MATTHEW 24 : 36 - 44 

Matthew in the Margins… Advent 1…Revised 2019

It makes sense to begin with some lead up rather than jump in cold as the lectionary does. Choose what makes sense to you & your congregation.

Astro-physicists & the like theorise about a universe expanding forever, not one that collapses into itself when some point is reached. Can we explore such ideas in the light of Faith rather than be scared off by fundamentalism or insecurity? What things are happening today making heaven & earth teeter on the brink? How can we help our congregation identify them, & respond positively?

Early disciples under persecution understandably opt for an Intervening God over a ‘Son of Humanity’, a fellow Suffering Servant. We can take just so much of this suffering business, can't we? Ever walked the beam of a see-saw? Go too far towards either end & we come down to earth with a jar! How are we to balance both Divine & Human ‘sides’ of God so we become complete humans with a complete God? Are we letting the Spirit keep our theological see-saw well balanced?

In the flood story from pre-history Noah represents those who have the discernment, to read the truth in what's happening round them, on earth & in the skies. When we feel sodden to the eyeballs & the flood is still rising, is trying to wring ourself out any real help? Why not, instead, build a new Ark, the Church, to God’s plan revealed in Jesus? Not out of timbers this time, but out of people. Is there any mileage for God or for us in our waiting for a Cosmic Christ to drop from heaven & snatch us from a watery grave? Might it be better to use whatever sails, or oars - or motors - God provides to keep our heads & the rest of us above water? Let’s not diminish God or ourselves in looking for an ark that never existed except as an important parable.

The Noah tale is a great & valuable religious parable, but, as Ian Plimer, then Professor of Geology, University of Melbourne, puts it in ‘Telling Lies For God’ ¹ ‘Despite efforts by creationists to salvage a credible ark & flood story, the story just doesn't hold water.’

Do we tend to read into the next bit that it's bad news for the one from the field, & one of the grain grinders to be chosen or taken? But if God's doing the taking, & these folk are ready, isn't this maybe the experience of Good News for them? OK, as long as it's them and not us, are we still thinking?

Brian

Afterthought: Would you believe the Ark, from our cosmic memory bank, still sails the seas of life today? Amid our rebellions against God? A reminder that though we flood ourselves with all kinds of destructive things, God is the Ground of our being. 

¹ Random House, Australia, '94, p.73