Lecture 21 - The Exile and Eschatology

In this lecture we will walk through the following handout making sure that the biblical texts that were assigned are understood.

 

 

1.  exile, lower case “e”.  The 70 years predicted by Jeremiah (from 587 to 520/515 BC) A clear terminus is in view – the rebuilding of the second temple.

 

2.  But, certain texts like Isaiah 2:1-4 and Isaiah 40:1-11 create enormous problems for the 70 year thesis.  The visions are extraordinary in terms of what they foresee.  In Isaiah 2 all the nations stream to Zion to acknowledge Israel’s God and war on earth comes to an end; in Isaiah 40 a new Exodus is foretold (see annotations to text).  The texts that describe the end of the 70 years (II Chronicles and Ezra) do not come anywhere near fulfilling the spectacular hopes of Isaiah.  Thus, some Israelites conclude, Israel’s exilic state stretches beyond just 70 years and has no clear terminus.  Indeed, from the visionary hopes expressed in these prophetic texts, it is concluded that only a clear intervention of God in human history could bring this about.  The extension of the 70 to 490 in the book of Daniel is part of this “stretching” process.  The exile has become the Exile.

 

3.  Israel’s position during her Babylonian exile was dire.  For the prophet Ezekiel (36-37), nothing short of “resurrection” would save the day.  He compared the community of Jews in Babylon to a valley of dry bones.  All of Israel had given up hope of ever “living” again.  Israel suffered from the palpable absence of God and the taunts of her neighbors [in this fashion, Israel is a “type” of Jesus].  Yet, God had promised, Ezekiel argues, that he would raise those dry bones life and give the corporate body of Israel new life (Ezek 37:11, "these bones are the whole house of Israel").

 

4.  Enter John the Baptist.  The writer of the Gospel of Mark (1:3) imagines him as the forerunner of the Messiah just as was predicted in Isaiah 40.  After Jesus is baptized he goes to Galilee and begins to announce that the Kingdom of God is about to break in.  At last, his hearers think, the Exile is to come to closure.  Israel will be “resurrected” (so Ezekiel), Zion rebuilt (Isaiah 2) and the nations will stream to Zion to learn about the God of Israel and her Torah (Isaiah 2).  Yet these hopes do not materialize.  Jesus dies the death of a common criminal.  The disciples, thinking that they were mistaken about who Jesus was, disperse in despair.

 

5.  One fellow at the foot of the cross thought that Jesus is calling for Elijah.  Why would he think this?  This was because Elijah was a character who, according to the book of Kings, was mysteriously swept into heaven by God.  He never died. A later prophet, Malachi declared that Elijah would return just before the eschaton (“the Day of the Lord) and set the hearts of Fathers right with their children (probably an allusion to Jacob and his 12 sons, the tribes of Israel).  Sirach continues this line of thought with the expectation that Elijah will return just before the eschaton.  By Jesus’ day we have an established Jewish tradition that Elijah will appear just before the day on which God will inaugurate his Kingdom "to calm the wrath of God".  Evidently the person at the foot of the cross thought that Jesus too saw that his mission had gone terribly awry and was now calling on God to send his prophet Elijah to fix things up.  All of this follows from the similarity of the words of Jesus’ cry of dereliction – eli eli [lama sabachtani] – to the name of Elijah – eli[yah].  Evidently the man at the foot of the cross though that when Jesus said “eli” he meant to complete the name Eli-jah but was too weak to do so.

 

6.  Yet this is not what Jesus was thinking.  He was in despair too over the absence of his God on the cross (“why have you forsaken me?).  He dies faithfully and obediently but despairingly.  Many taunt him.  Yet God vindicates his son and raises him on the 3^rd day.  This was the pattern of the “beloved son” in the book of Genesis.  And it is to become the pattern of the faithful Christian as well who becomes at baptism an adopted son or daughter of God (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 1:3-11).  He or she must die to self; cast off riches for a larger treasure in heaven (see Mark 10: 17-31 and the life of St. Francis) and or even undergo martyrdom should the occasion warrant it.  All of these sacrifices are in the service of a loving God who will reward his servants far beyond what they give up.  In the lives of the Saints we see the ever-present pattern of Christ-like existence.  In G.K. Chesteron’s immortal phrase, “Jesus was like St. Francis.”

 

7.  Now for the resurrection.  According to the bare narrative of the Gospel is looks like the raising of a single man (so Mark 16:6-8).  If so, so what?  Lazarus was also raised from the dead (John 11:28-44), good news for his immediate family but what about the rest of us?  **But for Paul, the raising of Jesus (I Cor 15:20-23)) cannot be separated from Ezekiel’s corporate vision.**   God does not just raise one man.  In raising Jesus, God commits himself to raising all humanity. 

 

8.  The raising of Jesus is a foretaste, a heralding of the eschaton.  The resurrection is an invasion of the end-of-time into the mundane arena of historical time.  The eschaton has arrived in that we can get a glimpse of what it will look like;  but it has not arrived in that it will only become a full reality in our own life in the world to come.  Paradoxically the eschaton has become visible in the person of Jesus but will only be manifest in all creation in the future.  One could say that the resurrection is a “flashforward” to what will be the lot of all humanity that join themselves to God’s Messiah.  Jesus is the “first fruits” as Paul puts the matter, or perhaps, a down payment to which much more will be added.  In the raising of Jesus we get a picture of what the true end of all human life is about.  The icon of the resurrection captures this notion beautifully by showing Christ in Sheol/Hades lifting Adam and Eve out of their graves.

 

9.  How do we participate in this event?  How can we come along on the coattails of Jesus?  -through the rite of Baptism (Romans 6).  There we descend into the waters of death and rise to new life. 

 

10.  So where does that leave us with respect to the Kingdom.  The first question the disciples ask Jesus when he returns from the dead is:  will you now bring your Kingdom into being (Acts 1:6-11)?  The hope of Israel found in the OT has not been forgotten.  Jesus replies that his kingdom will indeed come about, but only in God’s time (Acts 1:7-8).  In this life, it is not for us to know; rather by the power of the Holy Spirit we are to imitate the pattern of life laid down by Christ.  For now we can only pray for the Kingdom – “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  A “second advent” is needed so that Jesus can fully accomplish what Israel had expected of him (see Isaiah 2 again!).  And we emphasize this point every time we go to mass:  Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

 

11.  In this sense the Jewish rejection of Jesus was not so surprising nor so culpable.  Paul in Romans 11:13-16 says that the Jewish rejection of the Messiah served the good purpose of opening the door to the Gentiles ("your stumbling means riches for the world").  But God will not let the Jewish people down ("if their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean").  Somehow, at the end of the day, Paul promises that “all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-26).”  And it is for this reason that the Vatican has now declared that both Jews and Christians pray for the coming of the Messiah (see handout for 11/7).  And in the first couple Sundays of Advent our scripture readings all center on the second coming not the first (See the reading by Seitz;  scripture readings for 11/7 are the texts chosen for the first Sunday of Advent, i.e 11/27)!  That is why, in the Catholic tradition, Advent is a time of penance – we are truly preparing for the coming of the Lord.