Christian belief, he says, should understand Eschaton metaphorically and with
the affirmation that the second coming of Jesus occurs over and over again for
modern man. He asserts it can come in the form of the Eucharist; be present in
our daily experiences of the Spirit, or be expressed in the celebration of
Christmas, which occurs year after year.
My goal is not to claim that
Borg is right and orthodoxy is wrong. In fact, as a Karl Barth loyalist, I often
shutter at some of Tillich’s theology. But, just for a moment, let us suppose
that T. S. Eliot got it right about the end of time in his poem The Hollow Men:
this world ends with just a whimper . . . there is no big bang. Or, consider the
present day lamentations of those environmentalists who claim that it will
be our carbon footprint which causes all life to cease on this planet rather
than in parting clouds or descending visions. Will such an end make a fraud of
our faith? Of course not. God is God, and only He knows the time and the season
and the method for the world’s end.
Therefore, rather than ducking our
heads and shrugging our shoulders about the meaning of the Book of Revelation,
should we not give some deference to Tillich’s and Borg’s faithful witness?
Doesn’t Jesus, in truth, come again and again to each one of us to comfort us in
times of turmoil and to motivate us to daily feed the hungry, heal the sick, and
end warfare and racial discrimination? Doesn’t Jesus come to each of us again
and again at each Christmas after blessed Christmas?
The absolute truth
is that no one knows the end game and no one will until it
arrives.
Until then, we can be fortified by the awareness that both
eschatologies may be right. Our Jesus can both come to us daily as well as at
the end of time. So, welcome Christmas, hail Jesus, please come into our world
for a second time this Christmas Day for, in my case, at least the
65thtime, and, for all of us, every other day
thereafter.
Tom Craig
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