Tonight our instructor began be defining Eschatology as the study of the end times, and pointing out that Jesus taught that The Kingdom of God was at hand. The characteristics of the Kingdom of God are important because from this comes the church. It's interesting to note that Jesus' life is missing from both creeds. Jesus was definitely not a Zealot or an Essene, he was possibly a Pharisee. Jesus did not pick an end date like apocalyptic, so He was not referring to a literal "end of times" although people took it that way. The Disciples quickly understood that Jesus himself was the "end times", and realized that He was "The Kingdom of God". They did not preach what Jesus preached, but instead preached Jesus himself. The Gospel of John assumed each reader already understood the Kingdom, and so he spiritualized the story of Jesus.
It's important to understand time. On the first level, what we perceive is actually duration which is something we measure, usually in increments like minutes and hours or days. On the second level, when duration is stopped by something "out of the ordinary", we're lifted out of time, and it's these moments that give our lives meaning. Steven Hawking wrote about these ideas in his book "The History of Time", in which he talks about duration, process, and time itself. Our goal should be to live in the second level, because although we don't experience time, we do remember the things that happen to us. To us, there is history, present, and future. The third level is eternity, which for us begins at death.
The Kingdom of God is now! Don't just look forward (horizontally), look into the depth of time (vertically). What we do (or don't do) is for now and for eternity. Man is limited by the sense of duration but he can move beyond that limit to an understanding of time as God sees it. See the world as charged with the Kingdom of God, which Jesus himself referred to as the "the fullness of time". The Greek had two words for time, chronos which refers to the idea of duration, and kairos which refers to the idea of moment. Infinity embraces the finite, and includes eternity (because God cannot be limited), so infinity includes time itself. God is an active God and He is with us acting in history. Eastern religions avoid time (by trying to overcome the present condition) whereas Western religions embrace time.
God loves us, and He does not need to be convinced of our worth because He loves us infinitely. The gap between man and God is smaller than the gap within our own hearts. The Greek idea of the immortality of the soul implies separation, but the soul cannot exist without the body, even though it does relate to events outside of the body. When a human is very close to death the human body becomes aware that it is not confined to this existence alone. The Church is comprised of people that understand the transformation of death, which helps us understand "out of body experiences".
Jesus did not establish the church; He laid down the foundation of the Church which began at the time of faith in the resurrection. The Church began from the acts of Jesus which include life, death, and resurrection. All of reality was transformed at Jesus' death and resurrection. On the road to Emmaus the story tells us that "they did not recognize him" indicating that Jesus was transformed, and after his resurrection he only appeared to those with faith. This suggests that the people on the road to Emmaus were no closer to Jesus than we are today. We recognize Jesus in spirit just as they did later. Paul did not even know the physical Jesus. The objective fact is that Jesus is alive, and the subjective fact is that Jesus was seen by others. Both are required, both are important, and both must be united for this event to have become earth shattering.
When this happens Church is born. We the church are the heirs of the original intersection of the objective and subjective understanding of the resurrection. God is not an object or a subject; He transcends both the objective and subjective events of his life. We tend to project God as an object, and in fact it's only the West that produces agnostics and atheists because it's only the West that tends to objectify God. Those who deny the reality of God start with their own subjectivity and then try to explain the objectivity of God. You can teach your pet to be affectionate but you can't teach him love; you can teach your child love. When you love someone they are not just an object, that person is subjectively connected to you. We are not objects of God, we are his subjects.
Love is not a feeling, it is the reunion of the separated. Sacrifice is the power within us convincing us that we are not the center of the universe. If you want your life you must be willing to lose it. Love is always the same, weather its' the love of a spouse, the love of a child, or the love of a parent. Each of these includes a drive towards reunion; it's the feelings that are different. The child entertains itself with everlastingness, and it's the child in all of us! The cross was (is) not a satisfaction for God's justice. Theology starts with the "that" of the cross and develops a "how" for our lives. On the sacramental level, the Paschal Mystery is a celebration of what is possible, and on the eschatological level, it is the meaning for our own death. What's important is rejecting the desire towards anger and cruelty.
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