“Clear as mud”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, December 1, 2024
Luke 21: 25-36 (Forward, p. 33) CEV p. 1092
My father certainly had a knack for a turn of phrase at times. When told by some official that his or her new policy was transparent, easy to understand and clear as to its meaning, my father would mutter, ‘yeah, as clear as mud.’ It summed up rather aptly what my father thought of it.
Today’s passage may be abundantly clear to some people, but to me it’s as ‘clear as mud’. Those people who think that these words from Jesus are abundantly clear, point to His words, “when you see a fig tree or any other tree putting out leaves”, and declare categorically that, seeing as ‘the fig tree’ always symbolized the nation of Israel—I’m not sure about that—then this is referring to the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948--and then, when Jesus says that ‘some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this takes place’, as meaning the generation of 1948. Somehow, they gloss over the words ‘or any other tree’ and ‘you will know that summer will soon come.’ Clearly, then, Jesus is speaking of signs in general as indicators of what is to come, and not necessarily the generation of 1948.
But, yes, there are a series of signs, but then, what are we to make of them? In one of my congregations, there were people who tried to keep a meticulous scorecard of these signs, their occurrences and their frequency.
-wars and rumours of wars; nations and kingdoms fighting each
other: wasn’t it ever such?
-great earthquakes, famine, and plagues.
-widespread persecution.
-strange things in the sun, moon and starts? Not yet.
-roaring sea and tides? Yes, with rising sea levels and increasingly
serious storms, tidal surges, and such.
-the stars shaken in their courses?
-the Son of Man seen coming in a cloud? No, not yet.
Certainly, some of these seem to be taking place with increasingly frequency and severity, but are they merely a wake-up call, rather than the final indicator? I think that it is best to be aware, to be ready, to be prepared, but not to put all our efforts into tracking these changes. To me, these signs are not at all clear (clear as mud, therefore) and while helpful, are not decisive. Besides, Jesus said that no one knows the hour or the day, not even Himself, so why should we worry ourselves over them? It is best, I think, simply to maintain our trust in Him and let Him take care of it.
Forward notes: “When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near” (verse 31).
“Hope is a radical act of defiance in the face of the impossible.
“God breaks into our world, not with strength or might or power, but with hope. Of all the things in the cosmos that God could have used, of all the magnificent power that God could have employed to get our attention, why would God choose something as fragile as hope? Why not overwhelm humanity with displays of power and awe? History tells us that strength and power are fleeting vanities. History is littered with the ruins of authority defeated by the radical notion of hope because hope pitted against power always endures. The journey of hope may be long and winding, but it endures to the end.
“Hope comes to us in a manger and not in a mansion. As the Gospel of Luke reminds us, we have hope in the nearness of the kingdom of God. God comes to us in the frailty and helplessness of a child because when hope spreads, when hope is shared, hope grows, and hope has the power to overwhelm the world.”
Moving Forward: “As we begin this Advent journey, be on guard for hope seeping between the cracks of the armour of the world.”