33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

[cappie]

 This week’s readings are referred to as apocalyptic. Like all biblical references to the future, apocalyptic descriptions are symbolic in nature. They are meant to inspire believers to find whatever good they can from life’s inevitable suffering.  They are meant to urge us on with perseverance and fidelity.

“The day is coming now, burning like a furnace;” Malachi warns in today’s First Reading. The prophets taught Israel to look for the Day of the Lord, when He would gather the nations for judgment and so, the Gospel before us today features Luke narrating Jesus’ description of the end of days, complete with earthquakes, famines, wars, plagues, and persecution of the faithful.  Jesus is standing in the Temple! Luke tells us that the disciples were marvelling at the beauty of the Temple—its enormous stone walls and fine metal fixtures and wealthy worshippers who came to make their gifts.

People couldn’t help but notice the Temple and its fineries. The disciples noticed; everyone noticed! And Jesus noticed them noticing. So, he says, “ All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.”

We can almost hear the disciples whispering to one another. “How can this be? This place is indestructible! It’s a fortress! It’ll last thousands of years!” And yet, although the disciples didn’t know it at the time, Luke knew just how true Jesus’ words were. By the year 70, all that would be left of Herod’s Temple was a pile of rubble.

 Wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, the destruction of the very places that enrich our lives, all these things, Jesus says, will come to pass in the last days. And just when we think it can’t possibly get any worse than that, Jesus gets personal: You will be arrested; you will be persecuted; you will be thrown into prison and hauled before the court.

Then notice what he says next: Just when everything is shrouded in darkness; when lies have taken the place of truth; when war seems inevitable and eternal; when the earth trembles beneath you—then you will have the opportunity to testify!

 But Jesus says, “ I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. .” He then goes on to say this: “ Not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”

We must live God’s Kingdom now, not just as something that will happen at some future date. While God’s Kingdom is not fully established, it does have a solid foothold in our world.

Jesus is offering us the vision of an ending and a new beginning; a vision of God’s Kingdom and a different kind of temple where Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus understands that every temple is temporary, every system we create will collapse, every cause, every framework that we construct will disappear and disappoint, except His!

When all hell is breaking loose in the world around us,   Jesus calls us to speak up! Tell the truth! Proclaim Christ crucified and risen!

Amidst all the apocalyptic language we hear in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us something essential about what it means to be his followers. When things get hard;  when people try to silence and malign and ridicule you, keep on speaking! Keep on telling the world about Jesus! Keep on telling the truth!  And we should take the Apostles as our “models,” as today’s Second Reading counsels. Like them we must persevere in the face of unbelieving relatives, friends, forces, and authorities hostile to God.

This is the essential vocation of the Church: to stand tall in the middle of the chaos and confusion of the world and keep hitting the same pitch so we can tune our ears: This is who we are. This is what we’re about. Over and over again.

God is faithful even when everything around us is falling apart. Our job is to keep telling that truth—to keep living that truth—because when all is said and done, it’s the only truth that matters.