“But
in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon
will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the
powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in clouds with great power and glory…Be on guard, keep awake. For you do
not know when the time will come…Therefore, stay awake—for you do not know when
the master of the house will come…lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
And what I say to you I say to all: Stay Awake!”
Mark’s audience
also awaited something: primarily, messianic deliverance from their Roman
overlords. Like them, we too find ourselves in exile, waiting patiently for the
ultimate restoration and redemption of this world. In this election year, we’ve
grown weary of the rulers, powers and principalities of this world and
anticipate the day when Yahweh will make all things new. But we are still
waiting, and some of us are even losing hope. Mark’s readers thought the day
would come in their lifetime, but now, some 2,000 years after his word’s were
pinned, Christ’s Kingdom on earth is still not complete, causing all of
creation to groan expectantly as in the pains of childbirth. We
join the first century church yearning for Christ’s arrival as the satisfaction
of God’s ancient promise to bring all of creation back under his rightful rule.
But, in
the meantime, we turn our full attention to the ambiguous face of human
history. Mark’s choice of apocalyptic language has little to do with holding
the carrot of eternity before our nose. The precise raison d’etre for apocalyptic language is to deny the imminence of
easy kingdom victory, to force us to accept the agony of history. With millennia
in the rearview mirror, this kingdom fruition stuff ain’t happening overnight. The
total effect of the ever-retreating horizon of kingdom fulfillment is to
support an atmosphere of genuine hope amid our current frustration. Mature
faith in the cross understands the enduring struggle that historical existence
entails. We want absolution now, but eagerly wait his
coming again in glory. It is precisely the conviction that the new order is ‘here but not yet’ that motivates each
Christ follower to join in the unfinished, genuine struggle for new creation. Advent season
compels us to enter into our historical moment, to choose between the old order
which is passing away, and the new world which is coming through the birth,
life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
And so,
we wait and watch for His coming like the disciples in Gethsemane who also
heard the command to “watch and pray…” And like them, we now see
the entire world and our call within our world through the lens of Gethsemane:
to stay awake in the darkness of history, to refuse to compromise the politics
of the cross and to follow Christ through the crucible of suffering. Advent takes us beyond the stable, up Golgotha’s
hill and to another cave, but this one is empty, save a young man proclaiming
glory to God in the highest. The resurrection of Jesus is the boundary event of
our existing paradigm; it is the starting point for this expectant new
creation. It provides a wholly new way
of understanding our human experience. And as we celebrate his birth, we join the
litany of disciples awaiting his second coming when God will be all in all as
the waters cover the sea…
Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
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