A Mayan Advent

2012 is quickly coming to a close, and folks are starting to get excited and make bets as to whether or not the world will soon be ending as has been purportedly prophesied by the Mayan calender.  While it seems the majority are hesitant to naively sell themselves on the idea that the world will actually end in a couple of weeks, nonetheless it is truly interesting to observe society’s definite thrill or fascination with the idea of a world wide apocalypse.  This apocalyptic obsession is not merely embodied by the Mayan stone calendar, but is clearly exhibited by the culture’s contemporary cult obsessions with zombie , vampire, pandemic and world war III flicks, books, and TV shows.  Our society and culture are clearly enamored with the idea of death, chaos and widespread destruction.

Yet, cults revolving around world-apocalypses and mass disaster are really nothing new.  Throughout history are countless records of various prophesies of the world’s impending doom and destruction from both religious and pagan sources.  One recent prediction which comes to mind is Harold Camping’s religious cult which believed the “rapture” would occur in May of 2011 and later postponed until October.  Some of these believers sold their homes and quit their jobs in order to dedicate themselves in spreading the message of Jesus’ imminent return.  Now hundreds of these faithful believers will have to cope with the consequences of their investment in such a failed theory.

I would like to know what exactly is the cause of mankind’s perennial fascination with the apocalypse.  I suppose there is a certain thrill which man derives from starring Death in the face.  Isn’t this the reason we enjoy ‘recreational’ activities such as roller coasters and skydiving?  In the very core of our being is an imminent awareness of our own mortality, and yet there is also a primal desire to defy the inevitable arrival of this Grim Reaper.  Adam and Eve were driven to eat the forbidden fruit with the incentive of immortality (“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die…when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…'” [Genesis 3:4-5]).  Man’s Life and Death are fatefully interwoven in a dramatic tango wherein one seeks to dominate the other, only to discover the mysterious and frightful paradox that each is somehow intimately connected and completed by the other.

And this is where Advent steps in.  The Church’s joyful celebration of Christmas is preceded by a preparatory and ‘penitentesque’ season of Advent.  This anticipatory time is meant to remind the Christian that he must prepare and order himself to meet his God and Savior.  While Christmas honors the joyous memory of Christ’s first coming, Advent recalls that Jesus will come yet again and this time man must be ready to receive Him.  Prayer, fasting, and forms of penance are traditional practices during this season.  Yet something that is utterly absent within this time of preparation is fear.  Such a startling fact ought to give one great pause and wonder.  It would seem most natural that a religious custom calling men to prepare themselves for God’s return and judgement would embody a much greater sense of anxiety and dread (And within most of the pop-apocalyptic cults this very ‘fear and trembling’ is rampantly incarnated.).  Yet there remains a tradition within the heart of Christian culture that responds in just the opposite way.  Rather than being possessed with an intoxicating and riveting fear of death, the Christian has his mind and heart entirely wrapped in hope.

This hope is not a false optimism that politely shies away from any thoughts of death, suffering, or apocalypse.  Rather the theological virtue of hope has its essence rooted in the Christian belief that death is paradoxically the means or way through which man finds his life with God.  Christ’s suffering and death on the cross defeat the power which Death once possessed.  The cross is now the symbol of the Christian who both embraces and defies death.  It is in the cross that the Christian realizes his vocation to die to his own self and thereby find life with God.  Through this radical and total self-denial, man’s fear of death is relinquished and simultaneously his reason for hope is born.

The Christian’s response to the multifarious apocalyptic theories and cults is clear.  An authentic Christian must never become obsessed and anxious over such fatalistic conspiracies and  prophesies.  Christ has already stated explicitly that, “…About that day and hour no one knows…” (Matt. 24:36a).  Hence man’s incessant predictions on Christ’s return and the world’s end are devoid of merit and have no place in the Christian’s orientation.  The customary practice of Advent encourages the Christian in looking rightly at his end.  Death is the bridge which must be crossed for life to be found, yet this end is indeed life and not death.    The cross (i.e. death) brings hope for life, and therefore a Christian cannot be consumed with an anxiety and fear for death or apocalypse.

During this Advent season while we prepare for the return of Christ, let us remember the reason for our hope and the cause of our joy.  May we triumphantly and courageously look at death remembering that “…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24).  And in this crucifixion we now “live by the Spirit” Whose fruit is, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal. 5:25a, 22b)