Standing Under the Scriptures
December 6, 2009

Dear Fellow Voyagers,

Our reading for this Sunday are:

Philippians 1.1-11: Paul greets the Philippians with unrestrained emotion.

Luke 3.1-14: John the Baptist is unsparing of those who come out to him for baptism.

Note: These passages will be read at the 8 and 9 o’clock services but not at the 11 o’clock. This service will consist of lessons and carols. We will discuss them in our class anyway. Using the same readings as in the services is desirable but not essential. In more technical terms, it is of the bene esse but not of the esse of the class. For the need to imbue ourselves with the Scriptures through considering them as we do remains urgent. Further, the tradition of John the Baptist, who features in our Gospel reading, is integral to the meaning of Advent.

As we saw, our readings last Sunday comported with the theme of Advent: looking to the Second Coming of Christ. What we may not have made explicit is that in them can be seen the culmination in Christ of the Bible’s dealing with catastrophe---as redemptive. But first let us review those readings.

Our first was Zechariah 14.4-9. It concerns the end time. The Lord intervenes not just in history but in geography, causing half of the Mount of Olives to move south and half to move north (those who have been to Jerusalem will recall that the Mount runs north and south on the east side of the city). And it speaks of there being no more day or night and of living water running out of Jerusalem---features picked up in Revelation 22. It concludes by declaring that the Lord will rule over all the earth, that he will be one and his name one.

To comprehend the Book of Zechariah, filled as it is with apocalyptic and eschatological imagery, we found it useful to recall its setting. It is post-exilic, subsequent to the return of the exiles from Babylon. As a class member observed, a reference to Darius, the Persian ruler at the time, appears at the beginning of the book. The return from the exile occasioned great exultation, as reflected in Isaiah 40 and elsewhere. But once the exiles got back, they found that their life was not so great. (When things that we have ardently desired come to pass, often they turn out to be not so great either.) To be sure, the returned exiles were allowed a measure of autonomy. But the Persians, who had released them on conquering Babylon, were still in charge. In the face of this Zechariah calls on them to look to the future, to a deliverer ---he uses the term Branch rather than Messiah---and ultimately the rule of the Lord.

Our Gospel reading, turning now to that, was from Luke’s version of the Little Apocalypse (21.25-33), which is essentially Jesus’ response to the disciples when they exclaim over the big buildings in Jerusalem. Two Sundays previously our Gospel reading was from Mark’s version of the Little Apocalypse, apparently the original one. In fact I preached on it. Our section from Luke’s picked up where Mark’s left off, with the cosmic reflections of the disasters taking place on earth: “signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.” But “then they will see the Son of man coming in cloud with power and great glory.” There follows what may be regarded as the key verse: “Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” In other words, you can now stop cowering and stand erect.

To see how this and our Zechariah reading fit into the Bible’s dealing with catastrophe, it is necessary to go back to the pre-exilic prophets, to Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so forth. They in their day were confronted with the impending catastrophe of the destruction of the nation and the exile of the people, first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians. Their answer was to regard these things as a recompense for the disobedience of the people, their failure to fulfil their part of the covenant which the Lord had granted them. This may seem unduly harsh to us. Nevertheless it gave meaning to the catastrophe, in which it would otherwise have been lacking. And without meaning nothing else really matters; we are in a void and lost. Zechariah’s concern was with the difficulties of the post-exilic period, the lack of fulfilment of the original promise of the return from exile. His answer, as we have seen, moved on from the pre-exilics’ view. It looked to a future deliverance, although in somewhat vague terms. Jesus’ concern was presumably with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which was to take place in 70 AD, but may be considered to look beyond that to subsequent catastrophes, national and personal. His answer was to take catastrophe as the sign of his Second Coming and of the redemption it will bring. It is therefore to be looked on not with despair but, paradoxically, with rejoicing. For it means that “your redemption is drawing near.”

Thus with Jesus we arrive at the full reversal of the world’s view of catastrophe, such reversals being typical of Jesus. This is the fulfilment of the preceding partial reversals; it could be brought about only by Jesus’ death and resurrection. But is this reversal credible? Jesus is at pains to address this point. First he draws a comparison with the fig tree and other trees. When they put forth leaves it is evident that the harshness of winter is ending and the summer with its fruitfulness is near. In the same way the catastrophes in earth and heaven are the assurance that the redemptive triumph of the Son of man, the kingdom of God, is at hand. And he continues, “this generation will not pass away till all has taken place.” Although this saying has been taken as an indication of the early church’ expected the Second Coming to be imminent---an expectation that was not fulfilled---we considered that “generation” could equally mean “age,” the age in which we ourselves still live. And thus we, like the members of the early church, are called to act in the present time. Jesus concludes by asserting the utter reliability of what he has been saying: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

In spite of such assurances, we may have difficulty in relating the foregoing to our personal situations. The idea of a second coming in the still distant future may be acceptable, in principle. But there are times when our lives seem to fall completely apart, with no place or person to turn to. “Great troubles are upon me and there is no helper,” as Psalm 22 puts it. Can these things really be the sign of our redemption? No, not in the world’s view. But standing under the Scriptures calls for scriptural obedience, for setting aside our own concepts and regarding Scripture as ultimate truth---while engaging our critical faculties fully in working out its meaning. This changing of our mind set---the actual meaning of the repentance that Jesus calls for---is not easy. But if we adhere to it we will find that our redemption indeed comes. It comes in the consciousness of the Lord’s presence, than which there is no greater gift. Of this we are assured not only by Jesus’ words but no less by his death and resurrection.

Faithfully, Fr. Ted