The Journey 337

Read: Isaiah 11: 1-6 The end of the world. The season of hope has just begun, but news that is hopeless is what is being spread and talked about. Many people have started asking whether the e

nd of the world is near and how should they deal with a certain catastrophic events that is supposed to occur on December 21st, 2012. It is with regards to a phenomena called Mayan Apocalypse. Posters have sprung in different corners of this country about an impending catastrophe and that the world is going to end and hence all people have been asked to “gather supplies now”[ Which itself is contradictory! If the world is going to end, why should I gather or store all the supplies?]. According to this so called Mayan Apocalypse phenomena, certain transformative events are going to take place, and the date for this catastrophic events is scheduled on December 21st, 2012. According to Meso American Long count calendar, this date is regarded as the end date of 5125 long year cycle. According to people who believe in this new age interpretation, they believe that this date marks the start of the time in which the Earth and its inhabitants may undergo positive physical or spiritual transformation while others have suggested that this date marks the end of the world or certain catastrophic events like the arrival of next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the centre of galaxy or Earth’s collision with planet called Nibiru. Scholars from different disciplines, scientist from NASA and even the professional Mayanist scholars have all dismissed the concept and notion about this impending catastrophe. Last Wednesday, NASA released a news item and clarification to lay at rest the rumor that world and life is going to end on December 21st. According to the scientist at NASA, this is just “manufactured fantasy”. They state that December 21st is the day when the sun will appear at its lowest altitude above the horizon, a day known as the Winter Solstice day. It is believed that according to the ancient civilization based on Mayan calendar, a calendar cycle consisted of different cycles, with each cycle consisting of a period of hundred years. Thus according to this calculation and calendar, we are now living in the last cycle and this last cycle is going to end on December 21st, 2012. Thus taking into consideration about the phenomena of Winter Solstice and the calculation about end of the calendar cycle on December 21st, 2012, people have started predicting and creating rumors that this will be day when the world is going to end. NASA sources are asking people not to go by rumors and not to let the spirit of fear and evil take hold of their thinking and have assured the people that if such catastrophic event is going to take place, the people would be consentized, since they employ the latest technology to find about an impending natural disaster or if a cosmic catastrophe is going to happen. In fact the scientist at NASA states that more than the dangers from these so called rumored apocalypse events, the greatest threat to earth and the world is from human kind itself. This is because of the way human being are treating the mother earth and are neglecting long term issues like climate change and so on. I think NASA is communicating to all of us a truth, that today we all are concerned only about our needs and welfare without even thinking about the world or the next generation that is going to inhabit this earth. In this advent season when we communicate that God loved the world and that is why He sent His Son, I think we need to live our life so that the world that we live is a place where God reign is established and the kingdom of God become a reality. It is to this mission that God calls us in this advent season rather than living like rats who are concerned about their own safety, and when danger or when disaster strikes they run to place of safety. How can we involve in this mission in the season of advent?
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Isaiah 11: 1-6. The book of Isaiah consists of different prophecies, prophecies of judgment and also prophesies of hope and a new transformed order in God’s world or in His Kingdom. Isaiah is prophesying at a time when life style of the people was at the lowest ebb in terms of moral and spiritual values. There was widespread practices like child sacrifice, cultic prostitution, and along with this detestable practices, the day to day life was mired in corruption, bribery and deep social inequality, a time when the apostasy of King Ahaz had a very devastating effect on the whole moral and social life of the people. It is these aspects that made Isaiah to prophesize God’s judgment on people. But along with these prophecies of judgment, he also prophecies hope and dreams about a kingdom, a kingdom where the royal line of David is like a tree that is cut, but from this tree that has been cut down, a new branch is going to sprout and there will be a new king from the lineage of David who is going to usher in an era and a kingdom that will be totally different from what people saw during the reign of King Ahaz. Moreover the Spirit of the Lord will be on the King as he establishes a kingdom where wolves and sheep will live together in peace, the leopard will lie down with young goats, calves and lion cubs will feed together along with a child who is going to take care of them…..[Iss 11: 6 ]. It is in this context we find Jesus stating in Luke 4: 18, that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him to bring the good news to the poor. Here we find the vision of God through His Son Jesus Christ. A vision of a new created order. An order where there is harmony not only in human life but in the whole word order both in the human kingdom and also animal kingdom. It is this gospel of peace and harmony that needs to preached this advent season, rather than message of apocalypse catastrophe. Let us therefore be channels of hope and harmony than fear, disorder and disaster.

Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla