Thirty Third Sunday

Thirty Third Sunday Ordinary
November 19, 2006

"... then he will send out the angels to gather in his elect from the four winds..." Daniel (12:1-3). "... they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." (Mark 13:24-32)

Jesus almost directly quotes the prophet Daniel, referring to himself as "the son of man" of the prophecies. It was the term used most often for himself. Going back into his Jewish origins, he was steeped in the tradition of hope for a heavenly human figure who would come to rescue Israel from its persecutors Jesus clearly warns his disciples not to try to predict when this final deliverance would come. For good reason, not even "the son" knows the time. Only the Father knows and is not sharing that information with anyone including Jesus.

.No sooner than he was gone we forgot, or ignored, what he said. The early Christians tried to take his words literally, expecting that this heavenly rescue operation would happen before they died. We have never stopped since then attempting to extract literal predictions out of the Bible. Since they do not seem to be literal predictions of an immediate historical future age, what are they? It could be that it will happen literally as Jesus describes, just in some indefinite future age. The present order of the universe is not how it will be always. We already know that cataclysmic cosmic events are occurring right around us all the time. Our earth will disappear into the cosmic void millions of years from now. These images can also be understood as warnings to be vigilant because we never know when the Most High will appear in our lives in a radical and unexpected way. There have already been innumerable "comings of the son of man" historically and individually and there will be many more to come.

I can certainly identify a few of my own! One of them is happening right now as my own breath fails and my reliance of machinery increases. Last night we had a wind storm blowing like there was no tomorrow, and had to make sure we had a plan in place to keep me hooked up in case of power outage. Several key people have been appearing almost out of no where to help us prepare for this and accommodate to another "end of the world".

Perhaps the transformation we have been looking for is happening now, some times very slowly, some times rapidly. Maybe this is less satisfying than the hoped-for magical quickfix but perhaps more consistent with how changes occur. How might each of us be contributing to the buildup to the "end of the world" in chaos, violence, waste and destruction? Instead, how can we be a part of creating a "new heaven and new earth"? Maybe the Father is waiting for us as a race to come around on this before it is al brought to completion. However it all happens, the son of man will be there with us as we drove through it.