thirty second sunday in ordinary time (C)
Grant us, we pray, O Lord our god, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good...
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First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20a
Responsorial: Psalm 98:5-6, 7-8, 9 Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 Gospel Passage: Luke 21:5-19 |
The Road to Love
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Common wisdom frequently reminds us that in life, we must savor the journey and not focus on the destination alone. To do so would be to miss so much of what life has to offer. And yet it is also true that journeys by their nature require destinations. And the destination determines the shape and course of the journey.
The scriptures help Christian believers understand the origins of humanity in God’s providence, and the history of our relationship with a loving, merciful God. But the scriptures do not only look to the past, they look forward to the destiny that awaits all creation. As the Church’s liturgical year draws to a close, the scriptural passages look ahead to the last things, to the destination of the human journey.
The Bible contains a rich variety of expectations and images for the end times. Some passages speak of the end times in fearful language, warning the world of the judgment to come while others ache with longing for the deliverance the Lord has promised. In all their variety, however, the expectations about the end share one fundamental characteristic in common. They are all founded on the conviction that God is just, faithful, and loving. Therefore, whatever the details of the future, we need not live in fear.
The passage from Malachi comes from the end of that book. The question the prophet addresses concerns the injustice of the wicked who prosper and the innocent who suffer their offenses. The prophet uses the image of heat to warn and to promise. He warns those who forget the Lord and sin against God and neighbor that they will suffer consuming fire. The promise is for the faithful ones who suffer in a world where evil appears to hold the upper hand. For the righteous, the prevailing of God’s justice will not be consuming fire, but like the warmth of the sun’s rays. That coming day of justice is cause for rejoicing in Psalm 98 as it calls upon all creation to praise the just rule of the Lord.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul addresses a community in which some were obsessing about the end, speculating about the timing and fretting over the signs. Their obsession left them unwilling or unable to function in ordinary life, to work and provide for themselves. Paul uses his own example and that of his companions to show the proper way of living in the time between the first and second comings of the Lord. That living is marked by sober virtue and diligent service of the Lord and the community. Paul does not try to calculate the date of the end, but lives in preparation for the coming of the Lord.
The passage from Luke appears to address the question of the end times, but the picture is more complex in this passage. In the course of the whole discourse, Jesus will prophesy about his second coming, but that part of the discourse follows the section we read today. Today, we see Jesus prophesy about events that have already occurred by the time the Gospel was written in its final form. Jesus speaks to his disciples about the great calamities that will overtake Jerusalem and the Temple and the suffering and persecution that his followers will endure in Jerusalem in the last years before its destruction.
The prophetic power and content of these words must have been apparent and deeply moving to Luke’s readers as they were so keenly aware that Jesus’ prophecy had come to pass. For us, for whom the destruction of the Temple is ancient history rather than recent trauma, the effect of these words may consist more in a summons to reorient our lives. Jesus’ prophecy reminds the believer that even things that seem solid and permanent like the great temple are cast down by the vicissitudes of history. The Christian must remember that only the Lord’s love truly endures and live accordingly. We must not trust in the passing, nor fear hardship, nor become faint before opposition and persecution. As the angel reminds the Apostles in the Acts, disciples of Jesus do not stand looking at the sky, but live their faith and witness to the world that Jesus is Lord.
There are certainly Christians today who fret about the end of the world, but these readings remind us of our destination and summon us to behave accordingly. In Christ, there is no doubt that the battle is already won. Even if the road ahead remains murky, it leads to love. We can live by trust, and not in fear.
The scriptures help Christian believers understand the origins of humanity in God’s providence, and the history of our relationship with a loving, merciful God. But the scriptures do not only look to the past, they look forward to the destiny that awaits all creation. As the Church’s liturgical year draws to a close, the scriptural passages look ahead to the last things, to the destination of the human journey.
The Bible contains a rich variety of expectations and images for the end times. Some passages speak of the end times in fearful language, warning the world of the judgment to come while others ache with longing for the deliverance the Lord has promised. In all their variety, however, the expectations about the end share one fundamental characteristic in common. They are all founded on the conviction that God is just, faithful, and loving. Therefore, whatever the details of the future, we need not live in fear.
The passage from Malachi comes from the end of that book. The question the prophet addresses concerns the injustice of the wicked who prosper and the innocent who suffer their offenses. The prophet uses the image of heat to warn and to promise. He warns those who forget the Lord and sin against God and neighbor that they will suffer consuming fire. The promise is for the faithful ones who suffer in a world where evil appears to hold the upper hand. For the righteous, the prevailing of God’s justice will not be consuming fire, but like the warmth of the sun’s rays. That coming day of justice is cause for rejoicing in Psalm 98 as it calls upon all creation to praise the just rule of the Lord.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul addresses a community in which some were obsessing about the end, speculating about the timing and fretting over the signs. Their obsession left them unwilling or unable to function in ordinary life, to work and provide for themselves. Paul uses his own example and that of his companions to show the proper way of living in the time between the first and second comings of the Lord. That living is marked by sober virtue and diligent service of the Lord and the community. Paul does not try to calculate the date of the end, but lives in preparation for the coming of the Lord.
The passage from Luke appears to address the question of the end times, but the picture is more complex in this passage. In the course of the whole discourse, Jesus will prophesy about his second coming, but that part of the discourse follows the section we read today. Today, we see Jesus prophesy about events that have already occurred by the time the Gospel was written in its final form. Jesus speaks to his disciples about the great calamities that will overtake Jerusalem and the Temple and the suffering and persecution that his followers will endure in Jerusalem in the last years before its destruction.
The prophetic power and content of these words must have been apparent and deeply moving to Luke’s readers as they were so keenly aware that Jesus’ prophecy had come to pass. For us, for whom the destruction of the Temple is ancient history rather than recent trauma, the effect of these words may consist more in a summons to reorient our lives. Jesus’ prophecy reminds the believer that even things that seem solid and permanent like the great temple are cast down by the vicissitudes of history. The Christian must remember that only the Lord’s love truly endures and live accordingly. We must not trust in the passing, nor fear hardship, nor become faint before opposition and persecution. As the angel reminds the Apostles in the Acts, disciples of Jesus do not stand looking at the sky, but live their faith and witness to the world that Jesus is Lord.
There are certainly Christians today who fret about the end of the world, but these readings remind us of our destination and summon us to behave accordingly. In Christ, there is no doubt that the battle is already won. Even if the road ahead remains murky, it leads to love. We can live by trust, and not in fear.
