2147AFC112621 – Advent #1 – If ya snooze ya lose.
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Luke 21:36 – 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. It’s Advent! “The Holiday Season” and Christmastide is just a few “black Fridays” away. We will spend the next four Sundays thinking about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as the Son of God is born fully human and fully divine. We’ll sing Christmas carols, eat rich foods, and drink special concoctions. We’ll shop, and buy, and wrap, and give gifts. We’ll share the Joy and tell our Grinchey friends, “It’s OK to wish me Merry Christmas.” We might even dig out that pin we got somehow, somewhere that says “Jesus is the Reason for the Season;” or was it “Keep Christ in Christmas.”? Well, no matter whether we find it or not, we’re going to have a GREAT Christmas this year because we are being liberated!!
Yeah, we still have the masks and hand-sanitizer, but we can get more people into bars, restaurants, maybe even the Movies! It’s gonna be great for the Worldly folks! As for us who keep Christ in Christmas here in Kapaʻa, we can allow more people into the building for Mass AND we’ll get the hymnals back in the pews (not that all that may people actually sing the hymns). And then the Church hits us with this Reading (↔ Click Link) from the Gospel of Luke. Biblicists refer to this section of the Gospel of Luke as “eschatological discourse,” instructions about the end times given to Jesus’ Disciples as he predicts the total destruction of the Temple. There would be no Holly-Jolly Christmas Spirit in Jerusalem after the Romans got through with it! But wait! There’s more!
OK ʻŌmea, I know you’re not particularly fond of the homework assignments I give you in these posts, but I really do hope you’ll pick up on this one. I want you to go get your Bible – or find an online Bible you like – and read Mark 13, the Destruction of the Temple. Yup, you should read all 37 verses, and read the footnotes, too. You’ll see some parts that are pretty close to Sunday’s reading from Luke and a little bit more detail. One interesting parallel is in Luke 21:25-26 – 25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. This is a reference to Isaiah 13:10 and also, perhaps, Joel 2:30-31, and it is repeated and attributed to the prophet Joel in Acts 2:17-21. For the disciples gathered around Jesus at that moment, this was incomprehensible. They had been commenting on how large the stones were that were used to build the Temple.
Some were indeed HUGE! In the retaining wall for part of the Temple Mound the stones quarried were 15 feet thick, 25 feet tall, and 50 feet long! That is ONE stone! Jesus is telling them “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” (See Mark 13:2) The restored Temple, ordered and supervised by Herod The Great, was a magnificent structure. Parts of the outer temple walls were covered with gold plating. It was said to be blindingly bright when the sun hit it. Near the top were blocks of white marble so pure that people said it looked like snow on the Temple. Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down. And so it was in about 70 AD when the Roman army completely destroyed (some say it was “on accident”) the Temple. Jesus’ predictions about what would occur after his death – which was imminent at that time – came to being literally as he had described them. That includes the persecutions, the opportunities to “testify,” by martyrdom, and even including “the Good News must first be proclaimed to all nations.” (See Mark 13:10; there is still much debate over what this actually means and whether or not it has already been fulfilled).
Everyone will experience these difficulties, these tribulations, these terrible disruptions of the entire framework of society. Jesus is telling his Disciples (and that better include you and me, ʻŌmea) that no one will escape seeing and being subjected to all this. Jesus continues by saying, “For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days.” It’s going to be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah PLUS the Great Flood, PLUS the centuries upon centuries of the persecution of Christians everywhere. That sort of lets the air out of all that hoopla that started about 2 weeks before Halloween. What are we supposed to do? And isn’t this already happening around the World right now? I mean, this is pretty terrible already, so worse-than-this must be … unimaginable.
Time to call up a memory verse – 1 John 4:4c – for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (Use that link for a contextual reading) I have often found deep comfort and consolation in that message. A bit up the page, the author is reminding us to “test the spirits” because there will be many who claim to be of God but are not. “Well, golly Chick, thanks for ruining the Christmas Joy for us.” Just a little longer, Belovéd, and we might restore it for all of us. Here’s a pair of quotes from the guy who uploaded a bunch of Aphorisms – “Always expect the BEST for and from yourself and others” and “Always seek, expect to receive, and accept the greater gift — the opportunity to give.” Now that’s the Christmas Spirit! Test that Spirit! Does it say, “Jesus Christ is Lord!“? Does it point to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”? Another Memory Verse: Philippians 4:13 – 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can even Love as Christ requires.
