Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Revelation 21:1-5
Matthew 2:13-23
"Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new?'"
"See I am making all things new."
"Hou die blink kant bo!" was my father's favourite Afrikaans idiom. Keep the shiny side up. Maybe that's why I err on the side of optimism rather than pessimism, my cup half full rather than half empty. Of course, we optimists are more likely to be disappointed than pessimists because we expect every story to end well and we know, from bitter experience, that this is not so. So I was not sure I wanted to read Niall Ferguson's new book Doom which I recently received as a gift. After reading the first chapter I was ready to put it on my pile of half read books. But I persisted even though it confirms every pessimist's prediction. We live in a world of endless wars, plagues, horrible deaths, and inept, corrupt politicians. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Plague, Famine and Death, have created chaos from the beginning of human history to the present time.
Many people complain that the Bible, despite superb parts, is also too much about bad kings and brutal wars, adultery, and betrayal, in short, sin and evil. But is not this the way things are, even if we are not cynics by nature? And no one said it more clearly than the Old Testament preacher: "All is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun." And, to drive home his point, he asks us to provide evidence that it is not: "Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new?'" Whatever will be, will be! Don't expect the world to improve, for if you do you are living in a fool's paradise. Yes, there is progress, changes for the better, new inventions and discoveries, new structures of compassion, but also, ominously, new weapons of destruction, new attacks on a fragile environment, and new variants of old diseases. The new normal is the old normal in new dress, because human nature is the same as always.
Nothing reminds me more of this than the TV series "Murder in Paradise" for, episode by episode, there is a gruesome murder on that little island paradise. One would think that the series must surely end soon for they are running out of victims! But we don't need a TV murder to tell us that. Just read the Bible. For no sooner have we got past the creation of paradise than we encounter a snake in the garden, Cain murders his brother Abel, and we are plunged into the saga of one cursed event after the other until the mighty city of Babylon collapses like the Twin Towers in NYC on 9/11 twenty years ago next week.
Over the past months I have studied the book of Jeremiah, one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. Jeremiah was often despondent about the state of the world and at least once cursed the day of his birth. During his long life, he outlived several bad kings, witnessed many wars, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its leading citizens. It is Jeremiah who castigates false prophets for proclaiming peace when there is none, and it is Jeremiah who cries out: "Can a leopard change its spots?" Will people and nations ever change their ways? Will the cycle of revenge and violence ever be broken?
Yet history is also full of people and movements that have refused to accept this pessimistic worldview without protest. Alongside the narrative of doom, despair, and death, there has always been a counter narrative of hope, courage, and compassion, and both narratives co-exist and challenge each other throughout the Bible. So, writing from the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem Jeremiah encourages the exiles in Babylon, to build houses, that is, not to lose hope in God's promised future. Despite all his fears and lamentations, Jeremiah speaks about a new covenant God will make with God's people and, indeed, the New Testament or Covenant begins with the words: "This is the beginning of the good news story about Jesus the Christ." Of course, the gospel narrative is fully aware of harsh reality, beginning as it does in a shack in Bethlehem, and ending in betrayal and crucifixion. It is Jeremiah who Matthew quotes when, after the birth of Jesus, Herod unleashes his brutal massacre of the innocents:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."
But the story of Jesus is the beginning of good news because in and through him and the movement he starts, God is at work making things new. "Tell him," Jesus tells John the Baptist's disciples, "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the dead are brought back to life." This counter-narrative of redemption helps us see light breaking through the cracks in the darkest places, miracles of new birth amid decay, love even where hatred breeds violence, and truth in a time of lies and fake news. Even as we hear the hooves of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and responds to the terrifying realities around us with the necessary realism, we also rejoice in the transforming power of the good news of God's enduring, creative love, justice, and peace.
The good news story that informs our lives claims that evil need not triumph, that love not hatred endures, that God is making all things new. So, in the middle of the terrible bad news that daily confronts us, we erect houses of hospitality for fleeing refugees, healing for broken bodies, and hope for those in despair, as we celebrate Christ's resurrection and the gift of new life. We insist that forgiveness can heal relationships, that faith can move mountains, and people can change for the better. We do not deny the story of doom, nor should we, but as Christians we are called to live according to the truth of the good news story. We march to a different drum beat, we live by a different creed and set of values, and we seek a different goal. And we do so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the world and the coming generation. If faith in God means anything, it means believing that despite the deep gloom, God is making all things new.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed, August 2, 2021
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