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| Here, But Not Yet |
New Year's is such a paradox. She bursts onto the scene with global
celebration, promising fresh starts and a new beginning. With wide-eyed
optimism we turn the page on the calendar and expect everything to be different.
But now, just a month into the year and
2014 looks eerily similar to 2013. Most of us returned to work and school this
month to be met with the same deadlines and assignments, the same frustrating
co-workers and classmates and the same existential crisis we faced last year. We long to believe that something new is
possible, that the hope of a new world is within grasp, but reality is
convincing us otherwise. New Year's serves as a microcosm for our
Christian discipleship journey, reminding us of both the promise of God’s new
creation as well as the uncertainty experienced while living between the
ascension and appearing of Jesus. Mark’s
Gospel captures this tension between promise and reality as a new world is
introduced, only to be eclipsed by fear and ambiguity. Look again at his opening:
“The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Messiah”.[1]
Anyone with ears to hear should hear the reverberation of Genesis
1:1. Mark’s bold proclamation insists on
the fundamental regeneration of the world through the life, ministry, death and
resurrection of Jesus. The promise is
clear, despite the fatigue of world history, and with millennia in the rearview
mirror, there is indeed another first time for creation.[2] It seems that Isaiah’s ancient oracle “I am about to create new heavens and a
new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind”[3] is
finally coming true. This apocalyptic declaration is the foundation
for Christian ethics and Christ-like praxis within the current space, time
universe. And though the promise of new
world is genuine, it sure seems like a distant reality. Even now, some 2,000 years after resurrection,
we join the souls under the alter asking, “How long oh Lord” must we wait for
your Kingdom to completely come? How
long must we struggle to find meaning and purpose in life, how long until old
habits and addictions cease gnawing at our flesh, and how long will the wounds
of broken relationships bleed? We’ve
been told a new world is on the horizon, but this old one just keeps spinning
round and round. Jesus’ own followers were
not immune from this apprehension. Do
you remember the ending to Mark’s story of new creation? On the first day of
the week, the women come to Jesus’ tomb to anoint him for burial and…
“Entering
the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white
robe, and they were afraid. And he said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. You seek Jesus
of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place
where they laid him. But go; tell the disciples and Peter that he is going
before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And they went
out and fled from the tomb, for they were trembling and astonishment had seized
them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”[4]
Here, among trembling, fear and
an inkling of hope, Mark’s drama ends. There
is no sighting of the Risen Lord, no hands in his sides, no Road to Emmaus, and
certainly no glory filled ascension.
It's a strange way to end a story of good news. And while most of
today's Bibles tidy up the story by adding an alternate ending, of the nearly
6,000 ancient Greek manuscripts available, none of them have the remaining 11
verses we read today. By leaving the
story incomplete, Mark invites us to provide the ending. His discipleship drama
will only continue if the apostles, and if we the reader, choose
to accept the call to ‘Go and meet Jesus in Galilee’, to
continue the pursuit of Him even in the midst of fear and uncertainty.[5]
New Testament scholar Richard
B. Hays writes, “The abrupt ending
without a resurrection appearance points emphatically to the still future
character of the kingdom of God. Jesus’
disciples at the end of the story find themselves suspended between the news of
the resurrection and the experience of the risen Lord.”[6] This is the exact same place we find ourselves. The end of one age and the beginning of
another have overlapped in this “time between times”; our future hope
is near, and yet we are entreated to join in Christ’s work and suffering in the
present. It is precisely the
conviction that the new world is ‘here
but not yet’ that motivates each of us to join in the unfinished, genuine
struggle for new creation.[7] The
Gospel is about accepting and serving in the midst of this mystery.
As we embrace the hope that
another year brings, let us do so with the divine diligence of God, who is
slowly restoring His good creation. God
is still patient, and as long as He is patient, we must be also. The good news
is that Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the watershed event ushering in a new
world. Our call within this regeneration
of creation is to function as a new version of the human race, living as His faithful
presence, embodying the power of resurrection (new creation) to a world in the
midst of renewal. So let us go even unto
Galilee to meet him. And when we find
Him toiling for peace, justice and reconciliation, we join Him. And in unifying our lives with His, we help bring
the present rushing forward into the ultimate consummation of His promised
future, when God will be all in all as the waters cover the sea.
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