Once again this Sunday, there’s a distinctly eschatological tone to the readings. It’s like we’re going through a door from one church year to the next: Christ the King is one side of the door, and the First Sunday in Advent is the other side. I’m reminded that Advent is, after all, about Christ’s coming to bring God’s reign to the world. Those who received Jesus the first time around were looking for the dawn of God’s kingdom; this time around we’re longing for the kingdom’s completion.
With that in mind, I hear this Isaiah text somewhat differently from how I have before. Verse 4 is the most familiar part, about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. I have tended to hear this verse as ethical teaching, as saying that we ought to be doing these things. But I now notice that this is not presented as an “ought”, a “should”, but rather as a vision of what God’s future reign will be like. God will take up residence in Jerusalem, Isaiah says in verses 2-3, so that the whole world will notice and be drawn there to learn God’s ways. God will be in charge, mediating our conflicts for us. As a result, our swords won’t be any use anymore, so we’ll have to repurpose them – makes a dandy plowshare! Same with the spears – just no need for a heavy, sharp-pointed weapon made for hurling at an enemy when God is making all our enemies friends, or peaceful neighbors anyway. In a way, it makes this verse much more powerful to hear it this way – do we even dare to dream of such a future? I think maybe what Advent is about first is having our eyes opened to God’s vision of a future that’s different from our present. I also think that, as Christians, this vision of God’s future reign is the source of any hope we have of doing any sword-beating in our present age.
Romans 13:11-14
The Epistle text follows nicely on the OT reading, because essentially Paul is exhorting the Roman Christians to behave morally because of the nearness of God’s kingdom. The part that’s interesting to me is verses 11-12: “… it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first became believers….” Paul is tipping his hand a little, revealing his assumption that Jesus’ return is in some sense imminent. While we may not share this assumption, I think it’s crucial for us to have the sense that we – and history – are headed somewhere, are moving toward something. And that something is God’s reign. As our beloved seminary professor Stanley Hauerwas used to say, for us life isn’t just “one damn thing after another.” So, Paul says, in anticipation of God’s kingdom, we should get dressed for the party by “putting on the armor of light” (a beautiful image).
Matthew 24:36-44
The Gospel text finds Jesus discussing his eventual return. It appears to me that this text puts together some sayings that didn’t originally go together, which gives it kind of a disjointed feel. Jesus starts off (verse 36) saying that no one, not even he, knows when he will return. As a result, people will just go about their day-to-day lives not expecting anything unusual, and the kingdom will take them by surprise (verses 40-41). He compares it to the flood that caught people off guard in Noah’s time (verses 37-39). (To me the “two will be there, one will be taken” structure echoes the “two by two” of the animals going into the ark.) So stay awake, he says, because we don’t know when he’s coming. Then in verse 43 comes the curveball: “’Cause, if you know what time the thief’s going to show up, you can just stay awake and keep him from breaking in.” Wait a sec - I thought the point was that we didn’t know what time it was going to happen, and that’s why we should stay awake. (Besides, I like my sleep – if I know what time the thief is coming, I’m going to bed and setting my alarm.) This is why I think there’s some editing/cobbling in this passage.
I can’t read this text without recalling a friend’s stories about being a teenager in East Tennessee, going down to this certain church after school and being treated to pizza and a “Rapture movie.” The problem with the literalist approach to eschatology here–mapping out the end times, turning them into a bad horror movie or blockbuster book series— is that Jesus’ whole point in this reading is that his coming is mysterious. We don’t know the time. Also, I notice that those two women grinding meal don’t look any different from each other until the coming of God’s kingdom separates them. It reminds me of some of Jesus' earlier teaching in Matthew (see 6:1-6), where he tells his followers not to make a show of their piety but rather to let their reward come from God. Come to think of it, I'd say “staying awake” in Matthew’s gospel means faithfully practicing Jesus’ teachings (think the Sermon on the Mount).
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