This week's gospel reading from Mark contains the following passage: "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs." This passage refers to:
A) The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
B) The burning of Nero's Rome
C) Mutually assured destruction
D) The Second Coming of Christ
I think that this bit of the story and others refer directly to the coming fall of Jerusalem and the final destruction of the Temple by the Romans. The levelling of the Temple to the point of only a retaining wall left standing, the mass starvation of the besieged and the crucifixion of thousands of survivors were horrors the people of Judea would suffer in the lifetime of those listening. Too, the burning of Rome and the resultant scapegoat killing of Christians.
As the first generations of Christians died before the return of Christ to establish God's kingdom of love instead of the Roman rule of oppression, they came to understand that suffering would always be with them until Christ returned and one could not predict when that time would be. Millenialist movements have arisen regularly through the ages as Christians have sought to see in the travails and anxiety of their times signs of Christ's return. In our own lifetimes we have seen much made of the signs of war and earthquake and famine. Fortunes have been made on books, magazines and movies that proclaim specific signs of Christ's immanent return ranging from the establishment of the common market/European Community/European Union to comets to Saddam Hussein.
So, before the parousia (arrival) or Christ's coming in glory we will always be in the midst of turmoil. Christ doesn't ask us to predict his return, but simply asks us to be faithful doing his work until that day. Like a bumper sticker proclaims: Jesus is Coming, Look Busy.
The answer? A - definitely, B - fits the description,
C - seems like rumour of war, no? D - will come when A,B, and C and E,F through Z have run their course. Be ready, it's any day now.
A) The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
B) The burning of Nero's Rome
C) Mutually assured destruction
D) The Second Coming of Christ
I think that this bit of the story and others refer directly to the coming fall of Jerusalem and the final destruction of the Temple by the Romans. The levelling of the Temple to the point of only a retaining wall left standing, the mass starvation of the besieged and the crucifixion of thousands of survivors were horrors the people of Judea would suffer in the lifetime of those listening. Too, the burning of Rome and the resultant scapegoat killing of Christians.
As the first generations of Christians died before the return of Christ to establish God's kingdom of love instead of the Roman rule of oppression, they came to understand that suffering would always be with them until Christ returned and one could not predict when that time would be. Millenialist movements have arisen regularly through the ages as Christians have sought to see in the travails and anxiety of their times signs of Christ's return. In our own lifetimes we have seen much made of the signs of war and earthquake and famine. Fortunes have been made on books, magazines and movies that proclaim specific signs of Christ's immanent return ranging from the establishment of the common market/European Community/European Union to comets to Saddam Hussein.
So, before the parousia (arrival) or Christ's coming in glory we will always be in the midst of turmoil. Christ doesn't ask us to predict his return, but simply asks us to be faithful doing his work until that day. Like a bumper sticker proclaims: Jesus is Coming, Look Busy.
The answer? A - definitely, B - fits the description,
C - seems like rumour of war, no? D - will come when A,B, and C and E,F through Z have run their course. Be ready, it's any day now.
posted by Adult Christian Education of the heart at 1:45 PM
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