The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
© 2020, Dr. Tamilio
Why is it that mainline Christians shy away from talk about the end times? By mainline Christians I mean churches that are part of denominations whose names you usually hear spoken: Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, and, yes, Congregationalist. We embrace our theological history, all the way back to the Book of Genesis. Most of theology centers around the life and deeds of Jesus. We also embrace the Letters of Paul as normative. But we seem to stop there. The minute we start talking about the Book of Revelation, we mainliners shy away. I think there are two reasons for this:
- The Book of Revelations is a difficult read. Much of what we encounter in that text is surreal. It is hard to explain, let alone base a theology on.
- We associate the Book of Revelations with fundamentalist Christianity — those who base their entire theology on the Second Coming of Christ.
Because of all this, we shy away from eschatological talk. We don’t want to be seen as religious extremists, do we?
The fact of the matter is that being dismissive of the end times is not biblical. The New Testament had numerous passages which speak of Christ’s return. Many of them come from the mouth of Jesus himself! Look at today’s Gospel Lesson. It has nothing to do with preparing for the birth of the Christ child. It is not about babes wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in manger beds. Mark begins this section with a quote from the prophet Isaiah: signs of the end times.
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Then the passage gets even more apocalyptic. We are given a vision of the return of Jesus: “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”
Such passages seem otherworldly to us — in part, because they are. We also scratch our heads and wonder why on earth those who organized the Revised Common Lectionary included such passages for Advent. Isn’t this the time when we are supposed to be preparing for the birth of Christ in Bethlehem? Why are we reading about Jesus’ return at the end of time? There is a reason for this, as we’ve discussed before. One reason is that theological time is more circular than it is linear: we begin where we end each year. The new Church calendar year begins on the first Sunday of Advent: about a month before the regular New Year. Each New Year, we think about the previous year and make our resolutions for the year to come. In a similar way, during Advent we are only partially preparing for the birth of Christ. We are also anticipating the return of Jesus at the end of time to make all things new.
Let’s think about this for a moment…
We enter the Advent season with hope in our hearts and a word of anticipation on our lips. Our world is the opposite of hope. It is filled with doubt and despair. This is not unlike the world that Jesus lived in. The Jews suffered under Roman occupation. They hoped for the Messiah — a Savior from David’s lineage that would liberate them.
We need to take the eschatological passages in Scripture seriously, because they are about hope as well. We long to live in a world that is built upon the principles of love, peace, and justice. We pray for this to happen, and sometimes we roll up our sleeves and get down to the type of work that we think will make God’s shalom a universal reality. Those are all good things. Prayer and outreach are pertinent Christian practices. But the truth is, it hasn’t worked yet. There are still wars and rumors of war. Racism abounds. Cruelty is ubiquitous. To think that our prayers and mission work will make such realities just disappear someday is idealistic thinking at best; it is ludicrous at worst. Again, I am not saying that we shouldn’t do such things. Quite the opposite. However, to think that we will change the world is delusional. Only God can do that. Only Jesus can make all things new.
Maybe this is why Advent seems to be such a strange mix for us: as we await the birth of Christ, we also await his return at the end of time. It sounds like a strange riddle or a philosophical query that defies logic. It is neither.
There is an old adage that I shared with you before. We need to act as if the answers to our prayers lay in our hands, while believing that they lay in God’s hands. Don’t ask me who said that. I can’t remember, but I do know how I felt when I first heard this expression. We need to put our faith into action — acting as if only we can save the world. It’s sort of like the divine version of Smokey the Bear: only you can prevent forest fires. However, we need to be humble enough to know that our actions can’t possibly do this — that salvation lies in God’s hands alone. That does not change what we do, but it changes our perspective.
God is already at work in the world. God is constantly striving for justice. He’s changing lives. He’s helping people beat addiction. He’s rescuing people from abusive relationships. He’s at the bedside of the critically ill, providing them with comfort and care. He inspires poets and painters. There are no time-outs for God. However, the realm of shalom that God has wanted all life to embrace since the dawn of creation has yet to be realized. Eden was forfeited long ago.
At some point, and no one knows when, Jesus will return to make all things new, just as he promised. It seems surreal and hard to image, but if we live by the Christian faith, we know that this is one of the promises central to the Gospel message. Jesus will come again.
Don’t get caught up with the hell-fire and brimstone depictions we see in Revelation. I believe that they are more metaphorical than anything else. Revelation is prophecy and like all prophecy it is meant to be interpreted. Regardless, when Christ returns, he will usher in an era of hope, peace, joy, and love. It will be unlike anything we can imagine! Enemies will be friends. Grief, pain, sadness will be no more. We will live renewed lives, and truly be part of the fellowship for which God created us.
It begins today. Advent I. The Sunday of hope. We walk through this Advent season and into the New Year with the resolve to be even more faithful in our discipleship, knowing that the world will only be the shalom God willed for it when Christ returns. Keep your eyes on the manger, but lift them, ever so often, and look to the horizon. Amen.