Advent: The Last Hope

Last because it is Saturday and tomorrow the theme changes.

Last because Jesus talks about the end times in this passage from Matthew. Granted, the passage reflects a conventional understanding of "end times"...a time of suffering that happens before the "messianic age." At one point, Jews believed that a human ruler could come back to the throne of David, re-establish Israel as a nation, and bring peace and prosperity to the entire world. Reformed Judaism understands this will be God's work more than the work of a human.

Regardless, this passage is easy for me to ignore if it is about end times. That is just so far out of my daily routine that I don't even think about it. But if I hear it in the "today," I hear hope. "The one who endures to the end will be delivered. The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations."

The hope I hear is for today. "Keep the faith," my grandmother would say. I think the best thing I can do for the kingdom is live faithfully today, even in the midst of the inevitable chaos and destruction that humans don't seem to be able to avoid. That is the best witness I can offer. But that may be what proclaims the kingdom.

I hope that will proclaim the kingdom. I've proclaimed plenty to my elected representatives recently. Protecting the poor and at-risk, the refugee, providing for all people ...these are the thing the prophets have been calling us to. This is what it means to bring in the Kingdom--which, of course, will be God's work. But a little endurance (which I take as working on the kingdom even when the world doesn't seem to hold those values at all) can't hurt.

From who we vote for to how we treat our neighbor, we are called again to the love God, love neighbor thing. In a nutshell, that is our hope.