First Sunday of Advent, cycle C

LUKE 21:25-28, 34-36
AS A CANCER SPECIALIST, I AM FORTUNATE TO WITNESS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, THE WONDERS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. THE OTHER DAY I SAW IN FOLLOW UP A WOMAN THAT I'D FIRST MET MANY YEARS AGO. WHEN SHE CAME TO ME SHE WAS IN TEARS, HAVING JUST LEARNED THAT SHE HAD BREAST CANCER. SHE HAD THE KIND OF DISEASE THAT REQUIRED THE REMOVAL OF THE WHOLE BREAST. AFTERWARDS, SHE WOULD NEED CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIATION, AND THEN FIVE YEARS OF A PILL THAT WOULD CAUSE HER TO HAVE HOT FLASHES, MOOD SWINGS, AND SOMETIMES A TENDENCY TO DEPRESSION AND WEIGHT GAIN. THIS WAS A SERIOUS BURDEN FOR A 39 YEAR OLD MOTHER AND WIFE. WELL, SHE GOT THROUGH IT. THERE WERE A LOT OF TEARS, AND SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD TO GO THROUGH SOME COUNSELING, AND I'M SURE HER TEENAGERS WERE A LITTLE SCARRED BY THE WHOLE AFFAIR. AND YOU WOULD THINK THAT AFTER THIS EXPERIENCE, SHE WOULDN'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT BREAST CANCER EVER AGAIN. BUT LIKE MANY WOMEN WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS, SHE IS A VOLUNTEER. SHE WILL DROP EVERYTHING TO MEET WITH NEWLY DIAGNOSED WOMEN. AND SHE CAN SAY, “I'VE BEEN WHERE YOU ARE, AND I MADE IT THROUGH, AND IT WAS HARD, BUT I DID IT AND SO CAN YOU.” AND SHE SAYS THIS BY HER PRESENCE AS WELL AS HER WORDS.
I BET YOU WONDER HOW I AM GOING TO CONNECT THAT STORY TO THE GOSPEL, DON'T YOU?
TODAY ON THIS FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, WE HAVE ANOTHER “APOCALYPSE”. YOU REMEMBER THAT FOR THE LAST TWO SUNDAYS THE READINGS HAVE HAD APOCALYPTIC ELEMENTS IN THEM. APOCALYPSE MEANS “TO TAKE THE COVER OFF”. JESUS IS NOT PREDICTING THE END OF THE WORLD, NOR DO ANY OF THE APOCALYPTIC WRITINGS DO THAT. TODAY SOMEONE READS THESE TEXTS AND RUNS OFF TO MAKE A MOVIE LIKE “2012” ABOUT HOW THE WORLD WILL END. AND SOME OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST SPEND A LOT OF TIME COMPARING WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW WITH WHAT IS PUT FORTH IN THESE KINDS OF PASSAGES, IN THE HOPES OF BEING ABLE TO TELL WHEN THE WORLD WILL END, OR AT LEAST GO THROUGH PROFOUND CHANGE. AND LIKE AS NOT, ALL OF THIS IS DONE SO THAT PEOPLE WILL DROP THEIR SINFUL WAYS AND COME TO THE LORD. THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS OWE THEIR ORIGINS TO HOW THEIR FOUNDERS READ THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE IN THE BIBLE.
BUT THE REASON APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE WAS WRITTEN WAS NOT TO SCARE PEOPLE INTO CHANGING THEIR LIVES, NOR WAS IT MEANT TO GIVE A DETAILED OUTLINE OF THE END OF TIME. THE REAL PURPOSE WAS TO GIVE HOPE. BECAUSE THE PEOPLE TO WHOM JESUS SPOKE, AND THOSE TO WHOM THE WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ADDRESSED, WERE A TINY COMMUNITY, ON THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY, SUBJECT TO MARTYRDOM, TO RANDOM VIOLENCE, TO PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTION. HUMAN BEINGS LIKE TO BE IN CONTROL; THEY HAD NO CONTROL OVER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT. WHEN YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOU CAN'T CONTROL THINGS, YOU CAN REACT IN DIFFERENT WAYS; YOU CAN QUAKE IN FEAR, LETTING YOURSELF BE OVERWHELMED BY DEPRESSION AND DESPAIR; OR YOU CAN LOSE YOURSELF IN DRUNKENNESS, OR IN FACT IN ANY VICE THAT DISTRACTS YOU – SOMETIMES JUST THE ANXIETIES OF DAILY LIFE CAN DO THAT, AS JESUS RECOGNIZES; OR YOU CAN HAVE AN ESCHATOLOGY.
