Who Can Separate Us from the Love of God?
The list of “apocalyptic” world-ending prophecies is a storied history of disappointment beginning with Simon Bar Giora, an Essene, around 70 C.E. to Warren Jeffs in 2012. It is probably not unreasonable to suggest that humanity has been predicting the “end times” since we could conceive of such a thing. Opening the lid (the meaning of apocalypse) on the date and time seems to be a way of expressing an ending one can control, a way of assuring the suffering that someday “every tear will be wiped away.” Far from gloom and doom, the “end times” seem to suggest a great reconciling; good for the insiders, but sad for the ones who aren’t part of the “in-crowd.” That’s the problem with much of how we understand recent apocalyptic predictions: we’re always saved. Malachi’s vision of the apocalypse, however, brings judgment on his people as many of the Old Testament prophets did. The “in-crowd” constituted those who remained faithful and obedient, honoring God’s law and worshiping God with sincerity and trust. Let’s face it; it is a lot easier to sacrifice a diseased animal than a healthy one, to give a bit less than ten percent, or to go outside the Law when it was convenient. The difficulty of remaining faithful is the history of salvation.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is also declaring a vision of destruction; sometimes called the “Mini Apocalypse” because it deals only with the Temple destruction as a final event; however, the Temple was the world for the Jews. Like the vision of Enoch, though, apocalyptic visions tend to accumulate events and expand as time goes on. Nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, and plagues were all a reality for the first century Jew. The early church knew much of being “hated by all because of my name” and the experience of standing powerless before one’s adversaries. Indeed, Christians found themselves “led before kings and governors.” In Iran and other places hostile to the Gospel of Christ, Christians continue to be jailed, tortured and killed. In September of 2013, BBC Radio quoted Archbishop Welby speaking of persecution in Egpyt and Pakistan: “The appearance is often deceptive but I think Christians have been attacked in some cases simply because of their faith,” he said. “I think it is true to say – and also in Peshawar – that we have seen more than 80 martyrs in the last few days. “They have been attacked because they were testifying to their faith in Jesus Christ by going to church”(The Telegraph.co.uk). It is puzzling, then, when Jesus declares “…not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance, you will secure your lives”. Seemingly, the suffering and death of tens of thousands of Christians stand in testimony against such an optimistic prediction.
The turn comes in realizing that death is not equated with destruction for Christians. Who can destroy us? Who can destroy what connects us to the immortality and eternity of God? Our perseverance is being Good News, of finding refuge for ourselves in our community of faith that includes the Blessed Trinity, all the saints and our brothers and sisters of our faith community. Martyrdom is a communal affair; perseverance is never in isolation of the support and community offered by the Church on earth. The sacraments tie us to this eternal source of grace and belonging that is tangible, physical, bridging the temporal and eternal. Who can now separate us from the love of God?
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