Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

MARK 13:24-32
THIS IS THE LAST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME. NEXT WEEK WE CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING, AND THEN WE ARE OFF TO A NEW CHURCH YEAR. TIME FLIES. TODAY OUR FIRST READING AND OUR GOSPEL BELONG TO THE CATEGORY OF RELIGIOUS WRITING WE CALL “APOCALYPTIC”, AND IT IS CERTAINLY APPROPRIATE THAT OUR ATTENTION AT THE END OF THE YEAR TURNS TO LAST THINGS. IF YOU WERE HEARING THESE READINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME, THEY SOUND FRIGHTENING; BUT WE ARE NOT HEARING THEM FOR THE FIRST TIME; WE CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN HEARING THEM FOR 2000 YEARS, AND OUR JEWISH BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE BEEN HEARING DANIEL'S PROPHECY FOR AN ADDITIONAL 200 YEARS OR SO. AND WE CAN BE EXCUSED, I THINK, FOR STIFLING A YAWN. IT AIN'T HAPPENED YET! AND GIVEN THE TRACK RECORD, WE CAN SAFELY COUNT ON IT NOT HAPPENING THIS COMING YEAR EITHER. THE JEWS STILL AWAIT THEIR DELIVERANCE, AND WE CHRISTIANS HAVE LONG AGO BURIED THE GENERATION THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO PASS AWAY UNTIL THESE THINGS CAME TO PASS.
THE WORD, “APOCALYPSE” COMES FROM TWO GREEK WORDS WHICH MEAN “REMOVE THE COVER”. YOU HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THE PEOPLE OF THAT TIME LIVED IN A CONSTANT STATE OF TURMOIL. YOU NEVER KNEW WHETHER THAT NAGGING COUGH COULD TURN INTO PNEUMONIA AND KILL YOU, OR THAT CUT YOU GOT AT WORK WOULD FESTER AND RESULT IN THE LOSS OF AN ARM OR A LEG. YOU WERE RULED BY AN AUTHORITY WHO HAD NO CHECKS AND BALANCES, AND YOUR LIFE AND FORTUNE LITERALLY BELONGED TO HIM. AND SOMETIMES JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR NEIGHBORS UNDERSTOOD THIS, HE WOULD SEND HIS TROOPS INTO TOWN TO TAKE EVERYTHING YOU HAD TO LIVE ON. AND IF YOU WERE A LABORER, YOUR LIFE DEPENDED DAY TO DAY ON WHETHER YOU COULD FIND WORK; AND AFTER A BACKBREAKING DAY OF WORK, YOU WOULD GET ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY YOUR EVENING MEAL, SO YOU COULD START AGAIN IN THE MORNING. THERE WERE A FEW PEOPLE AROUND WHO WERE BETTER OFF -- THE RICH MERCHANTS, THE WELL CONNECTED POLITICALLY, THOSE WHO WERE PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE – BUT LIFE FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON WAS HAND TO MOUTH, AND VERY UNPREDICTABLE. WE SEE THIS RIGHT THERE IN THE SCRIPTURES – THE BEGGARS, THE LAME, THE BLIND, THE DEAF, THE “POSSESSED”, THE LEPERS. WE SEE THE WORKMEN STANDING AROUND WAITING TO BE HIRED, BECAUSE IF THEY CAN'T FIND WORK, THEY WON'T EAT. WE SEE THE LITTLE GIRL WHOSE FATHER APPROACHES JESUS TO BEG HIM TO SAVE HER; BECAUSE WHEN LITTLE GIRLS GOT SICK, ABOUT HALF THE TIME THEY DIED. AND IF YOU READ THE GOSPELS WITH AN EYE TO HISTORY, YOU CAN ALMOST FEEL THE UNSPOKEN PRESENCE OF THE SOLDIERS, THE CENTURIONS, THE TAX COLLECTORS, WHO ARE AN EVER PRESENT REMINDER THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND ARE THERE NOT BY RIGHT, BUT BECAUSE THE EMPEROR IN A FAR DISTANT CITY ALLOWS THEM TO BE, FOR NOW, IF THEY BEHAVE.
