Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - Tuesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 14:14-19 and Luke 21:5-11]While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here --the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.
Imagine, if you will, the destruction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or, on a more secular level, the capitol building in Washington, D.C.! These are not merely buildings but symbols of something far greater than themselves. The first is a symbol of Roman Catholicism. The second is a symbol of the United States of America. To lose either of them would, for an American Catholic, be like losing an anchor and being set adrift. The Gospel of Luke was written after the Romans destroyed the temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.. Herod the Great, in whose reign Jesus was born, had done an extensive renovation of the "Second Temple" (the one built after the Babylonian exile). The renovation, according to one comment in the gospel, took "forty-six years" (John 2:20). Herod's renovation took 10 years but there was work going on till 64 A.D.. Thus the destruction came only about 6 years after the total renovation project was completed! Therefore, the loss was very fresh in the minds of the early Christian community, many if not most of whom were brought up in Judaism! Jesus' own attitude about the temple was that he would replace it with himself as the center of faith. So, the Gospel of Luke, in relating Jesus' teaching about his eventual return, says that the loss of the temple is not "the end of the world!"
The next couple of days will feature portions of this gospel passage and there is more to say. For the moment, it might be instructive to ask ourselves what symbol of our faith is so important that its loss would cause us to think the end of the world is coming? AMEN