The
Bible readings at Morning Prayer this week are concerned with surviving the end
of the world.
The
Old Testament readings are working their way through the account, in Genesis,
of the Great Flood, an account of devastation and new beginning.
The
Gospel readings are from Matthew 24, where Jesus draws on the
apocalyptic imagination of the prophet Daniel (paying special attention to Daniel chapter 7) to speak about a time of disaster which will be followed by the
revealing of the Son of Man.
Though
some take this to predict the future End of the World, apocalypse is concerned
with making sense of events we live through in history; and Daniel’s Son of Man
functions as a representative for a faithful remnant community, understood to
be accused before God through the actions of Gentile empires, but,
surprisingly, vindicated by God.
In
Matthew 24, the primary and imminent event Jesus sees coming over the
horizon is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans — this took place in AD
70 — and the subsequent emergence of a new form of Judaism, not dependent on a
rebuilding of the Temple and a return to its daily rounds of ritual sacrifice.
And — though Jesus might not have had this in mind — the divergence of his
followers from Judaism.
Of
course, in a secondary sense, this continues to speak. Indeed, the Bible, from
beginning to end, is concerned with the forming of communities that can
survive, in a new form, the inevitable end of the world as they have known it.
And not only survive, but thrive.
And
the end of the world takes place over and over and over again. For those who
experience divorce, or the death of a family member. For communities destroyed
by bush fire or flood, famine, or reduced to rubble by missiles in times of
war.
There
is no guarantee of given individuals surviving the end of the world. Others
survive, but fail to thrive. Yet here is a long, tried-and-tested resource,
testimony to God’s faithfulness and loving-kindness in a world that, for a host
of reasons in complex interaction, is unpredictable.
If
you are living through the end of the world right now, may you know the
goodness of God, and the adaptable robustness of God’s people.
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