Pentecost 24, Year B

November 19, 2006

The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew

Where is my secret decoder ring when I need it? Or, failing that, I’ll take one of the much touted “Easy” buttons featured on office supply commercials. Apocalyptic texts are known, as a genre, for featuring language and symbols which carry great meaning for those insiders for whom the writing is intended. For those of us who are not insiders, the effect is one of puzzlement. We want to understand, but the very circumstances that prompt the writer to phrase things in a carefully protected way make it difficult for us to grasp his intentions. One of Monty Python’s characters was made famous for speaking in euphemisms while elbowing his companion and saying “Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean…?” He spoke indirectly because his topic was too embarrassing for him to address straightforwardly. Apocalyptic writers likewise speak indirectly, usually because their topic is too politically dangerous to speak about clearly. Not even the writers necessarily comprehend the content of what has been revealed to them, as in the case of Daniel, who states plainly: “I heard but could not understand….”

Apocalyptic, which means revelation, or literally an unveiling or lifting the cover from, is a style of writing which tells of the experience of someone to whom a vision of God’s plan for the end times has been revealed. The Book of Daniel is the premier example in the Old Testament of apocalyptic literature. After being saved from what seemed a certain death in the lion’s den, Daniel has a series of visions in which the great struggles between the powers of this world and of God come to a climax. The visions are accompanied by a voice, as well as the presence of a heavenly intermediary who helps to explain what Daniel is seeing and its meaning. What the visions reveal are the last, desperate attempts of the powers of evil to sway God’s people, and God’s willingness to let this occur for a time as folks sort themselves into those who will remain God’s people and those who will not. This period of testing “shall be a time of anguish” according to the vision: “Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly.” The visions are a warning of the days to come and the need of the faithful to remain faithful, to understand the trials and tribulations around them in the context of God’s overall plan. Despite the reality of pain and chaos, God is still in charge. God has a plan for salvation: “…your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” This is the first clear reference in the Bible to the resurrection of the dead. God’s saving plan extends from this life into eternal life, connecting what we choose here in this life to our relationship with God in everlasting life. If we glean nothing else from apocalyptic literature, we are intended to get the sense of a much bigger picture, both for our own lives and for the world.

The Jewish disciples in the Gospel reading would have been very familiar with the apocalyptic visions of Daniel. When Jesus tells them of the destruction of the Temple, persecution, and false prophets, his words are able to tap into an already existing sense of expectation for the last days. Jesus’ warnings to his disciples take an abstract concept about the end times and place them within a context of urgency and anticipation. The key word is not if, but when. There will be a desolating sacrilege-- a cataclysmic event-- that the readers will recognize as their cue to flee. It will not be a time to stop, to ponder, to gather one’s things. It will be the time to move out.

When I was growing up we lived in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a brief while. One of the things I remember is that even though we lived right in the middle of tornado territory, none of the houses on post had basements. So when the tornado siren sounded, and sound it did, we moved. Each neighborhood had an assigned tornado shelter. At the sound of the siren we beat a path to the shelter. The urgency of the situation created a keen sense of clarity about what was important.

Our priorities become clear when danger is at hand. In the wake of recent school shootings our daughters’ school held a lock down drill. They had a plan for fires. They had a plan for tornadoes. They had not had a plan for evading evil. The thought of my children trying to squeeze under counters and behind the teacher’s desk to avoid detection was sobering, as was the backup plan: flee into the woods. It conjured up endless tape loops from television news about the tragedy at Columbine High School and the World Trade Center on 9/11. People I know have had to flee from evil. People I don’t know face it every day. The death squads loom like a cannibalistic shadow in Iraq; the janjaweed, literally ‘men on horseback,’ ride into town Darfur like the dreaded horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation. Jesus said “…in those days there will be suffering….” Indeed, there is suffering. Earlier he had warned the disciples that they would “…hear of wars and rumors of wars, but the end is still to come.” Could this mean us?

The marvelous power of apocalyptic literature is that it leads each generation of readers to wonder: Is this the end? Are these visions we read in the Bible a foretelling of the reality we see unfolding around us? Jesus warns us that we must “be alert.” This is not meant to frighten us, but to prepare us. Those who have had to flee, who have faced danger or evil, know that we do not look at everyday life in quite the same way again. We are meant to learn the value of prioritizing, of holding the things of this life lightly when measured against the value of life and the reality of eternal life. Apocalyptic visions lift the veil of our illusions and give us a glimpse of both the challenges and the gifts that lie ahead. Chaos, evil, and suffering are real. We see them every day, if not in our own lives or those of people we love, then certainly on television and in the papers. Our hope is in knowing that the love of God is stronger than any circumstance that comes our way, if only we can anchor ourselves in that love. Jesus showed us the way when he went toe to toe with evil. At first it looked as though evil had won in the Crucifixion, but God had the final word in the Resurrection. So it will be with us if, by grace, we are able to hold fast to the one thing that can save us: the love of God.

Amen