September 16th, 2013 Commentary on Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--The-Coming-of-the-Son-of-Man.html?soid=1011221485028&aid=g_lhuJYCPmQ

In case the above link to Henri Nouwen’s Meditation doesn’t work:

Monday September 16, 2013 

The Coming of the Son of Man

The spiritual knowledge that we belong to God and are safe with God even as we live in a very destructive world allows us to see in the midst of all the turmoil, fear, and agony of history "the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27).  Even though Jesus speaks about this as about a final event, it is not just one more thing that is going to happen after all the terrible things are over.  Just as the end-time is already here, so too is the coming of the Son of Man.   It is an event in the realm of the Spirit and thus not subject to the boundaries of time.

Those who live in communion with Jesus have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the second coming of Jesus among them in the here and now.  Jesus says:  "Before this generation has passed away all will have taken place" (Luke 21:32).  And this is true for each faithful generation.

My Commentary:

Nouwen makes a very bold and very dark statement in saying or should I say laying claim that the end-time is already here.  There are also some who claim we are in the time of “tribulation…”  What I have to say to that is what about God’s sense of time—Kairos time?  We cannot personally fathom God’s sense of time since it is multi-dimensional and has no boundaries.  We, are the boundary-makers.  We are also the purveyors of cynicism, the glass half empty and condemnation.   In Luke, chapter 12, Jesus essentially defines God’s sense of timing in metaphor: ³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. ³⁹ ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Let’s take this apart: The Greek interlinear contextually defines slaves as servants looking to the root of the word for slavery.  The Greek as well talks of expectation in terms of “you think” which transliterated is dokeite—you expect.  Jesus in this particular passage is teaching and reminding his disciples—their humble place in the world as loving God and neighbor through servant leadership as well as he is directing them to be more concerned with the task at hand in order to transform the world.  The moment we fall prey to apocalyptic thinking is the moment we allow Satan’s temptation upon us to drag our hearts down into despair, darkness and eventually death.  The only aspect of today’s meditation I particularly agree with is that our relationship—turning to God, growing our faith in the light of GRACE, illumines those lamps being lit waiting for the Lord to return.

God Bless Your Mondays!

Nicole Collins