I speak in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This chapter in Mark 13 is often called The Little Apocoypse, because it is based on its similarity to the Great Apocaoypse of the Revelation of John. This type of literature usually comes out of difficult times. The book of Revelation comes from the era (95 A.D.) when Christians were being persecuted because they refused to worship the emperor. While this genre of literature might seem strange to us, the word apocalypse means unveiling or revelation. It typically proclaims a message of hope in coded language that was only understood by those on the inside and it was used so that it did not draw the attention of hostile authorities.
The basic message of apocalyptic visions is this: The rebellion against the reign of God is strong, as the wicked oppress the righteous. Things will get worse before they get better. But hang on just a little longer, because just when you are sure you cannot endure, God will intervene to turn the world right side up.
This passage speaks of the dark days before Jesus’s return, it reminds us, pleads with us to keep awake and alert, it reminds us to be watchful and constantly ready. Today’s Gospel reading, marks the beginning of advent.
Advent begins with an APOCALYPSE!
“The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in heavens will be shaken.”
It sounds like the end of the world and that is how many people over generations have read this passage- and who would blame them? I wonder how many of us listening today have wondered if this situation we are in, this time of living during a global pandemic is the beginning of the end?
However, apocalyptic literature is not meant to cause fear it is meant to bring hope.
As we await the celebration of the Incarnation at Christmas, we also await the coming Kingdom, the new creation, whatever shape or form that might take. And we are here, now, caught in the middle, waiting.
If you are anything like me, waiting can be a struggle at times. Over this past year I have at times really struggled with waiting.
Perhaps like most of us, you are waiting for the lock down restrictions to be lifted, waiting to see loved ones again, waiting to see grandchildren, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers or just friends. You maybe waiting for a hospital appointment, test result, waiting to hear if you have a job to go back to, waiting to get married, or to find love. The list goes on and on and I think it would be fair to say that we are all waiting for something.
And yet this passage speaks of a different kind of waiting. The apocalypse is not about watching and waiting passively, but actively bearing good fruit and participating in the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. God isn’t what brought on this crisis. God is the solution, the response to this crisis, when no matter what happens we must remember, that to have hope is to know that we are definitely loved and cherished and cared for.
We all long for something greater. We wrestle with deep brokenness and yet through faith and with hopeful hearts we taste and anticipate full restoration. This is the Kingdom of God, which is already here but not yet in its fullness.
What Advent is saying is we must live now with faith. We must live now with love. And what drives us to live with faith and to share love is hope. You see, Christ is always coming; God is always present. It’s we who aren’t! We’re always somewhere else. Jesus tells us to be conscious, to be awake, to be alert, to be alive. Many of us go through our lives on automatic. We just go through the motions of our daily routines. We wake up and we repeat what we did the day before, and we get up and do it all again then when are lives are interrupted we get upset.
And boy oh boy, this pandemic has caused a major interruption! Its caused great fear and for some a loss of hope and a loss of life. But this passage reminds us that it’s in the apocalypse that we find God that we find hope. It is in the interruptions that God has the best chance of getting at us, in the disruptions, in the exceptions, in the surprises. This is what it means to be awake: to be constantly willing to surrender and be in the present moment.
For there in the waiting there is created space for growth and celebration. In this unique pause we are invited to slow down and pay attention to the ways God is actively working in our world. In the waiting we become more aware of our own vulnerability and our need for a saviour, and a saviour for the world, but even in the waiting we have the promise of His presence.
And we cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realise that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. Each time you take another breath, realise that God is choosing you again and again and again.
This Advent take heart and remember that in the midst of the darkest night God showed up, God showed up in the most vulnerable and humble ways as a child. Take heart and remember that God is not sleeping He is active He is awake and He calls us to do the same. Active waiting is not stagnant, it is what prepares us for the coming King.
And this is what it means to prepare for Christmas