Signs of the holiday season are all over the place. If you listen to the radio, Christmas carols are playing as well as all those holiday sale discounts are tempting us. You can easily see holiday decorations in downtown, wrapping trees and street poles. All these signs have one function, which is to inform us that the holiday season is on the way.
I read somewhere that in the times when battles were frequent, picking up a good day to fight was crucial. Often the one who attacked would prefer rainy weather so that they could be less visible to their opponent. Since there was no weather forecasting system back in the days, how would they know when it was going to rain? One of the ways to predict weather was arthritis. A couple of people with arthritis could tell whether it would rain or not, depending on their joint pain level. This is actually scientifically proven that we can predict our joint pain level based on the local weather. Low barometric pressure, low temperatures, and rain or snow can increase pain. All these examples of holiday music and decorations as well as the use of joint pain in a battle are about signs. When we attentively perceive all these signs, we know what’s coming to us. This is what Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel lesson. He says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.” He also gives us an example of a fig tree and says, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things (such as the powers of the heavens being shaken and the roaring of the sea and the waves) taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” It seems the point of today’s gospel lesson is about being attentive to all these signs in the world because the kingdom of God is near. During this season of Advent, this is about being attentive to the coming of Jesus. And God’s kingdom and the coming of Jesus are not two separate things in nature. The coming of God’s kingdom incarnate is the coming of Jesus. If we sort of take Jesus’ words in a literalistic sense, then we definitely see all the signs that he mentions. There were two deadly earthquakes in August and September in Indonesia where about 2,700 people died. What about California’s deadliest wildfire? What about the flooding in our town? We might want to say that it’s about time that the kingdom of God comes in our time, that Jesus comes back here and now. But here’s another perspective. There have been worse disasters in the past. We might want to ask ourselves, “Why now? Why not in the past?” I’m not raising all these questions to say something like “the kingdom of God will not come” or “Jesus will never come back and hasn’t come back for the past 2,000 years” or “Christians get this coming of God’s kingdom completely wrong.” While all these remarks might be reasonable in its own right, they actually ask us, “What is the kingdom of God that is coming to us? What do know about it? Who is Jesus who is coming to us?” We cannot possibly think of the kingdom of God in relation to all those Hollywood movies about the end of the world. I think all these movies take the biblical images of the end times too literally. Jesus makes clear that no one knows when this fundamental reality of God’s kingdom and his coming again will take place. He himself doesn’t know, but only God the Father. The ultimate reality that will transform the entire universe will arrive. And it just is not up to us to know when. What we’re up to is to be attentive to the coming of Jesus in every moment of our lives. So there’s this ultimate reality of Jesus’s coming which will bring the entire universe together. (In the Eucharist, we experience that glimpse of the ultimate reality of the Kingdom of God, which completes our baptism.) And there’s another reality of ours in which Jesus comes again and again to us and reveals God the Father through the Holy Spirit. Reflecting on our personal lives, Jesus’ teaching about all these signs of the end times does apply to us in a deeper way. Think about those moments in your lives when your entire world felt so shaken. Our experience of losing our loved ones or facing our own struggle or that of our loved ones can sound very much like “the roaring of the seas and waves.” It’s like our ground being shaken by a large earthquake and rain pouring down over us. All these emotional and spiritual disasters do happen to us when we go through the dark night of our souls. This is something every human being experiences and goes through in common. Perhaps one more than others, if you think about the case of Job in the Hebrew Bible. In these dark moments of our lives, Jesus walks into our reality. And Jesus tells us this morning on this first day of Advent, “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Basically, he urges us, “Do not lose heart. You might feel down and even hopeless, standing at the edge of the unknown or encountering a bottomless pit of despair. Stand up and raise your heads. Your redemption, that is Jesus of Nazareth is drawing near.” Now I would like us to reflect on the following questions: Don’t we too easily get disappointed with ourselves or others when things don't go in the way we want? Don’t we too easily give up on things out of fear that we might fail? How frequently do we hold ourselves back from going further and moving forward out of fear and anxiety? Don’t we turn our eyes away from our own suffering because it is too painful to bear and let it rot? Don’t we avoid looking at the suffering of others and simply bypass? Jesus says otherwise, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." If I shorten this saying of Jesus, it’s something like what Samuel Beckett, an Irish novelist and poet, once said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” And I add, “Jesus will raise you up and stand before you. His words of love and compassion will never ever pass away and will carry you always forever and ever.” So what do you seek in your life, especially in moments you’re struggling? What do you desire during this season of Advent? I would like all of us to seek Jesus particularly in your prayer life. When you close your eyes to pray, ask the Holy Spirit that you see Jesus who looks straight in your eyes with his long loving and compassionate look, never judging or blaming but forgiving and embracing, constantly transforming you. And this morning when you’re about to eat his Body and drink his Blood, welcome him into your body, into your soul, into your entire being. Jesus is coming. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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