In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus speaks apocalyptically, saying of the Temple, “there will not be left a stone upon another stone.” He speaks of people who will start “wars and insurrections” and that “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Though his apocalyptic language may sound similar to current doomsdayers, to label Jesus a doomer would be to misunderstand his language and him. Jesus is not a doomsday man. How did it come to be then that some self titled christians are?
The apocalyptic language Jesus uses is misunderstood. Apocalyptic means revelatory and what it reveals is the truth. It reveals the truth about present persecution and suffering with an intention to provide encouragement and hope. Apocalyptic is mistakenly understood to mean a terrible violent event, specifically as foreseen for the future. It is misunderstood to mean the end of the world as some self-titled Christians errantly believe. This error about apocalyptic can be traced back to The Great Awakening. The Great Awakening, the 1st one, was an event within European Protestantism between about 1730 and 1770 that unfolded into a 2nd and 3rd one. It occurred in reaction to the tenets of the Enlightenment, especially its tenet that all must be reason-able. Enlightenment proponents were subjecting belief to the scrutiny of reason. Its proponents were criticizing all that was irrational about belief. A sizable swath of Protestants, including those emigrating to the U.S., decided that thinking and human reason were in opposition to faith. These Protestants were also influenced by Martin Luther’s belief in humanity’s inherent sinfulness – “Everyone finds inside himself an aversion to good and a craving for evil … human nature in itself, without grace, is so evil.” For these people, the Enlightenment’s affirmation of the goodness and progress of humanity was experienced as a direct attack on their faith. Adding to the errancies, preachers erroneously interpreted the Bible’s last book as literal and unfilled, meaning terrors yet awaited humanity. An un-reason-ableness began to be coupled with a hoped for world’s end. The coupling would distinguish and save the religious faithful from their ignorant secular adversaries. The belief infected institutional christianity. The ‘saved’ turned away from Jesus’ mission to co-create the Community of God here on earth and toward concerns for heaven and their own personal salvation from a doomed world.
To speak of the trials of difficult times, as Jesus does, is to speak of the experiences of every generation. Every generation has those within it who will tear down, who will be about war and insurrection and destruction, These destroyers will sometimes be self-titled Christians. They are among us now. They are enablers of the U.S. Empire and its current insane emperor, Donald Trump. The Gospel is telling us the truth about them and encouraging us for our encounters with them, “They will seize and persecute you, … and they will have you led before kings and governors … I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking” to them. We live among ruinous people but we shall endure. Things may get bad for our world but we will stay true. Love amidst conflict is always risky. Hope in the thick of oppression can seem foolish. But this is our mission; not to be saved from the world nor to wish its end but to be courageous for life within it.
Prayer: Spirit of Encouragement, fill our souls.
Question: To whom am I called to reach out and love during these difficult days?
November 13, 2016 Gospel Luke 21:5-19 Thirty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time