Signs of the End?

Another election season has come and gone, setting new records for cost and nastiness. Winning an election appears to be the end for which all means are acceptable, and now that the U.S. Supreme Court has removed barriers to corporate contributions, more money is available to fund those means. It is an unusual race in which candidates stick to the issues and treat one another with respect. In our part of the prairie one state representative was elected that way, a small bit of relief in what was otherwise a slimy shouting match.

Two years ago Democrats rejoiced and the Republican Party seemed finished. Last week the Republicans surged back and the Democrats lost ground. Each time some people on the losing side view the results in almost cosmic terms: the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. Considering how many of our problems need thoughtful solutions, and how likely gridlock will prevent anything happening over the next two years, perhaps the doomsayers have a point.

All of this tempts me to interpret Jesus’ comments on the end times politically. I resist that temptation, however, because his starting point is something never seen by the reigning culture in our country: total domination by a foreign power and the destruction of the central religious shrine (in Jesus’ case, the Jerusalem Temple). This is not Sudan or Pakistan; our lives are not in danger because we are Christians.

I also resist it because the end times are not really Jesus’ focus. What is most important, he says, is how you live when really bad things happen. Worried about persecution? That gives you an opportunity to witness to the faith. Rehearsing your answers? Don’t bother. I will give you a mouth (literally) and a wisdom that no one opposing you will be able to withstand. That’s exactly what we see happening in places where Christians really are persecuted. To apply this to U.S. politics is to trivialize it.

So what to do with this Gospel? Certainly it should not be used as a predictor, a claim that there are now wars and insurrections and great earthquakes, so the end is coming soon. Elsewhere Jesus makes it quite clear that his return will be unpredictable and unexpected. Yet the emphasis on how we live our lives is timeless. The baptismal covenant provides the blueprint: pray and worship, resist evil, proclaim the Good News by word and example, seek and serve Christ in all persons, strive for peace and justice, respect the dignity of all human beings. If those had been followed in this recent election, it would have been a very different process. We can only pray and hope that those who will now hold office will come to their senses after a bitter contest and govern in a more reasonable and faithful way.

Pentecost 25: Luke 21:5-19.