Star Gazing

The world was supposed to end last month. 

As some of you may have heard, September 23^rd marked a moment of peak celestial alignment, when the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter were near the constellations Virgo and Leo. The sun and moon were also nearby, and some people believe that this orientation was actually a sign spoken of in the Book of Revelation:

"A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.’ And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.”

            According to some interpretations, Jupiter’s departure from the constellation of Virgo, which began on the 23^rd, correlated to the child being born. A tremendous cosmic spectacle, such as a sun storm or the sudden appearance of an asteroid or even a rogue planet, was going to fill in for the devouring dragon. Those convinced that September 23^rd marked the beginning of the end suggest that the recent string of unsettling events leading up to the date, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, political disruption, and of course, the recent eclipse, are too closely linked in time and space to be mere coincidence. 

In other words: September 23^rd. Apocalypse Now.

I realize, of course, that as soon as I began quoting from Revelation, some of you lost interest and some of you became defensive, but if you’re still with me, it should be noted at this point that I do read the Bible. Every morning, before anyone else in the house is awake, I try to spend a good half hour or so reading and praying. As a husband, a parent of three kids, and a high school English teacher, there is usually plenty to discuss.

I am a very imperfect Christian living in a very broken world, and I don’t take any book of the Bible, Revelation included, lightly.

However, I am also genetically wired, I think, to be something of a skeptic, particularly when it comes to concrete dates pertaining to concrete events. After all, in the 24^th chapter of Matthew, Jesus himself says of the end of days, “… no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” This is one reason why it bothers me when humans, who are quite earth bound, try to pin point an exact time when the world will end.

In many ways, it is even unbiblical to do so. After all, Christians are told throughout the New Testament, and I’m paraphrasing, “things will be rough, don’t freak out about it, trust God and pray about everything.” One might suggest that there is irony to this, considering that some Christians seem to be among the most anxious people on the planet.

However, these are, truly, unsettling times, as the recent massacre in Las Vegas has only emphasized, and there is no indication that things will calm down anytime soon. Anyone who has been awake for more than five minutes in the last twelve or so months should be forgiven for some frazzled nerves.

Many of Jesus’ disciples had frazzled nerves, too, and when they themselves asked their teacher for signs pertaining to his return, Jesus had this to say, as written in the 21^st Chapter of Luke: (For the sake of brevity verses have been condensed.)

 “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”  A few verses later, Jesus continues, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.”

Or, in other words, the nightly news.

If we take the long view, however, it could be argued that the events Jesus described actually happen to about every generation, at least somewhere, and so perhaps the larger lesson he was trying to teach his young students was that timing is much less important than truth, and the truth is this: the end—relatively speaking, at least—is always near. 

After all, the world did end last month for many, many people. It will end for many more this month, too. Whether the entire world ends tomorrow or a thousand years from now, nearly everyone alive today will be gone within a century. Sorry. I understand this is not my typically upbeat tone, but just do the math. It shouldn’t take one catastrophe after another, one nuclear-tinged tirade on top of tirade on top of yet another demonic mass shooting, to get us to pause on occasion and think about the very, very big picture.

When we die or how we die—an earthquake, a hurricane, quietly in our bed years down the road—is actually pretty irrelevant. The only thing that will make any difference at that point will be our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. 

Everything else is just star gazing.