11-30-17 - Are We There Yet?

Some of us may have enjoyed or endured long car rides during Thanksgiving week; if your passengers included small children, you may have heard these words, in less than dulcet tones: “When are we going to get there?” or their variant, “Are we there yet?”

Jesus’ followers had a similar question for him. If he was indeed the promised Messiah, shouldn't he be ringing down the curtain on the bad old days soon? Things weren’t so good – the Romans on their backs, their own tax collectors squeezing them for every penny, not to mention the temple taxes. Life was hard and often cruel. When was Jesus going to deliver them from all this suffering?

These questions did not go away after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. His followers were all the more convinced he was indeed the Messiah – so how long did the world have to wait? When would he return to usher in the New Age? But as to the “when,” not even Jesus knew: "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Jesus did draw an analogy to the natural world: “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. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”
“These things” were the crises in the political and natural realms he’d discussed just previous to this conversation (Mark 13:1-23), earthquakes, famines, wars.

It is tempting to read apocalyptic interpretations into world events. One day perhaps those will come to pass. But I am more interested in is the other signs that “he is near, at the very gates,” signs that appear because we invoke His name, His love, His power. As followers of Christ, we are called to be like those fig trees when summer approaches, to let our branches become tender – both vulnerable, and conductive of new life. Every time we feed the hungry, console the desolate, confront the powers, heal the broken, we put forth leaves that tell the world that God is on the move, death has been conquered, everything is about to change.

What “leaves” are appearing on your branches these days? Give thanks for God’s life coming through you today. And what buds are about to leaf out? Pray those into fullness.

As much as we are called to be branches in full leaf, we are also called to point out leaves on other branches, to proclaim the inbreaking reign of God every single time we see evidence of grace. That’s how the world will know what signs to look for. Let’s be God’s fig trees, in season, and in out, so everyone will know that Christ is near. O come, O come Emmanuel!