The sound
of the world around us generally qualifies as little more than noise. Almost
nothing advertises itself as unimportant or something to be attended to later.
The insistent cries of everything often raise the demands for our attention to
a deafening pitch. “Do this! Read this! Buy this! Remember this! Believe this!”
The world constantly presents itself to us as though it were teetering on the
apocalyptic brink of disaster – with the added note that our attention to the
pending disaster will make a difference.
This is
noise.
The world
indeed teeters on the brink of an apocalypse, but not the one it fears. Its
history has a direction but not of its own choosing. The coming apocalypse is
silence.
The word
“apocalypse” (from the Greek) means “revelation,” bringing into plain sight
what had before been hidden. The Christian faith is, from beginning to end, apocalyptic
in nature. It is always a bringing forth of hidden things. Very often the most
important thing in the world is nearly invisible to everyone around: the birth
of a child in a village in Palestine, the lonely execution of an itinerate
preacher, an empty tomb that puzzles a city. Jesus is not what anyone expected.
The entirety of His life is only understood after the fact, in the light of
revelation.
On the
morning of the resurrection, certain women felt that the most pressing thing in
the world was to purchase additional spices and myrrh to give a more careful
treatment to the dead body of their most beloved friend. It seemed so important
that they started out “very early in the morning.” It was the first day of the
week, a day for business. It was a day for opening shops and arranging goods.
Some spice merchant in Jerusalem rejoiced over the first-thing-in-the-morning
visit of some grieving women, virtually cleaning out his shop. Grief makes such
great customers!
Everybody
was rising for the day, with roosters crowing here and there, without
significance.
In the
tomb was silence.
The tomb
was silent because nobody was there, except a stray angel or two. And into the
silence were spoken words that made the noise of creation to pass into nothing:
“He is not here. He is risen.”
After
this, the women cannot hear anything of the noise. The angry words of a passing
stranger go unnoticed. The merchants in their stalls along the souk calling out
their wares are mute. For the women, the world has become silent. The
apocalypse of the truth has the exclusive care of their attention. Only one
thing is needful.
Nothing
in the world has changed since then. The insistent noise of the merchants cries
out and the impending disasters forecast by kings and criminals warn that an
apocalypse is just around the corner. But all of this noise takes place in the
silence of the true apocalypse. It is just noise. The silent Stillness of
eternity has already entered the world. His first words continue to speak:
“Peace be with you.”
Only one
thing is needed.
This is
Silence.
By Fr. Stephen Freeman
Source: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2016/10/12/a-quiet-apocalypse/
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