Die leeu van Juda

DIE NOU WOORD OOR MASAALESINGS
vir 17 Desember 2013

DAAR is 'n kragtige oomblik van drama in een van St John's se visioene in die Openbaringboek. Nadat die Here die sewe gemeentes hoor tugtig het, waarsku, vermaan en voorberei op sy koms, ^[1]vgl. Op 1:7 Sint Johannes word 'n boekrol met weerskante geskryf wat met sewe seëls verseël is. Wanneer hy besef dat 'niemand in die hemel of op aarde of onder die aarde' dit kan oopmaak en ondersoek nie, begin hy hard te huil. Maar waarom huil Sint Johannes oor iets wat hy nog nie gelees het nie?

Yesterday, Pope Francis prayed that the Lord would send prophets to the Church. Because without prophecy, he said, the Church is stuck in the present, with no memory of the promises of yesterday, and no hope for the future.

But when there is no spirit of prophecy amongst the people of God, we fall into the trap of clericalism. —POPE FRANCIS, Homily, December 16th, 2013; Vatican Radio; radiovatican.va

Clericalism—the treadmill of merely running the Church day to day to keep the lights on, rather than becoming the Light itself. And this spirit of clericalism is partly what the letters to the seven churches address in the first part of John’s Apocalypse. Jesus warns them:

Tog hou ek dit teen u in: u het die liefde wat u aanvanklik verloor het, verloor. Besef hoe ver jy geval het. Berou en doen die werke wat u aanvanklik gedoen het. Andersins sal Ek na u toe kom en u kandelaar van sy plek verwyder, tensy u berou het. (Op 4: 2-5)

This was also the warning of Benedict XVI shortly after his papal election in 2005:

The judgment announced by the Lord Jesus [in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21] refers above all to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. Yet the threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe, Europe and the West in general. With this Gospel, the Lord is also crying out to our ears the words that in the Book of Revelation he addresses to the Church of Ephesus: “If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Light can also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its full seriousness in our hearts, while crying to the Lord: “Help us to repent! Give all of us the grace of true renewal! Do not allow your light in our midst to blow out! Strengthen our faith, our hope and our love, so that we can bear good fruit!” -Pous Benedictus XVI, Open Homily, Sinode van Biskoppe, 2 Oktober 2005, Rome.

So now we understand why St. John is weeping—he is longing for a prophetic word of hope reassuring that God’s plan of salvation is not failing.

…when clericalism reigns supreme… the words of God are sorely missed, and true believers weep because they cannot find the Lord. —POPE FRANCIS, Homily, December 16th, 2013; Vatican Radio; radiovatican.va

That hope is what lies like a crouching lion in tall grasses in today’s Mass readings. The first reading speaks of the lion who comes out of Judah, “the king of beasts” whom Matthew’s Gospel reveals is fulfilled in Jesus through his genealogy. The author of Genesis insists:

The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs.

This Lion will always reign in justice, but most especially, it says in the Psalm, “in his days"

O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; He shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment… Justice shall flower in his days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea…

Although Jesus has claimed the throne of David and established His eternal kingdom through His death and resurrection, it remains yet for His kingdom to become fully established from “sea to sea.” ^[2]vgl. Matt 24:14 St. John knew of such Old Testament prophecies, of a time of “profound peace” coming when, as he later reveals, the “beast and the false prophet” of onreg would be cast into the lake of fire ushering in a “thousand year” reign of Christ and His saints. ^[3]vgl. Op 20: 1-7 St. Irenaeus and other Church Fathers referred to this reign of peace as “the times of the kingdom” and the “seventh day,” before the eighth and everlasting day of eternity.

But when The Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from Heaven in the clouds… sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day… These are to take place in the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day… the true Sabbath of the righteous. —St. Irenaeus van Lyon, kerkvader (140–202 nC); Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus van Lyons, V.33.3.4, The Fathers of the Church, CIMA Publishing Co.

But when and how will these prophecies come about? At last, after shedding many tears, St. John hears the calming voice of hope:

“Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.” (Rev 5:3)

There is a profound connection between the genealogy of Jesus, “the root of David,” and the coming “Era of Peace” na the seven seals of judgment are opened. From Abraham to Jesus, there are 42 generations. Theologian Dr. Scott Hahn points out that,

Allegorically, Jesus’ 42 total generations signify the 42 encampments of the Israelites between the Exodus and their entry into the Promised Land. —Dr. Scott Hahn, Ignatius Study Bible, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 18

Now, in the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old, Jesus, the Lion of Judah, is leading His people in an exodus out of the “new tyranny” ^[4]Pous Franciscus, Evangelii Gaudium, N. 56 of our times to a promised “era of peace.” During this coming flowering of justice and peace, the Psalmist says He will “rule from sea to sea, and… all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.” That is the message of hope for which St. John was weeping and waiting to hear:

“Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.” (Rev 5:9-10)

May this consoling hope keep us from weeping as we watch and pray and listen for the brul of the Lion of Judah that will come like a “thief in the night,” putting an end to the reign of the beast.

“En hulle sal na my stem luister, en daar sal een herder en een herder wees.” Mag God ... binnekort Sy profesie tot vervulling bring van hierdie vertroostende visie op die toekoms in 'n huidige werklikheid ... Dit is God se taak om hierdie gelukkige uur te bewerkstellig en dit aan almal bekend te maak ... Wanneer dit aankom, sal dit blyk dat wees 'n plegtige uur, een groot met gevolge nie net vir die herstel van die Koninkryk van Christus nie, maar ook vir die versoening van ... die wêreld. Ons bid vurig en vra ook ander om te bid vir hierdie baie gewilde pasifisering van die samelewing. - Pous PIUS XI, Ubi Arcani dei Consilioi “Oor die vrede van Christus in sy koninkryk”, Desember 23, 1922

Ons is ver van die sogenaamde 'einde van die geskiedenis', aangesien die voorwaardes vir 'n volhoubare en vreedsame ontwikkeling nog nie voldoende verwoord en verwesenlik is nie. - Pous Franciscus, Evangelii Gaudium, n. 59

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