Imagine, if you can, waking up some morning to find that during the night all the countries in the world – the ones we most dislike – had come together and in a lightning strike had conquered, not just our own country but also those of our allies.

Further imagine that the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral and Buckingham Palace were smouldering ruins, and in America, Capitol Hill and the White House had fared no better. In addition capital cities throughout Europe were falling quickly to overwhelming attacks. Compounding the horror, it also emerges that some group akin to ISIS is part of this new order and that their religious beliefs and practises will be mandatory and brutally enforced.

In other words, we wake to find ourselves alone and isolated in a new world order which sees us as enemies and treats us as slaves.

Given the proliferation of nuclear weapons this is a scenario almost impossible to imagine. It would be much more lightly that we would mutually destroy each other and in the process destroy human life on our planet. However, using the gift of imagination, we can suspend reality for a few moments and dream it as maybe our worst nightmare.

You see, believe it or not, something very like this happened in Israel in 70ad.  In a siege lasting just under five months the Roman army put a quick and very brutal end to a Jewish revolt. No mercy was shown to those who surrendered. They were executed or sold into slavery.

The Temple, the focal point of their lives, was utterly destroyed and to complete the desecration a new Temple to the Roman God, Jupiter, was built on the site.

The destruction of the Temple was an act far greater than we can possibly imagine. From the time of Moses, through all of their wanderings in the desert and through all the turmoil and attacks they suffered, the People of Israel believed that they were a specially ‘chosen people’, favoured and protected by the one God they worshipped.

In a specially made tent which they carried with them, was housed the Ark of the Covenant, a gold-plated wooden box containing the tablets of the ten commandments, a gold pot containing the ‘manna’ which God sent them to eat and the rod of Aaron, the staff he used to lead the people. They believed that as long as they had this Ark of the Covenant with them they were safe. They believed that God was with them; that God lived within the Ark of the Covenant, close to and protecting his chosen people. Solomon, the third great King of Israel, built the huge, grand Temple in Jerusalem to be the permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant, a fitting place for God to reside.

To see their Temple burned to the ground and systematically destroyed brick by brick was something far greater than losing their place of worship and sacrifice. It was, in a very real sense, seen as their God deserting them, abandoning them, leaving them broken and alone. Their very identity as a ‘chosen people’ was gone.

It began a long, painful, journey of soul-searching and reflection as the Jewish People struggled to rediscover their God and his presence in their synagogues and in the study of the Law of Moses. Without Temple sacrifice as the focal point of worship the priestly groups (Pharisees, Sadducees, etc) lost their influence, with the Rabbi, who studied and interpreted the Books of the Law, becoming the centre of each community.

At the time Luke was writing his Gospel all of this had taken place. The small Christian communities still identified themselves as Jewish, though differences were growing and tensions spilling over into conflict. Those hearing this Gospel would, rightly, identify it as a description of the destruction of the Temple. The “dismay” he mentions, the people “perplexed” and “confused”, some so terrified that they “die of fright”, would all be emotions very familiar to them.  When Luke says that “… the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” he is doing no more that stating the fear and loss they were feeling. They would have been familiar with the apocalyptic language used by Luke, as God, through the Old Testament, often spoke to his people through the forces of nature.

What comes next is important and marks the developing movement of Christians away from mainstream Jewish thinking. What Luke is powerfully saying is that the destruction of the Temple is the sign that the Kingdom of God is breaking into the world. The “Son of Man” (the Messiah of the Old Testament), Jesus, risen from the dead, is about to return in “power and glory”.

Luke tells his anxious and bewildered readers that the destruction of the Temple is not the sign of God leaving his people, but the sign of Jesus returning to stand with his people forever. “…Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Luke tells them. This is the time to ‘watch for the signs of the Kingdom’ and prepare to welcome it.

He warns them that some of the signs of the Kingdom are ‘joy’ and ‘hope’ and ‘optimism’ and he tells them they must be examples of this ‘joy’ and ‘hope’ and ‘optimism’ as they wait, and watch, and prepare with absolute confidence for the return of Jesus.

“Yes…” he tells them, “these are dangerous times, with fear and anxiety all around. But do not be afraid; as followers of Jesus you know the truth and that truth is that God is not abandoning his people, but returning to them with the eternal Kingdom of peace and joy and forgiveness.”

It amazes me that this Gospel, often used as a Gospel of fear and warning and imminent punishment, is actually the opposite! It promises the return of Jesus and the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is a Gospel of confidence and hope and celebration.

One of the things I like about it is that it is realistic and fully grounded in the reality of our world. It does not urge us to cheer and shout and wave our arms in exultation and excitement. To do this when all around us war and floods and storms cause so much suffering, would be insensitive and lacking in compassion.

The ‘Joy of the Gospel’ is grounded in the wounded and fragile existence of our planet. The Joy it promises is deep and certain and sure because it is based on the very real “Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus” and his promise to return and “be with us always, even to the end of time.

Why, we might wonder, is this reading which comes at the end of Luke’s Gospel, chosen to lead us into Advent, and the start of another Church year?

If we see it as promising the coming of a God who will judge and punish us, then it would be a very ill-chosen reading. If we see it as promising the coming of a God of destruction; a distant, impersonal God to be feared and avoided if possible, then using it to begin a ‘new’ year would be encouraging people to leave the Church rather than to “return with all your heart.”

But if we read this Gospel as the first Christian communities read it, then we truly can “…Stand erect and raise your heads” because the tiny child who will be born into our world in just four weeks is indeed ‘our God’, coming in love, to reveal to us a God of love and to say to us, “I do not call you servants but friends…”; I wash your feet because you are ‘created in my image and likeness’, and underneath the dirt and grime of everyday living there is a person of unique dignity; my son, my daughter, my friend and an heir to God’s Kingdom.

What a wonderful Gospel with which to begin Advent.

Many thanks,

Brian.

If you have any thoughts or comments that you would like to share with me on this reflection, please send me an email: b.maher@oblates.co.uk 

Follow us on Instagram