Reflection on the Word for the Sunday of April 3, 2022 - LENTEN The World to come – Isaiah 43:18-19 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. …………………………………………………………………………… We have to look forward to the future and moving on regarding the past. It is a wise advice from a wise adviser, as we face the reality, which surrounds us pervading our cells fate deep. This realization became a slogan level saying all over the world, that we should take the things we can not change as they are, or it is as it is, and regarding the things we might be able to change for the better, we should strive to change them doing our best. With this approximate context we can read the book of the Ecclesiastes that " For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; (...) a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (...) a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." Nonetheless, whatever happens, we can not do anything good on our own, because everything, all beginning, all procedures and all outcomes are in the hand of the Lord. Meanwhile, it is also a wholegrain truth, that God is the very force behind the Universe, who gives us courage to overcome cowardice, gives us light to lead us in the darkness, gives love to weaken hatred, brightness to outsmart the evil, goodness to find meaning, God gives us a great heart to make a stand even against impossible odds. Sometimes, it is not visible, sometimes it seems quite the opposite, but the direction of human history, including the direction of the whole universe, is the moving forward. The book of Genesis starts with the word in the Beginning, as “in the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” However, we know from the Bible, that this world will not last forever. In the Book of the Revelation, the author, after this world vanishes, had seen already the new one, as he wrote that “ I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. ” As the prophets were able to see the future, as it had already happened. The second letter of the Apostle Peter Peter, in chapter three, corroborates this vision that the world will definitely will end, by saying that “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” And the letter does not stop here, but adds that “however, according to the Lord’s promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Thus, God promises the the World to Come is coming, as it is written in the Book of Revelation, that “He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” We know exactly how important the past is, and the good traditions are there to be kept, respecting our elders is a moral must, also keeping a vigilant eye on the teachings and the deeds of our ancestors is one of the greatest pillars of wisdom. Yet we have to see that the universe, the world, the humanity are subjects of constant change, though King Solomon said famously that there is nothing new under the sun. However, even the Sun is not stationary, and it is not only aging by every hour, but it also rushes in space with an astonishing and maybe hair-raising average speed of 448,000 mp/h. We exactly know, that the Sun will not last for ever, just until the World to Come finally arrives, as the Book of Revelation describes it, that “ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and (...) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.” Thus, every hour, every day, with every generation we move forward to the World to Come. Sometimes, we are too busy with our own problems and calamities, and we are not always able to see the bigger picture. It happened, that years after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans, the Temple of the God of Israel was in smoky ruins, some Rabbis, among them Rabbi Akiva happened to visit the Temple Mount. As they saw a fox coming out of the Holy Sanctuary, which was called the Holy of Holies, the Rabbis wept. However, Rabbi Akiva laughed with joy. They said to him: "Why are you laughing?" He said to them: "Why are you weeping?" And Akiva explained them, that it is written by the prophet Micha, that the time will come that “Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.” You can see that the prophecy is fulfilled. However, Prophet Zechariah wrote, that despite of the ruins, 'Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem’, which meant that the city and the Temple will be rebuilt, and they will see enduring peace. Akiva told them, that as now we saw the sad fulfillment of the prophecy of Micha, so we can be certain that the joyful prophecy of Zechariah will be also fulfilled. Having seen the ruins of Jerusalem, we saw the worst, however, it is certain, that fro now the redemption has been already on its way. The Rabbis were consoled by the words of Akiva. The life of the Jews became very hard during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, whose consul ordered the old and famous Rabbi Akiva to stop teaching the Hebrew Scriptures, on the pain of death, but he openly refused the government regulation. The consul, Turnus Rufus, sentenced him to death for sedition at the age of 84, and Akiva was subjected to combing, which was a cruel Roman torture, in which the victim's skin was flayed from the bones with iron combs, alive. The consul personally attended the execution and saw that Akiva calmly recited his prayers , though suffering agonies; and when Rufus asked him whether he was a sorcerer, since seemingly he felt no pain, Akiva replied, "I am not a sorcerer, but the Almighty God gave me an opportunity right now to love my God 'with all my life, as it is in the prayer. ” The Rabbi’s students were also present and asked him how he could yet offer prayers to God. He said to them, "All my life, I was worried about the verse, that you must love God 'with all your soul', which means, that even if He takes away your soul. I had been worried for decades, that when will I ever be able to fulfill this command? And now, that I am finally able to fulfill it, I should not?" Then he said the Shema Prayer, that the Lord our God is One, and he extended the final word Echad (One), until his life expired with that word. It looked like the end of a great sage, nonetheless, he made it to the World to Come. Generation by generation, one by one we are moving forward to the World to Come, which is salvation. The Second Letter of Peter ask us, the believers, that “what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with God.” May the Lord grant us the privilege to look forward favorably to the World to Come, by the Holy Spirit, AMEN. https://korakowa.blogspot.com/p/sunday-sermons.html
