Devotional 12-20-11

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 65^thtime, and, for all of us, every other day thereafter.

Tom Craig

Devotional 12-7-10

How Will We Know Him?
The Lectionary readings for the week of December 6th include Luke 1:46(b)-55 and Matthew 11:2-11. The former appears in Luke’s birth narratives and tells the story of John the Baptist leaping for joy inside Elizabeth’s womb when she meets Mary while Mary is carrying Jesus. The latter is the account of an imprisoned John the Baptist sending a message to Jesus at the start of His ministry inquiring, “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” These two passages when laid side by side contain a little wrinkle for modern Christians. How is it that John recognizes Jesus so definitively in utero but falters in his recognition of Him, for sure, some thirty years later?

When sacred scripture is read metaphorically, there is no Christocentric contradiction here. The nature of Jesus’ identity has not changed nor has His role in salvation history been altered in these two passages. Rather the problem which creates the wrinkle is in John’s inconsistent perception or recognition of Jesus. As a baby, he knew Him instantly as Messiah . . . but, later as Savior, he was not so sure. In the above-identified Matthew text, John is in reality saying, “the miracles which this Jesus performs are persuasive evidence that He is Lord, but I really need for Him to come right out and say ‘I am ‘The One’.”

For us Christians, Advent is the season of unabashed joy. The Advent road is always adorned with the same familiar hallmarks: we neither get lost nor tired in traveling upon it. There is the star, the manger, the shepherds, and the wise men and the story culminates with the arrival of the baby . . . our Messiah. Despite the passage of each succeeding year without exception, we know and recognize Jesus as Messiah instantly on Christmas Day

What about the other eleven months of the year when the roads on which we travel are less certain? How will we know Him when we sit in the board rooms of corporate America and weigh profit margins against community obligations . . . or when we sit on juries to decide the guilt or innocence of defendants in courts of law . . . or when we reap a harvest which yields a thin crop . . . or when we look squarely into the eyes of the homeless on a cold winter night? The answer is that at all those times, in one form or another, we will ask John’s question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Christmas is easy. Faith is hard. Thank God for Christmas; its majesty sustains us all the year long.

And, as always, there is no small amount of irony included in the conclusion of this text from Matthew’s gospel. After Jesus answers John’s question by deliberately refusing to declare that, “yes, I am ‘The One,’” Jesus says this: “and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Biblical commentators tell us that the Greek word “offense” in this passage literally translates into “stumbling block” or “Happy is he to whom I shall not prove a stumbling block in their understanding of Almighty God.” Happy is he who, despite the poverty and obscurity of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, sees evidence of Messiah in Him and believes in Him as Savior. We have a basis for such faith. We have already welcomed Him as Messiah on Christmas Day when He was born in the humility of a manger.

Tom Craig