(Note: This blog entry is based on
the text for “The Chosen”, originally shared on November 29, 2023. It was the 287th
video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced
with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
What does the end of the world have to do
with the birth of Jesus Christ? And where do we fit in with what God is doing?
Today, we’re going to find out.
Here is its geometry:
The whole Church Year has two halves. It is designed to tell the major
events of the history of salvation in its first half, and a fuller teaching of
the Christian life in its second half.
The first half is divided into two quarters, or “Cycles”: the Birth of
Jesus Cycle and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Cycle.
Each Cycle is divided into three thirds, or “seasons”: a third of
preparation for an event, a third of the event itself, and a third of
reflection on what the event means.
So, the Christmas Cycle begins with Advent (preparation), which is
followed by Christmas (the event) and then by Epiphany (reflection).
The Easter Cycle begins with Lent (preparation), which is followed by
Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday (event), and then by the season of Easter
(reflection).
The time of Pentecost covers the remaining half of the Church year.
Each season has its own color that reflects the mood of its season.
This coming Advent season, beginning this coming Sunday, is represented
by royal blue, a color of hope. The word “advent” means “coming”.
The Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas (though some
clergy have inexplicably begun lobbying for seven Sundays).
The Church calendar does not only change each year. The Bible readings,
or “the lectionary” move through a 3-year cycle, with each year featuring one
of the three Gospels that have similar structures: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
This
Sunday we begin Year B, or the year of Mark, and most of the Gospel readings
this year will come from Mark, with readings from John scattered through the
whole three-year cycle.
Fun fact: some churches have chosen to move Advent up one Sunday this
year so that the Fourth Sunday in Advent doesn’t fall on the same day as
Christmas Eve.
Funner
Fact: the Bible readings for each week in the Church Year are structured so
that if you came to church every Sunday for three years, you would hear
the entire history of salvation and almost the entire Bible read out loud. So,
if you have been a regular worshiper for a while, you have heard almost the
entire Bible read out loud many times!
The
vast majority of churches all over the world uses these same readings. You
could worship at any one of them on any given Sunday and you would hear exactly
the same scripture being read out loud as in every other church!
Liturgy nerds get excited about this stuff. But there’s a reason for
this tradition.
The liturgical year infuses the good news of Jesus Christ with time
itself. We mark the passage of time with the history of salvation proclaimed
through the Word of God.
It
is central to a life of faith. Paul writes, in Romans
10:17,
17 So faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
And
it helps us fulfill Christ’s command to “Keep awake” in Mark 13:37.
Those
words are preceded by Jesus speaking of the end of time, the Final Judgement,
and the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth. Jesus says in Mark
13:24-27,
24“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26Then they will see ‘the Son
of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27Then he will send out the
angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to
the ends of heaven.
What does it mean to be among “the elect”?
It means to be among the chosen.
Paul uses the language of adoption, in Galatians 4:4-5,
4 But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who
were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
It means that we have been saved by God’s
grace, through God’s gift of faith.
Jesus says to his disciples, in John 15:16,
16 You did not choose me but I
chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so
that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
There’s nothing that we can do. God
desires that all people be saved and died on the cross to make it possible. We
can only receive the gift or reject it.
In the TV and streaming show, “The Chosen”
we see an artistic rendering of Jesus’ core disciples and how they respond to
being chosen.
I’ve found myself watching with mixed reactions to the show.
I’ve wondered how far the writers can go in “filling in the gaps” of the
Gospels without it becoming a distraction. I’ve watched some of the episodes on
TV and find it jarring to be watching a scene from the life of Jesus and then
cut to a commercial. I’ve been startled by seeing actors from the show,
including the one playing Jesus, selling products in those commercials, however
“useful” they might be. I am concerned about those actors sharing their
personal political views and wonder if some people will not have difficulty, at
least on some levels, separating the actor from the person they play.
In
this regard, I’ve been concerned that the show itself is a violation of the commandment
in Exodus 20:4,
4 You shall not make for
yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
(NOTE: Roman Catholics and at
least some Lutherans incorporate this verse into “You shall have no other gods,”
the First Commandment when numbering the 10 Commandments)
One other hand, I’ve been impressed with the dedication to understanding
the culture and conditions in which the Gospels were written as a means to
amplify their meaning and make them more relatable. I was initially put off by
the idiomatic speech of the characters, but finally felt that it may be the
means by which post post-modern people can find them understandable. I have
been deeply moved by some scenes, especially some of the miracles of healing.
On
balance, I think that “The Chosen” can be a useful means to growing in God if
we are listening to the voice of God through it, if it draws us closer to God. It
can be a means to make the Gospels meaningful to a new generation of believers
and even point them to new life.
Jesus continues this passage from Mark with what I think could be
another way of infusing the Gospel message in time, in Mark 13:28-31,
28“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon
as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is
near. 29So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30Truly I tell you, this generation will not
pass away until all these things have taken place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words
will not pass away.
Obviously, there have been many, many generations of people come and go
in the 2,000 years since these words were spoken. But I think that, in a sense,
we are still a part of that first generation that first heard Jesus speak. I
think that every generation is called to live as the terminal generation.
How
does every generation respond to God’s gift of a full life and salvation?
In part, by staying awake. Jesus makes the
call in Mark 13:32-37,
32“But about that day or hour no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when
the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he
leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the
doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore,
keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the
evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he may find you asleep when he comes
suddenly. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep
awake.”
As
I said earlier, “Advent” means “coming”. It refers both to the first advent of
Jesus in his incarnation in his birth at Bethlehem, and it refers to his second
“advent”, his second coming to judge the world and bring in the new heaven and
the new earth.
We
are living in the generation that exists between these two advents.
We
are the chosen, drawn to God by God’s grace through the gift of faith that is a
living relationship with the one true living God. Our ticket to heaven was
stamped “paid in full” with Jesus’ blood on the cross.
As
16th century Church reformer Martin Luther presents it in his
explanation of the part of The Apostle’s Creed that presents the Church’s core beliefs
about the Holy Spirit,
I believe that by my own understanding or
strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead
the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his
gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers,
enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it
with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.
Our lives are lived in the transformation power of the Holy Spirit to
give new life and in response to the love of God made plain for us on the
cross. We are made God’s people by the cross. There is nothing we can do to be
saved; we can only accept the gift.
As
Jesus said in John 6:44,
44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.
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