Hope of a Better World

 For many years I worked in a building where I could look outside and see the Illinois State Capitol.  I could usually see this seat of power every morning.  One morning in particular as I was looking out the window at the capital, I sensed God telling me that essentially whenever I look at the capitol building what I’m really longing, hoping, and seeking after is His government.  The capital therefore is a symbol that points to a greater government than what is in Springfield currently.  The world possesses symbols that speak to higher realities.  If we listen closely, God will speak through them to lift our hearts upward towards Him.  At that point my heart was tilting upwards, and this experience caused me to think long and hard about what The Spirit said.  The more I pondered this impression the more I realized that yes, I do seek and long for this higher government and the day when God will reign as King forever.  As I further unpacked it, I realized that when I see human governments and structures, they are merely a shadow of the eternal Kingdom that will right all wrongs and rule forever in righteousness.  This I believe is a longing in all human hearts.  Maybe this is why when governments become corrupt it scandalizes and grieves us?  We want the government to rule with a righteousness that they always seem to miss.  Christian faith has at its center the promise of this coming righteous Kingdom.  This promise is sacred and inspires us, just as The Spirit encouraged me through this same concept.

            The early church always had this same longing for The Messiah to return and rule in justice and righteousness.  They had a word for it: “Maranatha!”[1].  Maranatha was a cry, an exclamation that sought Jesus to come and be King of the earth.  It can be translated: “Come Lord!”.  The Didache[2] mentions this cry at the end of the oldest Eucharistic prayer we have outside of the New Testament:

 

May grace come, and may this [present] world pass away.

Hosanna to the God of David.

If anyone is holy, let him come;

If anyone is not, let him repent.

Maranatha! Amen. (10:6)[3]

 

I think it is striking that a plea for the current way things are being done, this whole enterprise of human power and governance to pass away forever.  There is a cry for Jesus to return and fulfill all of the messianic prophecies of the new world that He alone can establish.  This desire doesn’t appear to be novel or marginal. It is front and center in The Didache at the end of the prayer celebrating the cross of Jesus.  

            When we take communion together, we are taking a small meal that reflects a world to come.  It is an approaching world that is symbolized in a wedding feast[4].  It is bringing the two that are different into a unity.  In the same way as we take the bread and cup we are entering into a unity with the crucified Christ.  We remember His agony and His passion for us.  This passion was fueled by God’s desire to make all things new.  It began with the first bread and cup that was passed around the table with the disciples 2,000 years ago.  It is a statement that God and humanity can become one in a new union through the Messiah’s blood.  When we cry “Maranatha!” it is a return to this union, and it is a cry that this union be completed on earth as in heaven quickly. 

            As we see injustice and unrighteousness in varied extremes unleashed in our world, “Maranatha!” keeps the age to come in our hearts.  When we see The Holy Spirit liberate people from sin and death by the cross of Christ presently, we see this age approach sooner.  The Kingdom comes in force against spiritual darkness through the hands of the church.  We need The Spirit to put the tools of freedom into our palms.  It is the words of The Spirit, the Good News that liberates.  We need to ask God: “What is Your word to us now?”.  What do I need to say to see myself and others free?  These words will come from a place where The Spirit and The Scriptures work together.  There will be a word that liberates, there will be a desire to set free in Christ.  Let His Kingdom advance over the earth.  Let the new breeze blow.

 

Maranatha!  Come Lord Jesus.

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[1] Maranatha is an Aramaic word; it can be translated either “Come Lord!” or “Our Lord has come” depending on the spelling.  Some think Paul and The Didache use “Maranatha” as a cry for Christ to return.  Paul uses this to encourage the Corinthian church to endure hardship (see 1 Corinthians 16:22).  The fact that Paul used this Aramaic expression to a congregation that was perhaps primarily Greek speaking gentiles, demonstrates that “Maranatha” had probably become a commonplace idea (New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary: vol. 3, pg. 794).

[2] The Didache is essentially a manual for new believers to help orient them into the faith.  It is one of the oldest Christian writings outside of the New Testament and is an eye-opening window on the beliefs of the early church.

[3] The Apostolic Fathers: Third Edition: Michael W. Holmes. Italics mine.

[4] See Revelation 21 and 22.