Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 14, 2021

33rd Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle B: Todays readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14,18; Mark 13:24-32.

The word apocalyptic is bandied about so often nowadays that it has all but lost its true meaning. Social and political crises from climate, to migration, to the present pandemic are often reported using apocalyptic language and imagery. A sense of doom characterises the reports, a feeling that something catastrophic is inevitable and imminent.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently used the phrase one minute to midnight at the COP26 summit in Glasgow to describe the critical juncture we have reached concerning climate change. Dramatic imagery it is hoped will prove more effective than scientific papers at spurring the world to action.

In todays gospel, Jesus presents his listeners with a vision that is apocalyptic in the truest sense of the word. He foretells a real historical event that would mark the end of an epoch for Judaism (the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in AD70) hand in hand with a prophecy about his own second coming in glory at the end of time. In doing so, he uses imagery and language that struck a powerful chord in his audience.

Prophets like Zechariah, Isaiah and Daniel often spoke about the political and social upheavals of their own time using terrifying images involving the earth and the celestial bodies being shaken or destroyed. Their aim was not to inspire abject fear and desperation, but rather to remind their listeners that even when all seems lost on the human and material level whether because of military defeat, natural calamity, or exile the all-powerful God of Israel is still in control.

While heeding the warnings about the world we inhabit, it would profit us to extend an even greater level of concern for our eternal destiny

Todays first reading is a classic example of this kind of writing. The prophet Daniel reassures and comforts an exiled populace not with sweet platitudes and unfounded optimism, but by foretelling a new era: a time of acute distress for the nations who had covered Gods people in ignominy, and of joyful vindication for those who stayed faithful to Gods covenant even through their suffering.

Jesus makes a similar promise in the gospel: he himself will come in glory with his angels at the end of time to deliver his people, having passed as High Priest through the crucible of his self-sacrificial offering (see todays second reading). The recipients of this promise are those who have remained faithful, this time with a pledge to gather them from wherever they have been scattered, from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.

Perhaps this is why many of todays apocalyptic warnings sound hollow, even when they are well-meaning and motivated by laudable objectives: because they promise catastrophe and destruction devoid of redemption and hope. The apocalyptic literature of the Judaeo-Christian biblical tradition, on the other hand, does indeed warn of calamities; however, it also promises salvation, whether to the Jewish exiles of Daniels time, or to the early Christians undergoing persecution throughout the Roman empire in the decades after Christs life, death and resurrection.

This same combination of warning and hope remains effective and applicable even for us today. Christs admonitions and prophecies cannot be pinned down or applied uniquely to any one historical era (as many have tried to do over the centuries, and others are tempted to do even nowadays). Every generation of authentic Christians is encouraged to stand firm, to remain faithful to the Lord, in the knowledge that the present tribulations will in Gods time, not ours give way to a new heaven and a new earth.

While heeding the one minute to midnight warnings about the world we inhabit, it would profit us to extend an even greater level of concern for our eternal destiny.

bgatt@maltachurchtribunals.org

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From the Gospel: One minute to midnight - Times of Malta

Category: Judaism
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