The Beginning is Near

 Luke 21:25-36   Advent 1   December 1, 2024

 

I read an article that was written actually a couple of years ago,

which said that with the events happening in this country and in this world:

wild fires, hurricanes, climate change, wars, terrorism, political upheaval,

the pandemic, division, and threats of everything –

that an increased number of people are experiencing

things like anxiety, depression which they usually attribute to trauma,

even from people who haven’t had direct trauma.

The world’s become too much for lots of people to deal with.

 

And it said that one of the issues that people are having is

they are resorting to “apocalyptic thinking”. The article used those words.

People who are overly stressed about the events in the world

are looking out for signs that every moment is the beginning

of the end of the world, or at least civilization as we know it.

 

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

thinking and acting rationally, and it justifies bad behavior.

In apocalyptic thinking, people who differ from us

become enemies and agents of the end we fear.

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.

 

The reading today is not helping out with that, I know.

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”

Keep alert, stay on guard to watch out

for the signs that others might be ignoring.

Be attentive to the signs and know the future through them.

In other words, to have apocalyptic thinking.

Apparently, Jesus and the Gospel writers have not read the article from

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 birthday.

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?

Over the last century or so, people have developed elaborate

fictions about how all this will all happen.

 

When we think of Christ’s second coming, we get images of

world-wide destruction and dystopian social scenarios,

and no one can 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,

more reactivity, more bad behavior.

 

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

These things that fill our heads are fictions, made to scare us.

They’re fabrications based on little bits of interpreted scripture.

We don’t know what will happen and we don’t know when it will happen.

And of the many times we have been convinced that the end was nigh,

it’s never happened yet.

  

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 I was wrong about that.

During 9-11, I thought the end was upon us, but I was wrong about that.

And even though those were tough times, we’re still living

in one of the most peaceful times in history.

I’m sure in many eras were far worse and seemed more like the end.

But here we still are: worried and anxious.

Maybe our problems stems from our understanding of what an apocalypse is. 

These fictional predictions of the end make it

sound like apocalypse actually equals destruction.

It’s been used so much, that apocalypse actually does mean destruction.

 

But the word apocalypse is from the Greek

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

it’s not about the end of the world, but the uncovering 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.”

 

Redemption is “regaining of something” in exchange for payment, 

or clearing a debt. When all those signs happen in the world,

it’s a sign of God regaining the world.

 

I am sure that we will see some more scary things in our lifetimes.

We might be tempted to hide our heads and avoid everything,

or we might want to look too close and predict doom at every

turn whip ourselves into a frenzy. But that’s not what Jesus wants us to do.

Jesus wants us to remain awake, with hopeful anticipation.

 

Our expectations about Jesus second Advent

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

 

Jesus came to us at a time of terrible hopelessness.

A time in history of corruption, poverty, and desperation for most people.

But Jesus 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.

The destruction of time and corruption of good, isn’t the end,

it’s the opportunity for all things to be made new again.

 

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, not dread.

to keep each other alert, to be aware.

But not 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.

God always shows up the most brilliant

amongst pain, and sorrow, and suffering.

 

Jesus asks us to keep awake and alert.

And to do it 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-time.

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.

The apocalypse, the revelation.

The ravages of time and the corruption of what’s good,

isn’t the end, it’s the opportunity for all things to be made new again.

For God to be renewing it all.

 

So let’s have those apocalyptic thoughts,

But know it’s not the end of the world,

but that it’s the beginning of everything.