Title: Rainbow over the chaotic land
Contents
The season of Advent begins today. One of the long traditions in Christian history is the church calendar. This was done centered on the life of Jesus, starting with Advent before the advent of Jesus, and continuing with the birth of Jesus, Lent starting 40 days before his resurrection, and then the resurrection and the day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit came as the Ascension Counselor.
The hallmark of the church year is not past-oriented, but forward-looking hope. Advent is not the week of commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ of the past, but a period of waiting for the promise of hope to come. In this Advent season, in prayer and contemplation, we should all find the true hope we need to cherish deeply in our hearts in our day today.
Have you ever heard of 'The Boy Who Chased the Rainbow'? A young boy saw a rainbow hanging on the hillside overlooking his house and ran to catch it. As I got closer to the mountain, the rainbow was again on the hillside in front of me, just like the first time. The boy ran back there, but the rainbow was in the wide field overlooking the mountain. I ran back to the field and found that the rainbow was in a valley that was that far away.
Since time immemorial, the rainbow has been cited as a symbol of human longing and dreams. However, the rainbow in today's Old Testament text is not cited as a symbol of human longing and dreams, but appears as a promise from God. The world created by God is revealed as a sign of that promise as we go beyond God's judgment and into a new future.
The rainbow in the text does not float on the beautiful land that a little boy can run on, but on the lonely and devastated chaotic land that has swept all the creatures on the earth with water. God did not show the rainbow as a promise that this chaotic land would return to the stability of the past, but He gave it as a promise to carry out the work at a point in time when we want to move beyond judgment and into a new future. Therefore, the rainbow in the Bible is a sign of God's faithfulness, not human righteousness or faith.
Although God created the world, God decided to judge all animals, including humans, and even birds of the air, including humans, because of the sins of the people of that time. swept away all but the creatures of Then he placed a rainbow over that chaotic land. The rainbow floats over a barren land where there is no living thing other than a handful of Noah's family and beasts.
The deep intention of the Genesis author is not to divert the reader's attention back to the restoration of the stable city of the past, centered on a small number of Noah's family. As I have already said, this rainbow goes beyond judgment and points to a new future. The author of Genesis intends to get the reader to see it. When that happens, you will see a new morning dawning on the land of chaos. Then you will praise and rejoice in God on the earth. Because we see the glory of God shining brightly.
The event that took place on the horizon of hope indicated by this rainbow is the birth of Jesus Christ. The four Gospel writers in the New Testament tell us that Jesus Christ has descended as a light in the middle of a city full of political oppression, lies, injustice, violence, religious hypocrisy, spiritual exhaustion, and emptiness.
This event of hope was like the 'mustard seed and leaven' under the rule of Rome at that time. A small amount of leaven contained in mustard seeds and kneaded flour is very small and insignificant in appearance. But there is an amazing power of growth and change. The Jesus Christ event was such an event in history.
Ultimately, the history of the new creation that began in Jesus Christ ends at the end of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, with “Vision of the coming of a new city,” where life flourishes and God’s peace reigns.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth passed away, and the sea passed away. I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, set up like a bride adorned for her husband, coming down out of heaven from God. I saw, and then I heard a loud voice from the throne.
‘Look,
The house of God is among the people.
God will be with them,
They will become God's people.
God Himself is with them,
in their eyes
will wipe away all tears,
no more death,
There will be no sorrow, no crying, no pain.
Because all the old things are gone.'
Then the one sitting on the throne said,
Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev 21:1-5)
The new future that has already begun in Jesus Christ appears as healing to the sick, acceptance to the marginalized, grace to sinners, and resurrection to the dead. The New Testament evangelists tell us about the new future that has begun in Jesus Christ.
“The blind see, the lame walk,
the leper is cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead come alive,
The poor hear the gospel." (Luke 7:22)
This means seeing a new reality, a new future for ourselves and the world in Jesus Christ. The new future started in Jesus Christ is not the Juche idea, it is not neo-Marxism, nor is it a welfare state under the capitalist system with many problems. It is a new way of being in Christ.
In 1940, at the end of World War II, a 25-year-old young man named Roger, called by God to seek reconciliation and unity, moved to a secluded village in eastern France and settled down. For two years, he lived there alone, hiding the Jews from the Nazis, and God was waiting for his companions to live with him. Since then, one or two people from various places have come to join his community life.
It is now made up of a parable community of the kingdom of God, an example of reconciliation and unity, of brothers from all over the world who are determined to live for Christ. Thousands of young people from all over the world come to this Taiz community each year to learn what a Christian life should be like in our day. As Christ-followers of reconciliation, they deny themselves every day and walk the pilgrimage with Christ.
This community has a figurative meaning of the kingdom of God in our day today. It shows to modern people what the meaning of the new heavens and new earth are coming closer to us.
This declaration of God's eschatological promise, "Look, I make all things new" necessarily creates a concrete way of life of hope in the reality we live in. In such a communal life of hope, those who shed tears will laugh and cry, those who are in sorrow and pain will be comforted, and the barriers of division and conflict will be broken down. Because God dwells with them.
In that respect, it is different from the ideological social community created by humans. In a social community created by human ideology, many people are sacrificed, and exploitation, human rights violations, and destruction of the creative order occur. Division and conflict are created.
However, those are overcome in the communal life of those who believe and look to God's promises of hope.
In that sense, this promise of hope to 'make all things new' is not a utopia or an illusion. This hope is the figurative life of the kingdom of God, which creates concrete and creative life in reality. This is the harmony between hope and reality of the Christian faith, and the connection between eternity and reality.
The cross and resurrection are on this chaotic land. This is a rainbow of hope that "will make all things new". The church is a gathering of people looking at the rainbow of hope. It is not a group of people who look at the city of chaos and despair or flee. They are a group of people who live a creative life with God while looking at the rainbow of hope. That is why the future of the world is the church, and the future of the church is the kingdom of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, on Advent, while looking at the promised new heavens and new earth, we go back into the city of chaos, and make tears come from the eyes of those who weep, and those who give up their lives in pain and sighing, despair and frustration. comfort the poor and preach the gospel to the poor.
When we participate in the future of the kingdom of God instead of sighing and sighing and fleeing from this world, tears of self-pity are removed, and instead of sighing and sighing, we can comfort others and live the lives of loving people of the kingdom of God. .
As we approach Advent, we become more eager to offer the prayer Jesus taught us.
"Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come,
as the will is done in heaven
be done on earth." Amen