Of Politicians and Hakas - Apocalypses old and new
Daniel or at least the last half of it was thought to have been written about the year 160BC and in it is the first mention in the Old Testament of Resurrection, which we heard in today’s brief reading. The book of Daniel is found in quite different orders in the Hebrew Scriptures compared to the Christian Bible we have today. In our Bible Daniel is placed among the prophets - I learned to recite the books of the bible in somewhat sing-songy fashion as a child in Sunday School - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel ,Hosea, Joel, Amos … In the Hebrew scriptures you will find Daniel grouped in with the wisdom books, like Psalms, Proverbs & Job etc - a long way from the prophets. So perhaps these different placings of the book recognise the diversity of material it contains.
The last 3 chapters of Daniel begin with a vision of a heavenly being dressed like a priest, but consists mostly of a message which Daniel hears from those in the vision. This message describes the rise and fall of empires and wars upon wars. This is just a small selection of verses
“His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall advance like a flood and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress
The lawless among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail.
“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god …He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women…. instead he will honour a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honour him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures… he will give great honour to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.”
For me it didn’t feel too different to reading our newspapers. I am not suggesting Daniel was predicting events of the 21st century. In fact, if you sit and read Daniel with the Bible in one hand and history books in the other you can identify the rulers he is describing there. My point is that this seems to be an ongoing repeating saga throughout history. Wars, the rise and fall of leaders, power and corruption. It’s a description of rampant humanity and kind of depressing.
Perhaps for Daniel the most distressing part was this “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.” The Jewish people had been struggling to understand who they were, how they should worship God, and indeed who God was, when they were sent into exile. Here they are back in Jerusalem and it certainly doesn’t feel like the glorious return promised by Isaiah. For Daniel and his people these events are identity-destroying, earth-shattering - it feels like the end of the world. Maybe that is why the only language and images he finds appropriate are these apocalyptic images of destruction on a cosmic scale, terrifying monsters and awe-inspiring angels.
But chapter 11 ends on a hopeful note referring to the oppressor “Yet he shall come to his end, with no one to help him.”
The first few verses of chapter 12 which we read today mention the Archangel Micheal. The presence of these angelic figures in Daniel remind us that there is more to reality than we can see right in front of us. There is a heavenly reality or to use Jesus’ terminology a Kingdom of God reality. Daniel meets the archangel Michael who is the protector of his people, Micheal represents God’s presence in the midst of turmoil and brings hope in dark times.
Mark 13 is sometimes called Mark’s mini-apocalypse. Jesus can see what it becoming more and more inevitable in the relationship between Israel and the Roman empire. Israel had continued to be a thorn in Rome’s side with their ongoing resistance and insurrection, Rome would eventually lose patience and crush Israel. This is what happened in 70 AD, some thirty years after this scene in Mark’s gospel. Many scholars believe that the gospel of Mark was written shortly after the destruction of the temple. For Mark’s readers this shocking event would have been fresh in their memory - along with all the feelings they had about it. In our times perhaps you could think about how an American felt after the destruction of the twin towers. Events like this leave one feeling that nothing is stable, they feel world-ending. In John’s gospel when Jesus speaks of the destruction of the temple, John addresses his readers saying that Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. So perhaps here too we can see in Jesus’ mind how completely devastated his disciples would be by his crucifixion and death. For his followers that was as earth-shaking as the destruction of the temple - something which seemed cosmic in its implications.
Jesus encourages his followers not to get caught up in the game of predicting the end of the world but to see that greater reality - the birth of the Kingdom of God. The gospel, he goes on to say must be preached. And what is that gospel? - it’s a message of peace, of hope, of God’s presence with us during the very worst of times, of God’s grace and God’s love.
For those who lived through and experienced the Christchurch earthquake the very ground they stood on and the foundations of their homes were no longer safe. Possibly for everyone here there may have been times in your lives when everything was shaken and nothing felt safe. For some it might have been the experience of war, for others natural disasters; or perhaps something personal that happened in your own life or the life of your families - a trauma or a betrayal which may have felt like this. The recent pandemic was a devastating experience to many of us. Or if we look at an even more recent example - the Treaty principles bill which is currently before parliament feels like that to many people in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. Whatever you think of the rights and wrongs of it - The haka in parliament this past week was an expression of outrage by those who felt that the very fabric of our NZ society was being undermined and torn apart.
In the midst of these “apocalyptic” experiences of devastation
Jesus described how we feel in times like those:
“the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”
Daniel reminded us “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Jesus went on to remind his disciples and us to keep at the forefront of our minds the reality of God’s presence and the permanence and faithfulness of God’s Word. Jesus calls us to remember God’s grace in our midst, the growing Kingdom of God, and our own calling to continue to live and share that Kingdom, and the good-news-gospel on which it is founded. It is that Kingdom reality which gives us hope and purpose.
God of ages,
in Jesus Christ you set a corner stone
and a strong foundation;
you are the true and living way.
May we stand firm in the face of all that shakes our foundations,
certain in the knowledge of your love.
Through Jesus Christ our Liberator,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen
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