WE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN 21STCENTURY LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS, ARE NOT A LOT LIKE THOSE PEOPLE OF JESUS TIME. WE ARE SECURE, OR AT LEAST WE THINK WE ARE. EVEN GREAT FINANCIAL CRISES, EVEN AIRPLANES KNOCKING DOWN SKYSCRAPERS, DON'T PHASE US FOR VERY LONG. WE HAVE AN UNSHAKABLE FAITH THAT THE STAGE ON WHICH OUR LIVES PLAY OUT WILL BE THE SAME TOMORROW AS IT IS TODAY. OH, THINGS CHANGE. WE DIDN'T HAVE THE INTERNET A FEW YEARS AGO. I WAS EVEN BORN BEFORE WE HAD TELEVISION. BUT YOU COULD ALWAYS FIND FOOD IN A GROCERY STORE; THERE WAS ALWAYS A SOURCE OF HEAT TO KEEP YOU WARM IN THE WINTER; THERE WAS ALWAYS A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD. WE ALL KNOW WE ARE GOING TO DIE SOMEDAY, BUT WE DO OUR BEST TO IGNORE THAT FACT.
BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO LOOK FAR TO SEE THAT THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE EVEN IN OUR OWN TIME WHO HAVE A QUITE DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE OF LIFE. THINK OF THE IRAQI CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED OUT OF THEIR ANCESTRAL HOMES AND HAVE LOST EVERYTHING. FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES THEY WILL BE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS, REFUGEES, PEOPLE WHO IMPERFECTLY UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE AND THE CULTURES OF THEIR HOST COUNTRY. AND THINK ABOUT THE INDONESIANS WHO LOST EVERYTHING IN THE TYPHOON A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. OUR SECURITY, OUR PREDICTABLE AND ORDERLY LIVES, ARE FRAGILE INDEED, MUCH MORE SO THAN WE THINK.
AND THAT IS WHAT APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE IS REALLY ABOUT. DANIEL AND JESUS ADDRESS THE PEOPLE WHOSE WORLD HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TURNED UPSIDE DOWN. DANIEL SPEAKS TO THE JEWISH EXILES; THEY ONLY REMEMBER A TIME WHEN THEY WERE A PROUD PEOPLE LIVING IN A COUNTRY THEY COULD CALL THEIR OWN. JESUS SPEAKS TO A PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THE MERCY OF THEIR ROMAN RULERS. THEY LIVE IN A SHAM COUNTRY, WITH A KING WHO IS A FIGUREHEAD, AND THEY ARE REMINDED EVERY DAY BY THE MARCHING SOLDIERS OF ROME, BY THE BODIES HANGING ON CROSSES, THAT THEY LIVE IN A PRISON, THAT THEY ARE NOT IN CHARGE OF THEIR OWN FUTURES. AND DANIEL AND JESUS REMIND THEIR HEARERS OF TWO THINGS; IF WE THINK WE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR LIVES, IF WE THINK WE ARE GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS LIFE WITHOUT SOME MAJOR, WORLD-SHATTERING PROBLEM, WE ARE JUST PLAIN WRONG. AND THE SECOND POINT IS THAT THERE IS ONE THING WE CAN BE CERTAIN OF; THAT GOD IS IN CHARGE, THAT HE WILL MAKE ALL THE WRONGS RIGHT, THAT IN THE END HE WILL TRIUMPH – THAT IS MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT THE SUN WILL COME UP TOMORROW.
AND JESUS AND DANIEL UNCOVER THIS REALITY FOR US, AS FOR THEIR OWN TIMES. AND ON THIS LAST DAY OF ORDINARY TIME, WE ARE INVITED TO TAKE OFF OUR BLINDFOLDS AND SEE WHAT IS REALLY REAL. AND WHEN WE LEAVE CHURCH TODAY, WE WILL HAVE A CHOICE. WE CAN GO BACK TO OUR ILLUSION, THAT LIFE IS COMFORTABLE, PREDICTABLE; THAT TOMORROW WILL BE LIKE YESTERDAY, THAT WE ARE IN CHARGE. OF COURSE IF WE CHOOSE THIS, WE WILL BE SURPRISED; A DAY WILL COME WHEN OUR WORLD WILL BE TORN APART. AND WE WILL NOT BE READY. OR WE CAN LISTEN TO JESUS, LISTEN TO THE PROPHETS, AND BEGIN LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD, THE WORLD WHERE NOTHING IS CERTAIN, WHERE WE CANNOT REALLY DEPEND ON ANYTHING THAT IS CREATED. AND THEN WE CAN BUILD OUR LIVES AROUND THE ONE CERTAINTY, THAT CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN, THAT IN GOD'S TIME EVERYTHING WILL MAKE SENSE, EVEN OUR SUFFERING, EVEN OUR PAIN. AND IN GOD'S TIME, AND ONLY IN THAT TIME, CAN WE HAVE THE CERTAINTY AND STABILITY AND EVERLASTING PEACE THAT WE ALL DESIRE.