Apocalypse Now?

When I was younger, which is a long time ago, I was very taken and attracted to science fiction books and movies.  One sub genre which particularly grabbed me was the stories where there had been a disaster, either man made or natural, in which civilization was destroyed and the survivors were trying to, well survive, and hopefully build a new world out of the old.  I imagine this genre had a title, however, I am not aware of the official one.  Today I am inclined to call it apocalyptic. 

There have been many movies made in this genre including such well known ones as the Mad Max series.  In those there not initially much hope for a better world to rise out of the old.  It centered on the struggles of the hero to survive.  By the way these movies introduced Mel Gibson to north American audiences.  I’m not sure but I think I recall that his voice had to be dubbed as his Australian accent was to thick for North Americans to understand; however, I may be wrong on that.   However, in the end of that series there was a new world being born. 

This genre of story has been around a long time. One of the oldest that comes to mind is the Time Machine by H.G. Wells in which the future world that the hero travels to is split into the innocent Eloi who lived above ground in an apparent idyllic existence.  However, as it turned out, they were just fodder for the evil Morlocks who lived underground.  The splitting of the human psyche behind the story was dramatically portrayed in the Victorian era by the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which dealt with the split on an individual basis rather than a societal one.  The splitting of the human psyche was also dramatically portrayed in modern culture by Mary Shelly in her story Frankenstein.   That myth of hubris of science gone wrong has captured the imagination of the modern world ever since and have been repeated in many forms since.  There is at the heart of the human psyche a belief that we are comprised of both good and evil.  The question is which part will win.

This walk down memory lane of apocalyptic stories and movies was sparked by the Gospel reading for Sunday past; Mark 13:1-8.  In the passage, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.  This part of Mark is often referred to as the Little Apocalypse.  Like the Great Apocalypse foretold by John in Revelation, it announced a coming age which will bring the destruction and collapse of everything that the people knew.  One source I consulted had these characteristics of apocalyptic literature:

Present time is one of suffering

Why? The people are faithful in the midst of an evil world

Future: rewards for the patient and faithful righteous, and suffering for the unrighteous will eventually happen (usually in a different or recreated world)

In effect the old-world order was coming to an end―a cataclysmic end, but a new world would rise from the ashes of the old one.  Jesus was speaking of the end to the rule of a world ruled by the powers of this world and the establishment of God’s Kingdom.  We are waiting for Jesus to return and God’s Kingdom to be established.  The question for us today is, “what do we do in the meantime?”

What then, can the destruction of the Temple hold for us?  We know from psychology that it often takes a crisis in people’s lives to open up the possibility of radical change.  AA tells us that until the alcoholic hits bottom, he or she is not going to embrace the principles that mean turning away from the demons that enslave them.  They have to give up the illusion that they can do it them thorough their sheer will power.  It is human to want to hold on to our belief that we are in control and our lives can carry on with possibly making a few changes around the edges.  That is not what the Little or Great Apocalypse tells us.  Our old way of being must be torn down to allow the new to come into our being.

One impending apocalypse is global warming.  If nothing is done except making small changes around the edges, we are facing an apocalypse literally of biblical proportions.  This will probably mean that the world will be facing the destruction of at least our way of life if not our civilization and a large part of the physical world.  Are we to fiddle around the edges as Rome burns?  Recycling is good but it is basically just fiddling around the edges of the challenge. 

What we are facing, then, is a bit of a paradox.  Are we to wait for the foundations to be destroyed by some crisis.  Are we to wait until we hit rock bottom and end up collectively or individually face down in the proverbial gutter or experience near death so that we can become the people that Jesus Christ calls us to be?  I certainly don’t want that to happen to me and hope it will not happen to any of you.  What are we to do then?  We are called to take steps to live out the commandment of Jesus to love one another as he loves us.  Loving one another includes all of God’s creation which, of course, includes the world.  We do this knowing that it is a challenge for all Christians. 

We will not succeed fully every time or perhaps fail miserably some times.  However, we can have the intention of living that life and will make a conscious effort to live that way.  Fortunately, we are also offered forgiveness by Jesus Christ when we do not succeed.  When we fall into sin; and it is when and not if, we can repent and try again, and again, and again.  We are called to live in hope.  So let’s do that and not despair.