Apocalypse Now: What the world needs now
What will it take for us to replace our weapons of destruction with tools turned for the good of all people? How many innocent lives must be lost before we transform our M16s into water purifiers, denature nerve gas into pollution control systems and convert biological agents into agricultural tools? How much vitriol must we stomach before we translate our words of judgment, condemnation and hatred into words of welcome, recommendation and love?
“Keep awake! Be ready for apocalyptic change, change that will be no less traumatic than the great flood in Noah’s time?” (See Matthew’s text below.) As we begin the new Liturgical Church year, this is the convening message and it does not sound like good news to me. Is this not the season of great expectations? Are we not pregnant with the possibility of the birth of a child? Why darken the doorway of hope with apocalyptic prognostications?
I wonder if the vexing use of this text to initiate a new year is to insure we not get swept up in nostalgia nor for a minute imagine we are preparing for the birth of an ordinary child? The unnerving message is, we are preparing to receive a child who will turn our world upside down. This child, this Son of Humanity, is going to shake us up, wake us up and show us the way to “beat our swords into plough shares and our spears into pruning hooks.”
There is no question. Twenty-seven hundred years after the prophet Isaiah proclaimed peace among all people, two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth, we, the people of God, are still in dire need of having our hearts radically transformed to become the peacemakers God is dreaming us to be.
What will it take for us to replace our weapons of destruction with tools turned for the good of all people? How many innocent lives must be lost before we transform our M16s into water purifiers, denature nerve gas into pollution control systems and convert biological agents into agricultural tools? How much vitriol must we stomach before we translate our words of judgment, condemnation and hatred into words of welcome, recommendation and love?
Jesus is unequivocal. In God’s economy words or weapons intended for violence will ultimately be reconfigured as the means to care for all people and institute peace on earth. So yes, this is apocalyptic change and it will turn the world as we know it upside down.
So how do we get on board (think get onto Noah’s ark) with God’s dream when our families are fractured by divisive politics? How can we extend good will to all people while we squirm among friends and neighbors wondering if we dare to share our thoughts and feelings about Israel and Hamas? Where is the vision of hope for all when people in our neighborhoods and across the planet cannot feed their children, access medical care or adequate housing?
I believe these and many similar questions illumine our need to hear the apocalyptic story of Jesus’ intrusion into history. Face it. Our days are rife with excess, indulgence, arrogance, irresponsibility, jealousy, greed, hypocrisy, misused power; all things that keep us in the dark. It is time to wake up, open our eyes and see the inhumane consequences of many of our habitual ways. Once we open our eyes and face the consequences of our behavior, then we must turn the world as we know it upside down, raising the bottom to meet the top. This is the way to prepare to welcome new life as represented by the birth of the Christ child. We are preparing to be born again, to be made new as peacemakers fulfilling God’s dream for humanity.
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Learn more about me at https://www.debraasis.org/ All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being. Debra Asis
Matthew 24:36–44
Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
