RBWords

     These words are directed to a community under persecution, wondering why God does not rescue them and establish the "kingdom."  The same is true for the first scripture today from the Book of Revelation!  There is an anticipation that rescue is on the way!  But that is not the way God has arranged things.  The persecution eventually ended but Christ has not returned "in glory" to establish whatever "kingdom" the community had in mind.  They were not thinking of "the end of time, as we know it," but a kingdom in their own time.  Luke is advising them to live their lives rightly so that they may confidently "stand before the Son of Man" whenever he returns.

     A new liturgical year begins tomorrow and we once more begin to tell the story of God's plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.  The long anticipation before his birth was in some ways similar to that of Luke's community and in some ways different.  But it is this "story" that is our strength.  The Gospel of John reminds us that faith in Christ is a form of eternal life and it calls us to live according to the teachings of Jesus.  The kingdom is visible only insofar as we live it in the flesh till the end of time.  Vigilance is a form of discipline that we learn to exercise in the midst of a society filled with "options" that can destroy us.  Embracing the Advent challenge to be renewed in God's love which will become manifest in Christ requires some "intentionality" but it is a kind of vigilance that we won't regret.  AMEN