1 Corinthians 13:1 – 1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 16:14 – 14 Let all that you do be done in love. St Augustine had a pretty high opinion of Love. He reportedly wrote, “Love. Then do as you will.” Ah, easy enough if you’re a Saint among Saints, but for a puny little sinner like me, that Love Augustine is thinking about is the AGAPE (ἀγάπη) of Christ. It is the real, heavy-duty, super-turbocharged diesel version of LOVE. Mine is more like a two-cycle weed-whacker motor kind of love. It takes everything I have to keep that going, too. I sputter to a jolting stop quite often when “Love your neighbor” turns into, “What is that idiot up to now?!?” That is not in the Spirit of Charity and Love. Do you remember the hymn, Ubi Caritas? Here’s a bit of an excerpt:
As you see, in this Latin hymn, charity and love are two different things. Charity is usually thought of as acts of kindness to supply something someone else needs – often money. Charity is humanitarian kindness, and it often arises out of humanitarian love. AGAPE is divine – PERFECT – kindness and it always arises out of PERFECT Divine Love. Charity is one of the works of faith we call the Corporal Works of Mercy. You may recall we studied those during Lent in 2010. Charity is the pragmatic expression of the commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s worth listing them once more as a reminder:
- Feed the hungry,
- Give drink to the thirsty,
- Welcome the stranger,
- Clothe the naked,
- Care for the ill,
- Visit the imprisoned,
- Bury the dead.
Now we see a pattern emerge in these lyrics. We have LOVE and we have Charity. When we build our lives around these two things, we work on those two Greatest Commandments:
Matthew 22: 36-40 – “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The hymn says that, “Where charity and Love are, God is there.” There is another hymn (↔ Music Link) you might be thinking of as you listen to this: “Where Charity and Love Prevail.” (↔ Music Link) Here are the first and last verses as I learned them many years ago.
Where charity and love prevail,
there God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ’s love,
by love are we thus bound.
No race or creed can love exclude,
if honored be God’s name;
Our family embraces all
whose Father is the same.
And so, Beloved, we can know with certainty that we do His will when Charity and LOVE work together to the glory of God. Still, we must be alert for the enemy’s sneak attacks – which seem to be becoming more and more open and vicious!
Must we then, be like Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody and practice “Constant Vigilance?” We don’t need to feel mistrustful of everything and everyone as if there were no defense for this time of tribulation. Jesus tells us to be watchful, to be alert, to be mindful of the signs and seasons. When we see the kinds of things happening that are listed in Matthew 24:1-25:46 (↔ Click Link), Mark 13:1-37 (↔ Click Link), and Luke 21:5-36 (↔ Click Link), we need to be ready for the Day of The Lord – the return of Jesus and the Day of Reward. Jesus’ advice is pretty blunt when it comes to addressing how we could overlook such clear signs of The End: Luke 21:34-35a – “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.” Meanwhile, what do we do about Christmas?
We enjoy it, Belovéd; we enjoy the giving and the feasting, the singing and fellowship, the kids and the grandparents, keiki and kūpuna, the cooking and even the cleaning. Just keep your eye on the world and your coat and hat by the door. Jesus is coming, and he’ll be calling for those who are his. We can take a clear clue from the color of the vestments: Violet – a time for reflection and repentance. And here’s the best way I know of to make it the most memorable Christmas: Extra prayers, generous giving of your time, and special sacrifices are the best way to prepare your soul for the Advent of Christ. These gifts from our best-self need no wrapping or ribbons to disguise the contents of the package. They are addressed to God, and to neighbor, and to all of those loved by God and neighbor. Now, there’s a Merry Mary Christmas! Don’t doze off in a cloud of distractions and miss the whole thing!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