SO NOW I AM THROWING ANOTHER GREEK WORD AT YOU. IT MEANS “THE KNOWING OF FINAL THINGS” AND IN THIS CASE, FINAL REFERS TO THAT TIME WHEN THE EVENTS OF HISTORY ARE COMPLETED. AN ESCHATOLOGY IS AN ELEMENT OF FAITH. IT IS OUR VISION OF HOW THINGS COULD BE, HOW THINGS WILL BE, EVEN THOUGH THERE ISN'T ANYTHING IN OUR EXPERIENCE THAT SAYS THIS WILL HAPPEN. MY PATIENT, HAVING GONE THROUGH SURGERY, RADIATION, CHEMOTHERAPY AND HORMONE THERAPY, CAME OUT AT THE OTHER END INTACT, AND SHE IS A WITNESS TO NEW PATIENTS THAT THERE IS A FUTURE, THAT TRIBULATION WILL SOMEDAY END; SHE GIVES THEM AN ESCHATOLOGY ABOUT HOW IT IS TO HAVE BREAST CANCER.
AND THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE. IT IS TO REMIND US THAT JESUS CHRIST, WHO HAS ALREADY CONQUERED DEATH, WILL COME AGAIN TO CONQUER DEATH FOR US, TO USHER IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WHERE GOD'S PLAN WILL FINALLY TRIUMPH, AND THOSE WHO ARE JESUS' BROTHERS AND SISTERS WILL REIGN IN THAT KINGDOM AS WELL.
JESUS TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS, HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YOU AND I, THAT WHEN THOSE TIMES COME, WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING WRONG, WHEN OUR CURRENCY IS BEING DEVALUED, WHEN BANKS ARE FAILING, WHEN WE HAVE SCANDALS IN THE PRIESTHOOD, WHEN STATE BY STATE, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IS BEING LEGALIZED, WHEN WE ARE CLOSING CHURCHES BECAUSE FEWER AND FEWER CATHOLICS BOTHER TO GO TO MASS, AND WHEN IT IS NO LONGER UNTHINKABLE THAT SOMEONE MIGHT FLY AN AIRPLANE INTO THE BUILDING WHERE WE WORK OR KILL US WITH RANDOM GUNFIRE, WHEN GLOBAL WARMING THREATENS OUR VERY EXISTENCE -- WHEN ALL THESE SIGNS OF THE TIMES TELL US THAT THE END OF OUR WORLD IS NEAR, JESUS TELLS US TO HOLD UP OUR HEADS BECAUSE OUR REDEMPTION IS AT HAND. WE WILL NOT BE ABANDONED. IT IS UP TO US HOW WE HANDLE OURSELVES – A LIFE OF REACTION, WHERE FEAR AND PANIC ARE OUR MAJOR EMOTIONS, AND WE SEEK SECURITY, WE SEEK TO HIDE. OR A LIFE OF DISTRACTION, LIVING FOR THE MOMENT, SPENDING AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE IN SPORTS, ON THE INTERNET, WATCHING TELEVISION, JUST FILLING OUR TIME WITH ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER. OR, WE COULD CHOOSE A LIFE OF SATISFACTION, WHERE WE KEEP THE BIG PICTURE BEFORE OUR EYES, WHERE WE LET OUR LIVES BE GUIDED BY AN ESCHATOLOGY. “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?” WILL THIS MATTER IN THE LONG RUN?” IS WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DO BRINGING ME CLOSER TO GOD, OR DRIVING ME FURTHER AWAY?” “EVEN THOUGH THINGS LOOK TERRIBLE RIGHT NOW, I AM AN ADOPTED CHILD OF GOD, THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND BROTHER OR SISTER TO JESUS CHRIST.” I MAY BE IN PAIN RIGHT NOW, BUT I KNOW GOD HAS PROMISED TO WIPE AWAY ALL MY TEARS, TO PREPARE AN EVERLASTING PLACE IN WHICH I WILL DWELL”. THESE ARE ALL THOUGHTS WHICH COME OUT OF OUR CATHOLIC ESCHATOLOGY.
THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL, OF APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, IS TO REMIND US THAT THERE IS A REALITY BEHIND THE WORLD WE EXPERIENCE, A REALITY WHICH WE BECOME A PART OF IF WE ARE TRULY PART OF JESUS CHRIST. AND IT IS A WONDERFUL THING TO BEGIN OUR ADVENT CELEBRATION THINKING ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES, WE WILL CELEBRATE THE BEGINNING OF THE PROCESS WHICH STILL GOES ON, THE MOMENT WHEN GOD TAKES ON A BODY, AND LIVES WITH US, AND LIVES IN US AND THROUGH US, AND LEADS US AND THE WHOLE UNIVERSE BACK TO HIMSELF.