Advent of Us

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Advent of Us

Herb Montgomery, November 29, 2024

If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:

Our reading this first weekend of Advent this year is from the gospel of Luke:

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:25-26)

Advent is about the arrival of a looked-for event or person. Our reading this week typically looks forward to the two-millennia old hope of Jesus’ someday return. I believe the passage in our reading from the gospels this first Advent weekend can offer us some hope for our context as well.

First, this passage was written after the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem’s temple in their backlash to the liberation movement of the Jewish-Roman war of 66-69 C.E. While the preceding verses speak directly of the destruction of Jerusalem, the verses in our reading refer to a passage from the Hebrew scriptures that encouraged the Jewish people then undergoing persecution and predicted the earthly oppressors would be replaced by the eternal kingdom of God. That ancient passage was intended to offer a vision for the advent of liberation, to inspire hope when the people had very little to hope for. 

A Passage of Liberation. 

Our reading this week references apocalyptic imagery that would have been familiar to Luke’s gospel’s Jewish community. It states that even in the wake of disappointment and devastation, when their world had been turned upside down, the community could still look forward to a time of liberation: “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

This language from the book of Daniel was written to inspire the Jewish people suffering under the Seleucid empire. The gospels use this imagery to inspire their own people to hold on to hope despite suffering under the Roman Empire. This works because Daniel 7’s themes are of liberation from imperial oppression by foreign empires. Daniel refers to the one who will bring an end to imperial reign, violence, and injustice as the “Son of man.”

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

The son of man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days was given an everlasting kingdom where in the favor of the people suffering under oppression the power and dominance of the oppressors would be taken away:

The Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:22)

The court will sit, and [their] power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’ (Daniel 7:26-27)

In our reading, Luke takes this image and looks forward to future liberation and restoration for a people who had also experienced suffering at the hands of unjust, imperial oppressors. 

We Are The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For

Also in our reading this week is more hyperbolic and metaphorical language from the Hebrew prophets about when empires who oppressed the people would be brought down. Typically, writers disguised or hid language about earth-disrupting events such as the destruction of empires that the people hoped for in the language of heavenly disruption and upheaval. The people knew what was being referred to while also having plausible deniability for the authorities to which they answered but hoped would one day be ended. Here are a few examples:

The stars of heaven and their constellations 

will not show their light.

The rising sun will be darkened

and the moon will not give its light. (Isaiah 13:10)

When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens 

and darken their stars;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

and the moon will not give its light. (Ezekiel 32:7)

Before them the earth shakes,

the heavens tremble,

the sun and moon are darkened,

and the stars no longer shine. (Joel 2:10)

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood 

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. (Joel 2:31)

The followers of Jesus then used this same rhetoric to speak of the hope-for downfall of Rome:

I will show wonders in the heavens above 

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

  The sun will be turned to darkness 

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. (Acts 2:19-20)

What can we take away from all of this in our present moment?

Advent is first and foremost a time to hold on to hope in the face of every reason to have no hope. To be honest, I don’t feel like I have the energy that the next four years is going to require of us. I’m still in my own stages of grief. My anger is subsiding but it’s still there. I’ve got a long way to go to get to acceptance of what now will be, and not with resignation but with renewed commitments to justice, resistance, working harder to mitigate harms to the vulnerable in our society. I’m not looking forward to the chaos that will put so many in harm’s way.

And yet, we aren’t the first ones to have to live through times we wish we didn’t have to. The people of our passage this week found reasons to keep looking forward to hope as well. They found reasons to keep living in love, to keep choosing compassion, to keep taking action. And we must, too. The difference is that whereas the original audience of our passage was still looking forward to the advent of a hero who would save them, two millennia later, many of us realize that hero worship can be counter productive and even harmful to our justice work. To quote the poet June Jordan, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” 

This Advent season I’m reminded that Advent is about something finally showing up. We are the ones who, especially at this moment, must show up. We are the ones  we are mutually depending on now. Jesus taught about the power of community to survive and transform the world around us even in the most difficult of times, shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone. Jesus taught us not to isolate and rely just on ourselves, but to come together. No matter what the future brought, we could get through it together, knowing we had each other’s back. This is what is described in the opening chapter of the books of Acts in the wake of Jesus’ crucifixion. And, once again, this is now the time to renew our commitment to making sure everyone is taken care of.

I know from the last time that what is coming won’t be easy. But this Advent, I’m choosing to hold on to the hope that resistance and survival is possible as we renew our commitments to each other. We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.

Discussion Group Questions

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s Podcast episode with your discussion group.

2. What does Advent mean for you this year? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone? 

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate. 

My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.

As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on X (or Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts. 

Thank you for listening to The Social Jesus Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if the podcast platform you’re using offers this option, please leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.

You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

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New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!

Season 2, Episode 38: Luke 21.25-36. Lectionary C, Advent 1

Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week we’ll be inspired to do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out at:

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New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast

A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice. 

This week:

Season 1 Episode 33: Advent of Us

Luke 21:25-36

“This Advent season I’m reminded that Advent is about something finally showing up. We are the ones, especially at this moment, who must show up. We are the ones we are mutually depending on right now. Jesus taught about the power of community to survive and transform the world around us even in the most difficult of times, shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone. Jesus taught us not to isolate and rely just on ourselves, but to come together. No matter what the future brought, we could get through it together, knowing we had each other’s back. And, once again, this is now the time to renew our commitment to making sure everyone is taken care of. I know from the last time that what is coming won’t be easy. But this Advent, I’m choosing to hold on to the hope that resistance and survival is possible as we renew our commitments to each other. We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.”

Available on all major podcast carriers and at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/advent-of-us

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Now Available on Audible!

 

Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.

by Herb Montgomery, Narrated by Jeff Moon

Available now on Audible!

After two successful decades of preaching a gospel of love within the Christian faith tradition Herb felt like something was missing. He went back to the gospels and began reading them through the interpretive lenses of various marginalized communities and what he found radically changed his life forever. The teachings of the Jesus in the gospel stories express a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of those in marginalized communities. This book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, and presents a compelling argument for a more socially compassionate and just expression of Christianity. Herb’s findings in his latest book are shared in the hopes that it will dramatically impact how you practice your Christianity, too.

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