Advent 1 Luke 21 and Jer notes 2nd Cut

 Lk. 21:35-46, Jer. 33:10-16

When we examine Scripture we do well to be aware of its context. We do well to examine with care the wolrd it is creating, and we do well to be aware of the world view we place on the reading. Few readings involve the latter more than readings of the end times. Many of us carry the 200 year old Darbyite view of the end times where the vision and images are placed into a pattern of predicition. Most of the television work on the end times fits this pattern, and some even pu the schema on the screen to watch us fit the material to the schema.

Both readings look toward a new day, better days and both reflect on the fall of Jerusalem, the political and religious center of Israel.  Jeremiah looks at the fall of Jerusalem and assures his readers that better days have to come.Destruction would not be the final word for Jerusalem, nor would exile.  Luke has Jesus taking a classic apocalyptic posture where the shaking of the cosmos reflects the coming of something new and big. Both dream of a dawning day of redemption. Would Luke have Jesus make a clearly obvious timing mistake, or is it more likely that he and his readers saw the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of its newly refurbished temple was an apocalyptic sign?  I think Luke may be telling us that all of Luke's readers live in end times, as we can look beneath terror and know that it is not the last word. Paul Tillich entitled his first volume of sermons, the shaking of the foundations, as he saw the upheavals of the middle of the 20th Century  as events that shook the way we look at life, a mental and spiritual earthquake if you will.

 

Jeremiah sees the destruction of Jerusalem as a reversal of creation, where chaos and emptiness reign again. Would God start over, or would it be left as a ruin? I saw that the ship New York sailed  with material salvaged from the 9/11 attacks. I wonder why we have not made more of the new tower in New York near the footprint of the WTC.We have images of the new coming from the old. The mythical Phoenix rises from the ashes. In Jeremiah, a branch emerges from a dried up old stump as the sign of new life in the face of the worn out and exhausted. Life is persistent; its urge to continue is powerful. Yes, the old do die out, but the new is being born before our very eyes. Christians read this piece with reference to Jesus, the son of David. A different kind of Davidic messiah emerged. We should be more careful when we think we can read the Bible as precise prophecy.

 

End times readings tend to be concerned with the ordering of human life much more than issues of individual salvation. As the new church years begins, we are pushed into seeing, as King said, where the long arc of the universe is bending toward justice and right relations. Communion is a great vehicle to consider this, as I bow to the wisdom of session in selecting this as a Communion Sunday. Communion itself that is a gift born from tragedy. Jesus reworked the Passover of death and the movement to freedom into a sacrament that both remembers his death but his passing over into resurrection and new life. Advent is a liminal time, and Communion is a liminal act, on the boundary between heaven and earth. Like a Thanksgiving meal, everybody in the family is included, but here we don't have a children's table. Everyone is given the same spiritual food and drink, more than they need. Scarcity is not an issue; distribution is not an issue. Here, everyone get more than they deserve or need. The Advent theme is to keep alert. Our eyes soon grow tired scanning the horizon. One benefit of Communion is that it keeps us alert; it keeps our eyes open. It helps us to discern the hand of God in events and people during our days. God often seems obscure. Communion is an apocalyptic unveiling, as we look beneath the surface of bread and cup and find Jesus Christ. As we await the Second Advent, the gift of Communion opens us up to the reality of the gift of the Incarnation, the first Advent. The generous god who shares Creation with us, also shares the very divine life with us in Jesus. The patient God gives us a glimpse of what human life can and should be this morning. we get the presence of the living Christ as a present to get ready for Christmas.

The Greek word here is engizo, a verb which expresses the immanence, the “coming nearness” of someone or something.  In the New Testament there are many things that might “draw near,” from the Word (Romans 10:8; cf. Deuteronomy 30:14) and the proclamation of the Kingdom (Luke 10:9,11), to appointed times (Revelation 1:3; 22:10; Matthew 26:45; Romans 13:12) including the end (1Peter 4:7), to that which is shown to be drawing near in the leaves of the fig tree, the promised redemption of all who believe (Luke 21:28; Romans 13:11), to whom God draws near in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 7:19; James 4:8; 5:8). 

The devastation is enough to take one’s breath away—which is the meaning of the Greek word translated as “faint” in Luke 21:26: People will faint (apopsychō = to stop breathing, be breathless) from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.” Susan Garrett writes, “In the apocalyptic view, events transpiring on the earthly plane are merely the reflection or outworking of events happening on a higher, unseen plane.” In other words, the battle between good and evil plays out both on earth and in heaven. In Luke 21, Jesus reminds his followers that there is always more going on than meets the eye. There is more to reality than they might see at first glance. Not either/or, but both/and.