This comes from Advent 1. I planned to integrate it earlier in my writing about apocalyptic but things happen which change plans. While very well received as a sermon, it may not translate into a written format as easily. I do think I tend to write this blog the way I write my preaching/teaching notes (to the horror of all my English teacher and grammar-focused friends), so perhaps it will be more of the same:
I want to illustrate how apocalyptic works as literature. Maybe Walt Disney can help. Think of Snow White. She talks to animals and they help her. They even help clean a cottage. In Disney movies, the female hero can do that sort of thing. Though this is not “real life,” we are not confused because we "get it." That is how the story goes in Disney world. Female heroines are able to talk to animals even when the rest of the story is more reflective of the rules of real life.
Apocalyptic is like that, too. It has different rules. It is not scientific. It has stereotypical images, symbols and language. It is a different literary type. Maybe looking at Snow White can help us see it more easily in the Bible.
Snow White's dad is a king. Her mother dies and he marries a beautiful, but vain woman. Royal imagery is often part of fairy tales as is some loss which places the heroine in a difficult situation. Cinderella, for example, had a similar problem. The “step” mother role is an apocalyptic image: she is the evil parody of true motherhood, just like the Anti-Christ, the Whore of Babylon and the Demonic Ram are fake imitations of the real thing (Christ, The Bride/Church and The Lamb that was slain). Driven by jealousy (note, in Christian legend this is the Sin of Lucifer) she tries to kill young Snow White (whose name symbolizes purity; see Isaiah though your sins are crimson red I make them white as snow). The assassin however, frees the girl in the woods. There she has a frightening ordeal (with scary music, darkness and monsters). This is tribulation, the time of testing so central to all apocalyptic narratives. When the night ends she is surrounded by friendly animals which aid her. Apocalyptically, the relationship of the girl and the animals is an expression of the reign of God. Human and nature back in sync, the Genesis curse is undone. [To quote the Bible, the lion lays down with the lamb and the babe plays with snakes.] This is why the great saints, like Francis, frequently are associated with miraculous animal stories: Shalom of God’s Kingdom.
Recall, Snow White sings “Some Day my Prince will come.” This is the apocalyptic promise: the future coming of the King. It is an excellent hymn for Advent: “MARANATHA come Jesus!” Of course in our age (more scientific) this is a much maligned part of the story and feminism detests the movie because of the implications that girls are to wait for their prince. We live in the post waiting for a prince world. The newer Disney cartoons emphasize self actualize warrior women (like Mulan). However valid and helpful this may be sociologically/psychologically it does not reflect our situation theologically.
Remember the wicked queen disguises herself as an old hag with apples. Symbolically her disguise reveals her heart as outer beauty gives way to her inner ugliness. She is a beast. In folk tales and in apocalyptic good=beauty and evil=ugly. Sadly, in regular life, good and evil are no so easily discerned. But the purpose of the literature is to clarify what is muddled in daily life. It gives us eyes to see what is really there!
Lastly, Snow White, poisoned by the apple, lies “dead” until the Prince comes and with a kiss wakens her. This wakening is, apocalyptically, the resurrection. The final image is marriage: the wedding of the prince and Snow White, the wedding feast of the Lord and His Church. In apocalyptic, Jesus will "wake" us all with a kiss and wedding! Calling death sleep is a frequent feature of NT writing (Jesus and Paul) and it is an image which makes symbolic sense to us all. It implies both the absence (of awareness and interaction) and the temporary nature of the situation ("arise sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will glorify you!")
Snow White resonates with the longing of our hearts. We want peace with all creation, evil unmasked and overthrown, death conquered, love and kisses. We want to live happily ever after. That is the story written by God. It is why all literature, be it great novels or folk tales, the fare of the most educated or simplest, ends up reflecting common themes. It is why we find truth where there are no facts....
The "world" teaches that we do not live happily ever after, but God’s story gives us hope and courage for some day we shall.
That is the message and meaning of all apocalyptic literature.
What Jesus tells us today is the same story [this refers to Luke 21:25ff]. It is horrible and beautiful with threat and a hope filled promise. It is motivation to believe that some day our Prince will come.
For Jesus says:
There will be signs in the skies. Ancient man believed planets and stars ruled so of course signs would be there. It is a word picture of God’s victory over all principalities and powers! That is the communication whether or not literal astral events are intended.
There will be distress. The powers aligned against God will not go quietly, Evil is jealous, ruthless, murderous. Each age has its own trouble and turmoil: it is the time of testing. Certainly the recent shootings and the other "bad news" which bombards us are a graphic presentation of the real suffering and pain. Inspite of what I read in our newspaper viewpoint section, evil is real. And psychologizing away causes while ignoring effects does not make evil disappear. Evil is real and we need deliverance and no human is up to the task, except the Divine Human Jesus Christ. But He has not and is not here with us, at least not in the sense of a concrete rule where everything is fine. No, we continue to see "sun, moon, stars=principalities and powers" exert their evil reign. Jesus has not come, not yet.
But He will come. He will appear. When your eyes behold Him come in glory (=with clouds) you will know that you did not hope in vain. His appearance will be salvation: rescue from all that harms and hurts and crushes us, from all that causes you to weep.
And He makes clear that His word is firm.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will NOT pass away. So we believe, we trust, we repent, we walk together.
Jesus tells us not to be weighed down by life.
He identifies two alternatives: drunkenness and worries. Drunkenness is the “party life.” It is dissolute, worry-free and it focuses on pleasure—all types of appetites, not just alcohol. It ends in death.
But the alternative is death, too, though more appealing to us. It concerns the pursuit of success. It worries about things. My career. My wealth. My possessions. My reputation. My ego. It is so very busy and so very focused and so very tied up and tied into knots about everything that is passing away.
And neither group sings of the Prince who is to come.
Apocalyptic is wonderful. It is a real life "fantasy" narrative to see the deeper meaning of our lives. It shows in powerful pictures what we see and experience. It promises that for which we hope and dream.
We live in the time of signs in the sky and suffering on earth.
We experience fear, threat and pain.
We may shudder in darkness and weep in fear….
The stars and planets and wicked queens may still rule…
But our prince is coming
And His sweet kiss will deliver us.
And we will live happily ever after.
And it begins NOW.
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