November 15, 2009
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary TimeDn 12:1-3/
Heb 10: 11-14,18/
Mk 13:24-32
It’s very tempting to want to predict the end times.
TV shows work hard to combine the prophets (Daniel is a favorite) with world news (the Middle East to offers a lot of material). Would-be seers take p the warnings, interpret the connections, see the final chapters unfolding in front of us. We’re troubled and fascinated by the notion that God could be fulfilling the prophets before our own eyes.
Christians in other eras were the same. The early Church throught they’d see Christ return. Was the destruction of the temple by the Romans the end? Three and a half centuries later as Rome was sacked by tribes from the north, was the final drama near? Did medieval formulas that reckoned the unfolding ages of God’s work in history show clear markers of the end? Well we’re still here.
The temptation to predict is strong. Why? We want control. When the world seems to be coming apart, we’re afraid. We want to make sense of what’s happening.
Why are we given warnings of the end in the Bible? Something subtle is operating. It’s striking that Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the father alone.” His followers have consistently tried to know more than Jesus, and we keep trying to predict what God will do.
Our real clue is I Jesus’ own lack of predicting. Jesus set aside his divinity to embrace our humanity. This self - emptying put Christ into our predicament. Giving up control, Jesus is at the mercy of the Father.
Neither curiosity nor predicting the end is the point. We’re given warning so we’ll have our eyes wide open. We’re given warning so we’ll serve God here and now. Today.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: To know the future might be a blessing, giving us time to prepare for important events. But, it might be a cause of discouragement also, with excessive worry what is to come. We are told to look today, but to prepare for tomorrow.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Keep me safe, O God; You are my hope