Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 15, 2009 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14; Mark 13:24-32]The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.'
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009 THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME [Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32] The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.' The context of the times in which we live shapes our understanding of ancient truths. The people living in Jesus' day did not have the Hubble telescope! Events that seemed to impact "all the earth" were interpreted completely in terms of cultural and religious beliefs that characterized first century Palestine and had a much narrower geographic reference. For the Jews of Jesus' day, this would mean that prophecies of the kind in the Book of Daniel (written about 160 years before Jesus) served as a primary reference to understand anticipated (and eagerly desired) events with uncertain timetables! In the case of the Book of Daniel, the hope was for triumph over the despotic and blasphemous King Antiochus Epiphanes. In the case of the Gospel of Mark, deliverance from Roman and other persecution shaped much of the "apocalyptic" language in today's gospel. Two important aspects of faith are brought forward here. The first has to do with the difference between the concept of time as a measured reality: hours, days, years - and time as a way of determining the meaning and appropriateness of an event. Perhaps our use of the word "timing" comes close to describing this. We in our times believe the Lord will come again, but our understanding of this has moved the event of the Second Coming to the "end of time" - i.e. the space-time continuum. The earliest Christians did not understand it that way. They hoped for deliverance within the space-time continuum we live in and the restoration of a "kingdom" that the Lord would rule! The second important aspect concerns the uncertainty of the event of the Second Coming. THAT it will happen is a matter of faith. WHEN it will happen is a complete mystery, despite elaborate efforts to discern this in numerology or other fanciful interpretations of biblical texts. Jesus himself says we will not know this, but that hasn't stopped people from trying to find out!!!!! Our understanding of the Second Coming and the Final Judgment is far more "cosmic" than the one our Christian ancestors had. The mystery of these events is heightened by each new discovery about the universe. As unsatisfying as it is to our desire for a definite timetable for those events (and we are no different from our ancestors in that regard), we have to live in the present as good Christians and wait like those who lived before us. AMEN
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