped by what we know about Jesus first Advent:

 

When Jesus came to us. he came as a child, he lived and suffered with us,

he taught about God’s love, he taught us about love for one

another, about God’s abundance, and about forgiveness.

And finally Jesus poured out his love for all creation on the cross.

Then the sun was darkened then and the powers of heaven were shaken,

but when humanity gave Jesus the worst it could in the crucifixion,

God gave us the best in the resurrection.

The second coming of Christ should be a welcome presence,

the arrival of our dearest friend.

It is the beginning of our salvation.

 

Back in Texas, I went camping in Big Bend

right on the Mexican border with a group of people from church.

The sky there is beautiful at night because it’s so dark

you can see more stars there than I have ever seen.

And one of the nights that we were there,

There were a lot of shooting stars.

 

Most of the people had gone into their tents

and the few of us were sleeping outside and we started to notice them.

We spent the next couple of hours lying there on our cots

in our sleeping bags monitoring different parts of the sky and saying,

“to the right, to the left, down, up.”

And everyone would look to catch a glimpse.

 

Even though I was ready for bed before we saw them,

I was wide awake looking at them.

My eyes were open and I was super-alert.

I didn’t want to miss any of them,

and I was responsible for looking at my part of the sky.

I didn’t want to let anyone down.

I saw about five shooting stars myself,

but all of us must have seen around thirty shooting stars together.

I felt the excitement of them, even if I didn’t see them with my eyes.

 

This is the attentiveness that Jesus is calling us to.

To wait with one another in hope and awe, not dread.

to keep each other alert, to be aware.

To look not with anxiety, but with hopeful anticipation.

To raise our heads because our redemption is drawing near.

 

Jesus is asking us to wait and watch for God’s presence.

Keep awake and alert.

And to do that together, so we can point these signs out to one another

like shooting stars in our field of vision,

and when we fall asleep, or get cynical or exasperated,

or too anxious, or crazy, or just plain tired,

someone else will be there to keep watch and remind us.

We can see God much more together than we can alone.

 

There is suffering in every time, in every era,

in every community, in every life.

Jesus tells us to not look at those

moments with hopelessness and fear.

But to look at them with anticipation.

To look at them and wait for God to be revealed.

 

So let’s have those apocalyptic thoughts,

But we should not believe that it’s the end of the world,

but that it’s the beginning of everything.