Since the beginning of my life, I have been waiting for Jesus to return, known as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ . I must have learned it from my parents or the church where my parents took me as a young boy. For a variety of reasons, this Second Coming scared me out of my mind. It might have been the tone of voice of my Sunday School teacher or the preacher, but I always experienced it with much fear, and trembling. I never heard it taught as a comforting event at all. I was a sinner, and I might have to endure great suffering because I would be left behind after Jesus returned . I would not be taken up in into the sky, and live in heaven forever. Now, I understand that this kind of interpretation is only a small slice of the Christian tradition.
The church celebrates for the four Sundays before Christmas. It is called Advent, and the Bible passages that are usually read are about the coming of the Christ Child, and the coming of Jesus again. The Church wants to worship God coming among us in the child born to Mary and Joseph, but they also want to celebrate the coming again of Jesus. These two events should be comforting to me as a child of God. One Christmas carol that I like is “ Come thou Long Expected Jesus. “.
Christmas, as most of us celebrate it, is a romantic story of the birth of the Saviour of the world. Our manger scenes are quaint and quiet, and we want to feel hopeful and happy during the whole season of Advent. We sing songs, that I love, of mostly scenes of the tiny baby born of a virgin, and everything is just perfect with lambs, donkeys, cows, wise Men, and anything else that will make us feel good.. It was not as neat a scene as we portray it to be.
There is the long ride to Bethlehem at the end of the pregnancy. The child is born in a cave, or a barn, but not at home. There is the evil King Herod, who kills those other babies, trying to find the new King that was born. Then after Jesus is born, he and his family become refugees, until it is safe to come back to their homeland.
Near the end of Jesus’ life, he might have been around 30 when he died, he begins to talk about his return. It is a confusing part of the story for me. He is in Jerusalem preparing to die, and he has this short conversation with his friends ( the disciples ) about when he, the Son of Man , will return again to the earth. I thought that Jesus has come to bring peace to the whole world, bringing salvation from God to everybody. But, even after the Resurrection, he has to go back to heaven, and we must now wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ .?.? I am tired of waiting for Jesus to return.
As Christians, we have waited a long time. In every generation since around 35 A.D., and now for around two thousand years, the church has talked about waiting. We have framed theologies that have not come to pass, and have scared little children , like myself. In business, in education and in the government, you would not wait for this long. You would do something different.
Maybe, me and the church have gotten it all wrong. Maybe Jesus returns to the earth each day, and we do not see him, nor do we act like we are Christians, working for justice and peace.. We are judgmental, we are violent, we are racist, we hate women and Muslims. We do not love our neighbours. We only live for ourselves. How could we ever see the Second Coming, if we are so focused on our own needs and wants ?
I know now that I have gotten it all wrong. “Open my eyes , O God.” I have been waiting these 58 years, and you have been here all along. “ Forgive me, O Lord.” I know that I will see you today.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 