1st Sunday of Advent, Year c, 02.12.2012

Jeremiah 33:14-16/ 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2/ Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

About 2 or 3 years ago, there was this movie that was shown in the cinemas, which had many interesting aspects.

First was the title. The title was a number that was made up of just four digits.

The movie posters were also interesting and intriguing.

One showed a monk dressed in saffron robes standing on a mountain top and he was facing what seemed like a humongous tidal wave.

Some of us have watched that movie. Like I said the title was a number with four digits – “2012”.

It was a science fiction disaster movie. But it included references to Mayanism and the 2012 phenomenon.

Along with that, the movie portrayed a series of disastrous events unfolding in the year 2012 (which is this year, and there is also a specified date, 21 Dec 2012).

Well, in that movie, huge tidal waves swept across the whole world and there were also earthquakes everywhere.

In one scene, there were thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square and then an earthquake knocked off the dome of St Peter’s Basilica and it fell on the people.

Say what we may, the special effects in that movie were stunning and impressive.

Well, that movie was shown in the year 2010 and it was about the predictions of the end of the world disasters in 2012, which is this year!

But by and large, people generally took the movie as a movie. I wonder how many took it seriously.

Even though it had Mayanism and the 2012 phenomenon references, it did not create much waves. 

At least in the spiritual aspect, there were no urgent movements of repentance and conversion.

There were no hordes of people going to the religious institutions and doing penance and asking for forgiveness.

In other words, all the end of the world predictions about 2012 are just another of those many similar predictions that have come and gone, and this will also come and go. 

Meanwhile, it is business as usual and life will go on as normal.

Maybe we have heard too many end-of-the-world predictions and we have become numbed and tired of it.

After all, whether the world ends on the 21 Dec or tomorrow, we will still have bills to pay, and also Christmas decorations to put up and the honey baked ham to order and go to work on Monday.

Yet in today’s gospel, we hear of Jesus talking about the end times.

There will be signs in the sun and the stars; on earth, nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves, men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.

That is certainly dramatic and disastrous enough to make another end-of-the-world movie, and maybe this time it could be Earth colliding with Mars or whatever.

But as in the previous end-of-the-world predictions, what effects do the words of Jesus have on us?

Year in year out, on the 1st Sunday of Advent, we hear about end-times, and our thoughts will be about year-end.

Our year-end thoughts would be about how much bonus will we be getting, will there be increment in our salary next year, where are the festive offers and sales, when to go Orchard Road to look at the Christmas lights, etc.

So, at the beginning of Advent, repentance and doing penance and seeking forgiveness may be furthest from our minds. Maybe we can leave that for the coming Lent.

The 1st Sunday of Advent may mean that we better bring out our Christmas tree with the decorations and maybe get new ones, so that we can start dreaming of a “white Christmas”.

Well, if we want to dream of a white Christmas, then I would certainly recommend you to watch a movie. 

The title of this movie also has a number in it, and the title is “Eight Below”.

The setting of the movie is in the Antarctica, or where the South Pole is, and so it is as white as it could get, with snow here and there and everywhere.

The movie was inspired by the events of a 1958 ill-fated Japanese expedition to the Antarctica.

In the movie, a guide by the name of Jerry, has his team of 8 dogs which pulled the dog sleds through the snow and they were attached to an Antarctic research base.

Jerry has a very close working relationship with his dogs. He knows each by name and knows their abilities.

On one occasion, Jerry and his team of dogs brought a scientist out into the vast snowlands for research.

Then came news of an approaching snowstorm, but their return to the base camp was delayed due to some accidents and they also got injured.

When they finally reached the base camp, the storm was building and there was only one last plane left for the flight out.

Since the plane could only manage to carry the base camp team, the 8 dogs had to be left behind.

Jerry who was injured was not able to persuade the pilot for the 8 dogs to be evacuated with him.

But he was assured that a rescue team would come back to get the dogs out.

But the storm was worse than expected and it became apparent that no rescue team would be sent until only spring which would be about three to four months later.

Meanwhile, Jerry the guide recovered from his injuries and he tried desperately to get a rescue team to go for the dogs but his efforts were futile.

What haunted him was what he told his dogs when he left them at the base camp: I’ll be back. I promise.

Although all his efforts came to a dead end, he knew he had to get back there because he owed it to his dogs.

Finally, against all odds, and with some sponsorship and help from his friends, he made the trip back.

And after five months, Jerry was reunited with his 8 dogs, but two had died in the bitter storm. 

So, the movie title “Eight Below” actually referred to the eight dogs which were below in the Antarctic waiting for Jerry to rescue them.

If I could make a Christmas movie about the gospel passage than the movie title would be “We Below”. 

Yes, it will be dramatic and stunning with lightning and thunder in the skies and mega tsunamis from the ocean, plus meteorites falling from outer space and earth shaking and cracking.

But we below will stand erect and hold our heads high because He from above will come to rescue us.

If dogs are worth rescuing, then what about us who are worth much more than hundreds of dogs and sparrows and whatever.

Yes, we below will wait for Him from above and we know He will come.

He promised that He will come for us. Let us keep praying at all times and be prepared to meet Him.