If the 2nd Coming is Coming, Then I Think Now Would Be a Good Time
For the violence, hostility and cruelty in the Middle East desperately needs an influx of peace, love and brother/sisterhood….
I’ve heard of the “2nd Coming” for years and years without really knowing what it signifies, aside from the fact that Jesus is supposed to return to earth. Now, many people believe that, in ancient times, Jesus existed as a living, breathing human being. And that’s very possible. But what’s most important about him to me is his contribution to humanity which I can boil down to an infusion of compassion, forgiveness and inclusion.
I don’t go along with the “Christians” who seem to always want to divide the people of the earth into those who are chosen or not chosen; those who experience rapture or don’t and those who survive (or are resurrected) on Judgement Day while everyone else perishes. Dogs and horses included.
To me Jesus was never about excluding anyone. — he was about embracing the whole lot of us — women, children, the disabled, the mentally ill, the very poor, the very sick, every race and ethnicity — everybody!! Maybe I’ve got this wrong, but I believe He was all about casting aside the rules and regulations, the intolerance and bigotry, the financial and political hierarchies, and saying: “Come on, folks, let’s all get along.”
The last few weeks in the Middle East have been loathsome — we’ve seen people from across the globe plunge into hatred, cruelty and relentless vengeance. It’s been as ugly a performance as I’ve ever witnessed. Probably you agree. There are no good guys — well, maybe there are a few — but their voices and actions are being drowned out by the extreme negativity among both Hamas and the government of Israel.
It’s hard to take sides. No, it’s WRONG to take sides. Because neither side is entirely right or entirely wrong. That means we are being forced to hold both the evil of Hamas and the unacceptably violent response of Israel in our heads at the same time. To do that is extremely difficult, almost impossible.
As a friend said to me, we would rather clothe ourselves in self-righteousness. We’d prefer to point our finger at one side or the other — and accuse them of being the devil. And yet that’s the very worst thing we could possibly do. First, because it’s unfair to both — they each have a powerful grievance — but also, because it will never move the arc of the moral universe closer to justice (with apologies, Martin). The outcome will be that we’ll be stuck forever in the miasma of finger-pointing, yelling at each other and hating — we will be upping the ante on hatred at a time in history when even more one iota of hatred could sink the ship.
So that’s why I’m voting for the 2nd Coming — not necessarily as a dude arriving from Heaven (or wherever He’s been hiding out for the past twenty centuries) but as mana from the sky (mercy) and as the sweet waters of Gilead (compassion) and finally, if not forgiveness (because that’s too tough a nut to crack at present), then at least enough understanding and forbearance (forbearance is a dynamite word), to get us through this diabolical situation (and yes it seems as if it was spawned by you-know-who).
A friend of mine who studies the Bible said, “A major theme that runs through the Bible is people asking, begging, pleading to God for help, succor, salvation, whatever. So, yes, please God or Jesus, that’s what we need right now — as much as you can dole out. And if it means showing up a second time, then do it.
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