Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32
The Lord is my Judge: He will take me to Heaven with Him Someday!
There was a lovely couple, very pious, very dedicated to God. Unfortunately, the woman died before her husband and went to heaven. St. Peter welcomed her to heaven because she was a good lady upon the earth. As we know, Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter: it is his job to welcome souls to heaven. So, St. Peter made her his assistant in heaven: when he goes on coffee break, she takes over the work of welcoming souls to heaven, after a brief interview to ascertain their worthiness for heaven. As an interview, she asks every soul: could you kindly spell LOVE? All who succeeded were granted admittance to heaven.
Many years down the road, this woman’s husband died and came to heaven on the day she was on duty; what a happy reunion for the couple. She asked her husband how he fared after her death. He recounted to her how he missed her every second, minute, day and month. She was happy listening to him narrating how he missed her. She urged him to continue. So he said: love for you was driving me crazy, so I decided to remarry in order to keep my sanity! As soon as he said he remarried, she asked him to spell Czechoslovakia! Of course, he couldn’t, so she shoveled him to hell!
Unlike the lady in our little story, Daniel, a name which means “the Lord is my Judge,” sets the tone for both the end of the liturgical year as well as the beginning of Advent – the coming of Jesus. However, the focus of our readings today is to remind us of judgment day: that a day will come, when God will bring this our earth and earthly existence to an end, and he will judge all souls; good souls will go to heaven and bad souls to hell.
There are harbingers to alert us to the reality of the nearness of judgment day – distress, cataclysmic phenomena, etc. But our first reading wants us to focus our attention on another reality – MICHAEL. This name means “who is like God?” The meaning of this name and its bearer are very important: they remind us that even in the midst of cataclysmic events, God will save his people because God’s power to save his people is unhindered by any powers, hence, “who is like God” – MICHAEL!
This too is the central point of our gospel reading: in the midst of turmoil and disaster of the end times, our God will intervene to save his people – “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mark 13:26-27). So, the problem is not the end time, that will surely come to pass; the point is: will you be among those who will be saved – are you an elect of God?
Interestingly, we can prepare for God’s judgment – fidelity to his words: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). If the one thing that will remain forever are God’s words, by implication, anyone who wishes to live forever will keep God’s words. Just as the words of God are eternal, so will keepers of the words be kept eternally by the words of God.
If Jesus kept his Father’s words, by coming upon earth to die for sinners and take away sins, and he now seats at the right hand of his Father, he waits for us to join him there, after our own obedience to his words. The encouraging words of the second reading, “for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14), should nudge us on to fidelity to God’s words. We are God’s elect or the “sanctified,” according to our second reading, here and now, but will judgment day find us still faithful or not. The decision is yours and mine to make!
Assignment for the Week
Since what earmarks us as God’s elect is our baptism, could you find out the date of your baptism and pray for the priest who baptized you?
An Exegetical Homily on Mark 13:24-32 for 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B (Nov. 15, 2015)
I return to our literary exegesis, in order to explain the gospel text of this Sunday. Generally speaking, I use the New Revised Standard Version as our English text. However, I make my own translations, when need be. For today’s gospel, I retranslated Ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς συκῆς μάθετε τὴν παραβολήν as “Learn the parable from the fig tree,” instead of retaining “From the fig tree learn its lesson” (Mark 13:28 NRS). Knowing that we are dealing with a parable helps the understanding of the text.
Step I: What Does the Text say?
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. “Learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Step II: What does the Text Mean?
Jesus will come back someday for his elect
- We have two kinds of relationships enunciated by the verbs in the future, on the one hand, and the verbs in the present, on the other. What needs particular attention are the subject matters the verbs deal with. In verses 24-26, the verbs in the future emphasize an anticipated cosmic phenomena, but in the midst of these phenomena, God will be at work in Jesus, angels, and the elect. In other words, cosmic phenomena are at the service of Jesus, angels and human beings, called the elect. The picture painted looks like the reversal of creation in Genesis 1. Cosmic phenomena are signs to mark times and events. Consequently, the future cosmic cataclysm simply means Jesus will come back someday, with the help of angels, to take the elect out of the cosmos/world.
- The parable of the fig tree, a seasonal phenomenon, is told in the present not future – it is a perennial phenomenon. Interestingly too, our experience of summer is not a one day event but a period running into months. Also, different trees bud and blossom at different time intervals. Since Jesus says that the parable of the fig is analogous to what will happen in the future before Jesus and the angels come for the elects, it means that we will not be dealing with a day event, but a period of time (“But in those days,” begins our gospel reading, in order to underscore this point [Mark 13:24]).
- The final claim of our text is that no one knows the day and hour, not even Jesus himself. Here, the day and hour are simply not important: what is important is that an event will happen in the future, and Jesus and the angels will intervene in order to save the elect. So, the event of the return of Christ is already decided, but not the time and the hour (the fact that the verb is in the present suggests this, hence, Jesus does not know) – the signs of its imminence are given in the form of the reversal of creation.
- If everything else will pass away except God’s words, eternal life or being a part of the elect, hinges on fidelity to God’s words.
Step III: Points for Homily
- Creation is the work of God, and God will reverse the order of creation someday
- Cosmic events will take place before the return of Jesus – they will be just preludes
- Good people will be saved by Jesus and his angels, when Jesus returns – there the elect
- Worrying about the day of Jesus’ return is an effort in futility – it is better to struggle to be among the good people to be saved when Jesus returns
- “Suffering” has an anticipated salvific value for the elect – they will be saved by Jesus: “But in those days, after that suffering, . . . . Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mar 13:26-27).
- “Learn the parable from the fig tree” (Mark 13:28) gives the Catholic Church and its liturgists the impetus to present this reading this week, in anticipation of Christ the King celebration next Sunday: we read about the coming of Christ – PARUSIA – today, and we celebrate the end of the liturgical year with Christ the King next Sunday.