Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
– The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats
“Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.” – Psalm 37:16
Can anxiety be overcome for God’s people? The answer seems apparent to those of us who’ve been familiarized with the language of the Bible, who’ve grown up in church settings of many kinds and assimilated to the churchly mannerisms around anxiety. Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ famous words: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…” (Matthew 6:25-35; Luke 12:22-34). However, the obscurity of this question’s answer, the lack of its self-evidence to us, is highlighted in the fact that, in the Bible, time and time again God’s people must be reminded of it. The psalmist refrains, “Fret not” (Psalm 37:1, 7-8). The Lord’s word to Ahaz by the prophet Isaiah is “Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint” (Isaiah 7:4). Paul requires of the Thessalonian church “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” (2 Thessalonians 2:2). This is all fine and good, but is its way open to us? Or is the demand too great?
In Jesus’ birth, the way is made from the prison of anxiety. The Gospel of Matthew illustrates this masterfully: Jesus is born a threat to the regional vassal, King Herod. The king sought Jesus’ life, in order to maintain the stability of his reign. Three times God’s angel conveys a message in a dream which ultimately saves Jesus’ life. At each point, however, the message isn’t “those who love God don’t experience turmoil” or “the more righteous you are, the less that evil will affect your life.” (Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have to go into exile! His infant course is directed by a plot to murder him!) Rather, at each point, the message is that what God’s doing is happening: “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matthew 2:15).
If the success of God’s mission is measured by the world’s moral progress, then Jesus’ coming is difficult to see—then we have good reason to worry! The world is not getting better. In fact, the world doesn’t want to get better. On its own terms, Jesus’ way is obtuse. If Jesus’ way is a list of ingredients for “succeeding at life,” then the world’s got a better recipe. However, the psalmist writes, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb” (Psalm 38:1). In view of Jesus’ coming, the refusal of God’s reign is heightened in the world. That’s a bit counter-intuitive. The apostle Paul writes, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Like the reservation of Jesus’ death for “the right time” (Romans 5:6), the consolidation of the wicked under Satan’s manifest rule is organized around God’s own mission, around the coming of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). As Christ draws near in glory (Matthew 16:27), the wicked reject his claim all the more pointedly. On the world’s terms, this rejection seems entirely reasonable. After all, it is reinforced “by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). This “mystery” is already in effect, although restrained. It is part of the situation we are in before God. If our eyes are on the armies before us, rather than the work of God in the world, then we “will not be firm at all” (Isaiah 7:9).
Today, I suspect it would benefit each of us to consider the manifold ways in which anxiety (indeed, our distrust of God) determines our actions. The psalmist writes, “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil” (Psalm 37:8). In the face of his impending death—for all intents and purposes the apparent failure of his ministry—which was orchestrated by Judas Iscariot “who was of the number of the twelve” (Luke 22:3), Jesus himself orchestrated to celebrate with his disciples God’s deliverance of his people from bondage in Egypt. In the face of Satan’s manifest rule, a plan executed by his own standards with irreproachable success, Jesus’ eyes are on what God is doing. The coming of Jesus delivers us from “worldly success,” always driven by anxiety and self-preservation. At the height of the world’s frenzy, when its insanity seems to be the very fabric of life, then Jesus will kill it “with the breath of his mouth” and bring it “to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
Further Reading: Psalm 37:1-18; Isaiah 7:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Luke 22:1-13
Written by Guest House Theologian, Tim Morgan. These reflections are a complimentary addition to our Advent Blend Coffee Bags. Scan the QR code each day to read the most recent reflection.
More Advent reflections can be found here.