THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
14 NOVEMBER 2021
We
are coming to the end of this current Liturgical Year. Next Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of
Christ the King, last Sunday of Cycle B.
Then we will begin a new liturgical year as we enter the Season of
Advent on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
These days, the farmers remind us that this growing season has come to
an end as they harvest what they had sown last spring. In a similar way, our Scripture readings
remind us that life as we know it will also come to an end. These readings remind us that there is a
final stage to the development of humankind.
These readings can be frightening.
However, we need to hear the readings from the perspective of those to
whom they were originally intended.
The Book of
Daniel describes the signs that mark the end of time as we know it. To be honest, those signs are hopeful to his Jewish
contemporaries. They are being
persecuted and sidelined in every way possible.
They are living through incredibly dark times. Daniel promises that the wise will shine
brightly like the splendor of the firmament.
He assures those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars
forever. He is giving hope and a vision
of promise to the downtrodden. In a time
unsurpassed in distress, they will be vindicated for their faith in God.
Jesus
addresses a similar hope to those who have become his disciples. As they stand on the Mount of Olives, his
disciples marvel at the beauty and majesty of the Temple across the Kidron
Valley on Mount Zion. However, he warns
that this magnificent structure will be destroyed. He says that this generation (usually defined
as forty years) will not pass away until they see this happen. By the time Saint Mark wrote his Gospel, the
Romans had completely destroyed this most important symbol of their faith. Led by Titus forty years after the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Romans tore down the Temple, with its images
of the sun and the moon and the stars embellished on its stately walls. They undermined its foundations and left
everything in chaos. What had been the
center of their faith was completely gone, and those few who survived the
dreadful assault were scattered to the four winds.
The author
of the Letter to the Hebrews writes to Jewish Christians after the Temple had
been destroyed. The author recalls the
sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests in the Temple. They did not offer animal sacrifices like the
pagans, who had hoped that their sacrifices would appease their fickle
gods. The Levitical priests offered
animal sacrifices in thanksgiving to a God who loved them and to express their
confidence that God would continue to provide for them. However, now the Temple was destroyed and the
service of the Levitical priests was ended.
So, the author assures believers that Jesus Christ has offered the
ultimate sacrifice, once and for all, giving himself totally out of love and
reconciling us to the Father who loves us.
It is from
this perspective that we need to hear these readings about the end of time for our
individual lives and the life of our world.
We have been living in the end times since Jesus Christ died on the
cross, was raised from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and
sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with us.
Over the past centuries, our ancestors have seen violent and cosmic
upheavals. In truth, we are experiencing
some of those upheavals in the anger and divisions that are tearing us apart
and making honest and loving communication difficult. We cannot know when our lives and the life of
our world will end. Jesus tells us not
speculate about the timing of these events.
Instead, he tells us to turn ourselves more completely toward him and embrace
his kingdom. We need not live in
fear. We need to live in a spirit of
conversion. We need to live day to day,
aware that an end will come, and confident that the Lord will not abandon those
who turn toward him.
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