Campus Ministries: Catholic Ministries
JESUS IS COMING!
A wealthy farmer burst into his home one day and cried out in an anguished voice, "Rebecca, there is a terrible story in town--the Messiah is here!" "What's so terrible in that?" asked his wife. "I think it's great. What are you so upset about?" "What am I so upset about?" the man exclaimed. "After all these years of sweat and toil, we have finally found prosperity. We have a thousand head of cattle, our barns are full of grain, and our trees laden with fruit. Now we will have to give it all away and follow him." "Calm down," said his wife consolingly. "The Lord our God is good. He know how much we Jews have always had to suffer. We had a Pharaoh, a Haman, a Hitler--always somebody. But our dear God found a way to deal with them all, didn't he? Just have faith, my dear husband. He will find a way to deal with the Messiah too."
Anthony de Mello
He had been in a knife fight. As the ambulance rushed him to the hospital he was praying out loud: "O God, please don't let me die! Give me another chance. I promise I will turn over a new leaf." The medic working on him reassured him: "You've lost a lot of blood. But your vital organs are OK. You're going to live." The man paused for a moment, and then began to shout: "I'll get that SOB that did this to me! Wait til I get my hands on that mother-f...!"
How would you feel if you were to learn that Jesus had just returned? Disappointed, like the wealthy farmer? Or afraid, because you are a sinner? Would it surprise you to know that the first Christians were impatient for Him to return? The Bible ends with the cry: "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20).
Why were our Christian ancestors so eager for Jesus to come? Weren't they afraid of all those awful things predicted for the end time? "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Lk 21:25-27).
But this frightening description ends with the upbeat exhortation: "But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand" (28). The first generations of Christians were not put off by fearsome sounding predictions. They were familiar with the powerful and mysterious images used at that time to describe the awesomeness of God's earthshaking interventions in world affairs. This apocalyptic style of writing was used to exhort Christians, who were being terribly oppressed by the authorities, to remain faithful. It was meant to give them hope and comfort that, as bleak as things might seem right now, Christ, their victorious risen Lord, would ultimately rescue His persecuted people.
In addition to its apocalyptic language, there's another reason why the Bible's accounts of Christ's return can appear so frightful to us today. They were written soon after the bloody destruction of Jerusalem and its sacred temple, and the beginning of the Jewish diaspora. Early Christians understood that the Bible's descriptions of this cataclysmic event--the end of the Jewish world--were mixed in with predictions of the end of the whole world. But their horror at the razing of Jerusalem did not dampen their eager anticipation for Christ's triumphant return at the end of the world.
We need to rediscover today that Christ's return will not be a time of terror and calamity, but rather the glorious culmination of all of history. Sin will finally yield to love. All that is good and beautiful, all our hard work, will not be destroyed, but glorified. Only evil will be destroyed: sin, suffering, and, finally, death itself. Evil never gives up without a struggle. But here is how splendidly the Bible describes what awaits us: "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, the old order has passed away" (Rev 21:3f). Is it any wonder that the first Christians would exclaim: "Come, Lord Jesus!"
Today, as in every age since the time of Christ, numerous false prophets arise claiming to know the date of Christ's return (Mk 13:21-23). They interpret the Bible's vivid apocalyptic images literally, in order to frighten people into joining their sect. The dates they give for Christ's return pass by uneventfully. But many groups, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, have found that combing fear tactics with winning smiles is an effective method for recruiting new members. People fall for their baseless predictions, even though Jesus Himself taught clearly that "no one knows" the day or hour of His coming (Mt 24:36). No one knows when or how it will happen.
We shouldn't be afraid of Christ's return. Like the early Church, we long for the coming on earth of Christ's reign of peace and love. We need to prepare to welcome Christ, be it when we die or when He returns, by genuine conversion from sin to love. Only then can we "stand up and raise [our]heads" and pray: Come, Lord Jesus, come!.
Ronald Stanley, O.P
For additional artiticals relating to this topic see:
I GIVE YOU MY HEART!
FUNDAMENTALISM
