Apocalyptic Boogie
The Second Coming. It cannot be about Jesus returning. For in truth, he never really left. Ask the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Ask the disciples in the upper room. He himself said, “Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age.” That’s what we watch and wait for: the end of the age; the Day of the Lord; the complete and full unfolding of God’s gracious reign of unending mercy and love of all, for all.
Mark chapter 13, often referred to as the “Marcan Apocalypse,” or “the Little Apocalypse,” is yet another example of New Testament Apocalyptic. It speaks of the ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with power and great glory. We need to remember that despite its origins in Old Testament apocalyptic literature, New Testament Apocalyptic appears to be less predictive of a future; rather it is more descriptive of life on the ground here and now.
Apocalyptic texts urge perseverance and faithfulness in times of tremendous community crisis, such as the exile to Babylon, and engenders the hope that one day, as in the days of the Passover/Exodus event, God will one day intervene in human history to rescue his people again. Although Mark 13 draws upon numerous texts from Hebrew Scripture, along with Daniel’s image of a figure called ‘the Son of Man,’ it is descriptive of what was happening – the brutal Roman occupation and the total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Listening to the totality of the thirteenth chapter of Mark, Jesus urges perseverance and faithfulness until ‘the end of the age’ when the unfolding of God’s reign is complete.
Further, although there were those, like Paul, who believed or hoped Christ would return soon, the delay in such a return for many gave rise to a belief that Christ’s life, death and resurrection is the saving action, and that the earthly Jesus prepared his followers for life after the destruction of the Temple to live lives devoted to God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself – with a true broadening of just who our neighbors are in the story of an historic enemy Samaritan who provides assistance for someone in need, no questions asked.
The Australian Jesuit, Brendan Byrne, in his commentary on
Mark observes, “For most Christians today the expectation of Christ’s return
in glory (“Second Coming”), though still proclaimed in liturgy and creeds, is
hardly a daily preoccupation. We ‘look back’ to his life, death and
resurrection as the chief elements of his saving work. For the early
generations, however, the emphasis was the other way around. It was as the Son
of Man returning to glory that Christ would perform his principal messianic
role: be the agent of the final victory of G_d. Cohabiting with a lively faith
in the risen Lord was a strong sense of unfinished business…The same
concerns - and not a few more – linger
on for us today, and raise the same issues about the faithfulness and power of
G_d. Both in its original context and as it can be read today, the discourse
[in Mark 13] has about it a large aspect of theodicy: in the face of all the
evidence, is it still possible to believe in G_d – and cling to the promise of
Jesus?” [i]
Yes, that is a mouthful! First, it may surprise some that in the United States today, according to the Wikipedia article, Second Coming, “A 2010 survey showed that about 40% of Americans believe that Jesus is likely to return by 2050. This varies from 58% of white evangelical Christians, through 32% of Catholics to 27% of white mainline Protestants.” Belief in a Second Coming was popularized by Dwight Moody in the late 19th century, and became a core belief of fundamentalism in the 1920s. It is interesting to note, that the crisis both Moody and the fundamentalists addressed is modernism – trying to reconcile traditional faith with scientific, philosophical and theological trends and discoveries of the past several hundred years. Both Moody and the fundamentalists, ironically, appear to be modern themselves as they and others introduce new and novel teachings to the life of the Church: including specific predictions about when a Second Coming will be. As to predicting when? Jesus says: No one knows when the end of days, the end of the world, or a possible second coming will come to pass. Not even me!
As to theodicy: This was an Enlightenment question: if God is good why does evil persist in the world? A simplistic answer would be, because in Mark chapter 13 Jesus says it will, but not to worry. Because this is the wrong question. The real question is: Where is God in all of this upheaval, the persistence of evil, and persecution of the faithful. Answer: Emmanuel – God with us. Just as God is with Christ on the cross and at the dawn of the resurrection, so God is with us in the midst of human suffering.
Finally, the discourse addresses one final question: What are we, those who follow the Way of Jesus, to do in the meantime? Jesus says as we serve those in greatest need: the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, those in prison, widows, orphans, we serve him.[ii] To illustrate, Jesus tells a story.
A man goes on a journey, and appoints his servants to continue the work he has given them to do. He does not say when he is getting back. They are to stay the course, and watch: stay awake! To make his point, he assigns one as a watchman to specifically make sure all are ready when he will return from his journey. “For you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”[iii]
In this pastiche of apocalyptic imagery, we find language of parable, symbol and myth, since there is no literal language to describe the transcendent ways of God. It is a language of assurance and hope. All shall be well. For Jesus is not sitting idly by doing nothing while his disciples face the persistence of evil, and the insecurity of not knowing when the Day of the Lord will appear. Through the Holy Spirit the Christ already exerts his messianic rule through the very same means by which God has provided the means for a response to the persistent presence of evil – and we are that means. We are God’s intervention to provide comfort in the face of great suffering. This is the cost of discipleship. It is our privilege to serve Christ’s presence among the poor.
Despite the cost of discipleship and the persistence of
evil, Mark’s Jesus proclaims that the divine victory has already been evidenced
in the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God. Soon this will be
evidenced throughout creation and universally in place as we, like the servants
in the parable, continue to do the work he has given us to do. We are to remain
watchful and awake as we participate in the complete and full unfolding of
God’s gracious reign of unending mercy and love of all, for all. Only because
he is with us, here and now to the end of the age, are we able to do all of this.
And greater things than these! [iv]
[i]
Byrne SJ, Brendan, A Costly Freedom (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN:2008)
p.200-201
[ii] Matthew
25:31-46
[iii]
Mark 13:32-37
[iv]
John 14:122
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