Word to the Wise
Friday, November 27, 2009 - Friday in the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
[Daniel 7:2-14 and Luke 21:29-33]As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, he received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him, his dominioin is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. [Book of Daniel]
As the liturgical year draws to a close (this coming Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent!), the lectionary presents us with scriptures about "last things." But were those words considered "last things" in the days when they were written? It appears not. We tend to look at the vivid visions of Daniel and the apocalyptic language in the gospels about the return of Jesus as occurring at the end of the "space-time continuum" when everything we know on this planet (and in the glorious pictures from the Hubble telescope of "outer space") will disappear! The people who read Daniel and listened to Jesus would not have thought in those terms. They expected or hoped for a Messiah in their OWN time when God would establish his true kingdom in Jerusalem. The virtual exile caused by continual military occupation would be ended and, as we say in bedtime stories, everyone would live happily ever after! It's the "ever after" that differs for us mortals in our own time. We who live now look for the Second Coming to occur at the end of the space-time continuum. We have no idea when that will occur. We continue to tell the story of Jesus and proclaim the gospel year in and year out. That is what Jesus has asked us to do. On Sunday, the story will begin once more as we start a new liturgical year. As we try to live out the command to love God and neighbor, our prayer remains the same, "Thy kingdom come...." AMEN
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