Quick Summary:

As we begin this Advent journey there is no mention of Mary or Joseph; and no shepherds or Magi in sight. There are angels, but not in the roles we’re used to seeing them. Instead, we’re privy to apocalyptic images, and Jesus' words:
STAY ALERT, KEEP WATCH. REMEMBER THE FIG TREE.

It all seems so upside down and backwards. Why can’t we just cut to the Christmas carols? The good news according to Mark has a different agenda in mind. When the world as you know it is falling apart; when the powers that be threaten to tear to pieces all you hold dear—which is exactly what was happening to the community to whom Mark addresses his gospel—then you lean on symbolic language, language with apocalyptic images and overtones, to carry a message which conventional language cannot.

There’s a war being waged in our culture right now. We see it playing out each day, in the twittersphere, in the media, in congressional news releases, in the courts. It’s a war of words, images, metaphors, and myths.