The incarnation—the advent and arrival of the God-Man, Jesus—unfolded in a time of escalating turmoil, as the Jewish nation hurtled towards catastrophic collapse. The shadow of war with Rome loomed ever closer, culminating in the devastation of AD 70, when Jerusalem burned, and the Temple fell. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the signs of the times were evident—the swift unravelling, the great sorrow, the apocalyptic warnings spoken of in Mark 13 and its parallels, where stars would fall from the heavens and the powers of the earth would be shaken.
In a world of escalating violence, Jesus gathered around himself a community of peacemakers, preparing them, shaping their ethical and moral imaginations for what was to come. He trained them to enact the kingdom when the violence of empire would raise its head, teaching them to love their enemies and to turn the other cheek, to be a radical witness of peace and justice in a world bent on domination and destruction. The God-Man, Jesus, was, among other things, a prophet and a rabbi. He spoke truth to power and articulated reality in a culture of denial, exposing the forces that would lead to destruction. Yet he also enacted hope within communities of despair, embodying the compassionate kingdom. He wept over Jerusalem, foreseeing what would befall the city (cf. Luke 19:41-44), grieving the violence, destruction, and loss. Yet even amid the looming inevitability of judgement, Jesus proclaimed and enacted a kingdom that was not of this world (cf. John 18:36)—but radically for this world. A kingdom of holy revolution, marked by a way, a truth, and a life not shaped by swords or violence, but through his own cruciform love.
As Jesus taught on the mountainside, he declared blessings for those often forgotten by the world. In the words of the First Nations Version:
"Creator’s blessing rests on the poor, the ones with broken spirits.
The good road from above is theirs to walk.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk a trail of tears,
for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who hunger and thirst for wrongs to be made right again,
for they will eat and drink until they are full."
The church, throughout history and across the world, has often stood in the shadow of collapse. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the siege of Constantinople, from the ravages of the great plagues to the devastation of two world wars, from the rise of communism to the upheavals of colonialism’s end, the church has borne witness amid suffering and decline. In every age, the call has been the same: to enact and embrace the life of Christ, to shine as a light in the darkness, and to hold fast to hope even as the world crumbles.
As the world today moves towards its own collapse—a climate crisis pushing us beyond 1.5°C and towards 2°C and beyond—the church is summoned once more to the way of the Master. To discern the signs of our time. To embrace the compassionate kingdom. To enact cruciform love. To proclaim the gospel with boldness and grace. To live as an exegesis of the life of Christ. To resist the beasts of greed and empire. To welcome the marginalised. To feed the hungry. To lament the destruction. To be his hands and feet in a world crying out for redemption. And to sow seeds of hope in the ruins, trusting in a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
-Swales 2024
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