The Spirituality of Apocalypse

Mark 13:24-37

Advent throws a lot of us off. For most of us Advent is about preparing for Christmas. We are putting up Christmas lights on our houses, and our Christmas trees in the living room. We are starting to hear Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby echo in the stores. We settle into the fact that winter isn’t going anywhere, and we even hope for a white Christmas.

Then we come to church and it is doom and gloom- 

“in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”.

 … It’s a far cry from “baby, it’s cold outside” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. It seems like every year we are caught off guard. We want to jump into Christmas carols and there is some liturgical Grinch holding it all back and telling us we have to think about this thing called Advent.

Advent means “coming” or “arrival”. It is the season when we think about Jesus “coming” to us. We think of both his first coming, which is the first Christmas, but we also think about his second coming. We are fine with the first Christmas. That is what we primarily think about this time of year. … It is usually the Second Coming of Jesus that doesn’t sit very well with us. The Second Coming brings with it judgement against evil, and descriptions of dramatic events like the sun and moon going dark and the stars falling. It all sounds very apocalyptic. “Apocalypse” is a word we associate more with “zombie” than with “Christmas”.

So what do we do with these more apocalyptic aspects of Advent? First, I think it is important that we don’t get carried away with obsessing over predicting when the Second Coming will happen. There are people who seem to spend their lives trying to determine when this will happen. They put together detailed charts and orders of events. They comb through the news trying to find any events that might connect to a scriptural prophecy. … I remember seeing this guy on TV when I was a kid. During the Cold War he was sure that the Soviets were a part of the anti-Christ’s efforts to take over the world. I remember my Opa telling me about similar predictions during World War 2. Whoever the ‘bad guys’ seemed to be at the moment, these people seem to find a way to connect them to biblical prophecy. …

I really don’t think that’s what Jesus meant when he told us to watch and wait. … All those who have made predictions about Jesus’ second coming have one thing in common… they’ve all been wrong. According to Jesus’ own words, the first thing that says you’re wrong is that you make a prediction at all. Jesus says it will be a surprise. He will come like a thief in the night. In our Gospel Jesus says, 

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come”.

 I take from this that it is a waste of time to try to make predictions about when it will happen.

Those who work hard to connect prophecy to the daily news often also misunderstand the highly symbolic nature of what is written. Jesus says, 

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mark 13:24-25).

 … In the ancient world the sun and moon and stars were seen as divine powers that controlled empires and human lives. We still see a remnant in this in the horoscopes published in the papers. It is the idea that what the stars are doing in the sky determines your future, they control the empires that crush you, but when Jesus comes the sun, moon, and stars will lose their power. It is a symbolic statement that when the greatest power in the universe shows up even the greatest powers in the sky are no match for him. They are darkened and they fall. Then we will see 

“'the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.” He will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven”.

 Jesus comes in God’s power and God’s glory and he is in command of God’s angels and does the kinds of things the Old Testament says God will do. It is a highly symbolic language that relies on knowing the symbolism of the Old Testament and the ancient world. 

I’m less interested in predicting the timing of the Second Coming. I’m much more interested in the spirituality of apocalypse. By that I mean, in the context of all this talk of the ‘end time’, what attitude do we carry with us? What ‘big picture’ do we see? What gives life meaning? What is our place in the universe? How do our actions matter?

I think the concept of apocalypse touches a deep and powerful place in the human heart. The themes of apocalypse are interwoven in an incredible number of our stories. This is especially true of fantasy and superhero movies. In these movies earth is confronted with an incredible evil. It is an overwhelming evil that threatens to destroy humanity. It is too much for human beings. All we can do is place our hope in someone to save us. Think about Darth Vader and the Empire in Star Wars. Or, think about the robot Ultron in the Avengers movie who wants to make a peaceful planet by destroying all humans, or think about an advanced alien species attacking earth. … Then someone arrives and beats back the impossibly strong enemy and saves the day. Often this is a superhero like superman, or the Avengers, or Luke Skywalker, but some of the best stories tell about unlikely heroes- like little powerless Hobbits who defeat Sauron and his armies in the Lord of the Rings. … I believe this story keeps getting retold because it is placed deep in the human soul. Apocalypse is about the world seeming very bleak and hopeless, but just when things look like they can’t get any darker God saves His people and is proven to be more powerful than any adversary. It is a story we find woven throughout Scripture and throughout humanity.

A spirituality of apocalypse will recognize that there are problems in the world that we are unable to solve. We need to call on God to save creation. The moment we really internalize that reality we are able to relax as we realize that we don’t have to be the messiah. It’s not up to us to solve everyone’s problems. As we watch the news and we see wars and environmental disaster it is pretty easy to be overcome by fear and anxiety. The problems we face are too big for us. Obviously, this doesn’t mean we do nothing, but it is healthy for us to recognize we can’t solve all the world’s problems. So we recognize that we can’t do it and call on Christ to save the world.

In a spirituality of apocalypse it would also be important for us to live in a way that recognizes that Christ will come again soon. He could come an hour from now, or 1000 years from now, or 10,000 years from now. … I like what C.S. Lewis says in his book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Aslan the lion is the Christ character in the books, and Aslan says to Lucy, 

“’Do not look sad. We shall meet soon again.’ 

‘Please, Aslan’, said Lucy, ‘what do you call soon?’ 

‘I call all times soon’ said Aslan…”.

… Christ wants us to consider his coming to be “soon”. Even if it is in 10,000 years, Christ still wants us to live as if he is coming tomorrow. To live in that reality means to ask ourselves, what would we be found doing if he came tomorrow? How can we make today count? Would he find us doing something that matches his mission to save the world? Would he find us loving people- children, our families, strangers, our church? Would he find us spreading hope? Would he find us peacemaking? Would he find us helping hurting people? Would he find us doing something that shapes us into people that love God more? Would he find us loving our neighbour? Would he find us making the world a more caring and kind place? If we believe Christ is coming to save the world then are we acting in a way that are in line with the Christ we believe in? Are we acting in a way that matches that saving action? Are we agents of the goodness of Christ, rather than agents of destruction and selfishness? … A spirituality of apocalypse recognizes that everyday counts because it might be our last day to do something beautiful for God.

This is what I think Jesus means by telling us to watch and wait. It isn’t passive. It is an active waiting. In our Gospel reading Jesus says, 

“It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake--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.”

 The waiting he is speaking about is an expectant waiting. Servants who are waiting for their master to return are actively performing the tasks that were given to them so that when the master returns they are found at their work. That is what waiting means for the servants whose master is gone.

A spirituality of apocalypse might also be called an Advent spirituality. It is an attitude of the soul that is grounded in the reality that we are unable to solve all the world’s problems. Christ is the one who will save the world, not us. But that doesn’t mean we do nothing. We act and think in ways that are consistent with Christ’s saving action. We might not be able to solve everyone’s problems, but we can show love and care to one. This Advent may God bless you with a heart ready to meet our Lord who is coming soon.