Living in a four-season climate offers ever-unfolding lessons in cycles of life, birth and death, faith and resurrection. As fall wanes and trees shed the last of their leaves, we learn about letting things drop, letting things die. When winter comes, and the barren landscape hides all the life teeming below ground, we are reminded that there is more than meets the eye. And when things thaw in springtime, that life becomes manifest above the surface, “first the blade, then the ear and then, in time, the full corn.” (Mark 4:28), teaching us yet again about the indomitability of growth.
Jesus was also a student of the seasons: Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
The “things” Jesus’ followers were to watch for were astral signs, turbulence in the seas, and human distress. Hmmm… there is pretty much always something to see if you’re looking in those places. And we can always find in such things harbingers of an unfolding cataclysm. Famines, floods, earthquakes, terrorists… aren’t we really in for it now? Maybe – but I always like to remember that things looked a lot worse in the 14th century.
What if we looked for more subtle signs that the realm of God is near? Outbreaks of generosity, life-affirming discourse, spiritual revivals, an increase in the numbers of people worldwide claiming the name of Christ and living in continuity with his life and the values of that kingdom he proclaimed? Now there’s a sign I’d love to see.
I’ve always been puzzled by this passage, because Jesus had already proclaimed that the kingdom of God had drawn near, was in fact made real and present in himself. His miracles were simply demonstrations of that kingdom life, and his stories and teachings explanations of kingdom values. Sure, there will be a cosmic ending, but if we spend our time reading the leaves for when that is coming, we will miss all the signs of God-Life around us now. It might even distract us from our call to be signs of God-Life for other people.
Advent invites us to be watchful and aware, to seek the Christ who came, who is present with us now through his Holy Spirit, who will come again at the end of the ages. Let’s not be so busy looking for signs we miss Jesus right in front of us.
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