First Advent, December 3
Jeremiah 33:14-16, Luke 21:25-36
Today's passages take us into the realm of apocalyptic literature, as the lectionary always does on the first Sunday in Advent. It's a reminder that what we are about to celebrate in Christmas has larger implications for the earth and for history than we usually capture in our cultural celebrations of this holiday. It's also a reminder that the one who came to us in Bethlehem promised to return. In the wake of the popularity of the Left Behind books, some reflections on this type of literature in the Bible might be helpful.
The first thing to say about this literature is that it is almost always written in the midst of times of fear and upheaval. Luke wrote his gospel after the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans and persecutions of both Jews and Christians were common (be sure to read the entirety of chapter 21 for the full context as today's lesson begins a reading midstream in a longer discussion by Jesus). Ditto for the Book of Revelation. Jeremiah wrote when Jerusalem had been under siege by Babylon and was close to falling; many people were already in exile.
The second thing is that it is important to understand that in the Biblical context, "prophecy" does not equal "predicting the future." Jesus is not doing a Nostradamus act here. Apocalyptic prophecy is meant to be a timely warning, a call to pay attention to one's own life, the life of the society and God's activity in the midst of both. That's why Luke spends important time at the end of this section of his gospel with repeated warnings to keep your head up and pay attention. As the Lutheran Biblical scholar Barbara Rossing writes, "When biblical prophets preached destruction, the purpose of their threats was almost always to warn of the consequences of destructive behaviour, not to furish play-by-play information about events in the future. The prophet's goal is to wake people up." (The Rapture Exposed, 2004, p. 89)
In short, don't waste time taking this passage in Luke and trying to line up the events detailed in it with events happening in our time to get a timeline to the end of the world. People have been doing that for centuries, and they have always turned out to be wrong. That kind of thinking puts people into a fear and defense mode. But for both Luke and Jeremiah, the point of all this is to hope in the grace of God. Eschatological (or "end times") thinking is not about fear, but about hope. When we read the signs of trees blooming and know summer is at hand, that is good news, as is the hope that the kingdom of God might be near. We are called to pay attention to how we are living our lives because we need a strong connection with God in order to meet any calamity the world may throw our direction. We are called to pay attention because when we do we are given strength of purpose to be as countercultural as we need to be to be faithful. We are called to pay attention because God does indeed judge our words and actions and calls us to account for them. We are called to pay attention because if we do not, we might miss the activity of God in our midst and therefore miss our chance to join God in new and exciting ways.
I'd be interested in your reflections and questions on this passage. Shelly
Today's passages take us into the realm of apocalyptic literature, as the lectionary always does on the first Sunday in Advent. It's a reminder that what we are about to celebrate in Christmas has larger implications for the earth and for history than we usually capture in our cultural celebrations of this holiday. It's also a reminder that the one who came to us in Bethlehem promised to return. In the wake of the popularity of the Left Behind books, some reflections on this type of literature in the Bible might be helpful.
The first thing to say about this literature is that it is almost always written in the midst of times of fear and upheaval. Luke wrote his gospel after the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans and persecutions of both Jews and Christians were common (be sure to read the entirety of chapter 21 for the full context as today's lesson begins a reading midstream in a longer discussion by Jesus). Ditto for the Book of Revelation. Jeremiah wrote when Jerusalem had been under siege by Babylon and was close to falling; many people were already in exile.
The second thing is that it is important to understand that in the Biblical context, "prophecy" does not equal "predicting the future." Jesus is not doing a Nostradamus act here. Apocalyptic prophecy is meant to be a timely warning, a call to pay attention to one's own life, the life of the society and God's activity in the midst of both. That's why Luke spends important time at the end of this section of his gospel with repeated warnings to keep your head up and pay attention. As the Lutheran Biblical scholar Barbara Rossing writes, "When biblical prophets preached destruction, the purpose of their threats was almost always to warn of the consequences of destructive behaviour, not to furish play-by-play information about events in the future. The prophet's goal is to wake people up." (The Rapture Exposed, 2004, p. 89)
In short, don't waste time taking this passage in Luke and trying to line up the events detailed in it with events happening in our time to get a timeline to the end of the world. People have been doing that for centuries, and they have always turned out to be wrong. That kind of thinking puts people into a fear and defense mode. But for both Luke and Jeremiah, the point of all this is to hope in the grace of God. Eschatological (or "end times") thinking is not about fear, but about hope. When we read the signs of trees blooming and know summer is at hand, that is good news, as is the hope that the kingdom of God might be near. We are called to pay attention to how we are living our lives because we need a strong connection with God in order to meet any calamity the world may throw our direction. We are called to pay attention because when we do we are given strength of purpose to be as countercultural as we need to be to be faithful. We are called to pay attention because God does indeed judge our words and actions and calls us to account for them. We are called to pay attention because if we do not, we might miss the activity of God in our midst and therefore miss our chance to join God in new and exciting ways.
I'd be interested in your reflections and questions on this passage. Shelly
posted by shelly @ 2:45 PM
2 Comments:
At 7:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
The thing that strikes me most from Luke is the list of charges buried in the apocolyptic language. "Take care you are not misled." "Do not follow them." "...do not panic...stand upright and hold your heads high... be on your guard...be on the alert."
Apocolyptic language is scary stuff. But Christ almost always follows one of his frightening images (which I agree are there to shake up God's people and get their attention!) with a supportive exhortation. It sounds almost like a parent talking, trying to prepare the child for harsh realities by both giving scary, worst-case scenarios and positive encouragement.
It makes me wonder what Christ heard from God as he accelerated towards the Last Supper and Crucifixtion... the fear of what was to come, and yet the love of God and man pulling him towards it...
On the other side of things... what's the deal with the fig tree? I'm not up on my plant symbols.
At 11:56 AM,
shelly said…
Thanks for your comments, Geoff. The fig tree is just a symbol of a sign in nature that people understand. When the fig blossoms, it must mean it is summertime. If we can figure that out, Jesus says, then we ought to be able to look at the signs of God's activity and figure out something is about to change, as the weather does in summer.
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