What if Jesus has already come back or is even coming back all the time? That the first generation of Jesus’ followers expected the Parousia or “second coming” during their own lifetimes is certain. They were sure, based on Jesus’ teachings and their own, first-hand knowledge of him that it would happen. At least that’s how the Bible represents it. (That it didn’t happen as predicted makes its presence in the Bible even more striking. After all, why retain traditions of misunderstanding, even of failure? — another topic for musing…) And the business of waiting for Jesus’ return is still big business. Witness the most recent hubbub promoted by Harold Camping of Family Radio. Many Christians have a penchant for the sentimental — wishing to recreate biblical places and events in order to feel closer to Jesus, to God. I get it. But I wonder: if Jesus is God — a basic tenet of the three-in-one Christian faith, then what’s to say that God must be limited to popular ideas of what Jesus’ return would look like… what Jesus himself would look like? What if Jesus’ return is happening all the time, in forms far different from traditional expectations including that of a bearded man in flowing robes who causes some kind of revolution? What if Jesus’ second coming doesn’t actually involve a human being at all? What if it’s always been happening?
