MATTHEW 24:37-44
SOME OF OUR PROTESTANT
FRIENDS HEAR THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE AND RELATE IT TO THE BOOK OF
REVELATION; THEY SEE THIS AS JESUS PREDICTING SOMETHING CALLED “THE
RAPTURE”. IF YOU READ THE BOOK OF REVELATION YOU CAN INTERPRET IT
TO SUGGEST THAT BEFORE THE TERRIBLE THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE
END OF TIME, THE SAINTS, STARTING WITH THE BLESSED MOTHER, WILL BE
MOVED OUT OF HARM'S WAY; ST PAUL TALKS ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE ALIVE
BEING CAUGHT UP WITH THE DEAD WHO ARE RAISED AT THE TIME OF JUDGMENT.
MANY FUNDAMENTALISTS EVEN THINK THEY KNOW WHERE ALL THIS IS GOING TO
OCCUR, AND EVERY NOW AND THEN YOU HEAR ABOUT SOME GROUP GOING TO
ISRAEL AND CLIMBING MOUNT OLIVET, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE JESUS ASCENDED
INTO HEAVEN, AND THAT'S WHERE HE WILL COME AGAIN TO GATHER UP HIS
SAINTS. BUT BEFORE YOU RUN OFF TO MOUNT OLIVET, WE SHOULD PROBABLY
LOOK AT THIS STORY A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY.
THE VERSE JUST BEFORE THE
GOSPEL PASSAGE REMINDS US THAT NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY NOR THE HOUR,
ONLY THE FATHER. AND THE GOSPEL READING STOPS WITH THE LINE ABOUT
THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE AND THE THIEF. BUT IF WE WERE TO READ ON, WE
WOULD SEE JESUS TALKING ABOUT THE FAITHFUL SERVANT WHO GIVES THE
OTHER SERVANTS THEIR FOOD IN THE PROPER TIME. IMAGINE THAT. THE
FAITHFUL SERVANT IS COMMENDED BECAUSE HE IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE
SHOULD BE DOING. AND THEN WE CAN LOOK BACK AT THIS PASSAGE AND SEE
THAT DURING THE TIME OF NOAH, PEOPLE WERE LIVING ORDINARY LIVES; NOT
EVIL LIVES, NOT PARTICULARLY GOOD LIVES, BUT ORDINARY LIVES. JEWISH
SCHOLARS SAY THAT NOAH, IN ADDITION TO BUILDING THE ARK AND ROUNDING
UP ALL THE ANIMALS, PREACHED TO HIS FELLOW CITIZENS THAT THE END WAS
COMING. IN THE BEGINNING, MANY BELIEVED HIM AND SOME PITCHED IN TO
HELP BUILD THE ARK. AS TIME WHEN ON, AND THE END DIDN'T COME, THEY
BEGAN TO GO BACK TO THEIR OLD WAYS, UNTIL ONLY NOAH AND HIS FAMILY
REMAINED FAITHFUL. AND WE READ ABOUT TWO MEN OUT WORKING IN THE
FIELD; ONE WILL BE TAKEN, ONE WILL BE LEFT; OR TWO WOMEN GRINDING
GRAIN, ONE WILL BE TAKEN, ONE WILL BE LEFT. MAYBE IT'S THE ONES WHO
ARE LEFT THAT ARE WHERE THEY SHOULD BE, NOT THE ONES WHO ARE TAKEN.
I HAD A PATIENT ONCE
WHOSE SON HAD LEFT HOME SHORTLY AFTER HE TURNED EIGHTEEN. MY PATIENT
HAD NOT HEARD FROM THE SON IN TWENTY YEARS; SHE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE
LIVED, OR HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM. SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER HE
WAS ALIVE OR DEAD. SHE TOLD ME THAT AFTER HER HUSBAND PASSED AWAY
AND HER DAUGHTER HAD MARRIED AND MOVED OUT, SHE WANTED TO SELL HER
HOUSE AND MOVE TO AN APARTMENT, BUT DIDN'T BECAUSE IF HER SON EVER
CAME BACK, HE WOULD KNOW WHERE TO FIND HER. SHE WENT ABOUT HER DAILY
ROUTINE ALWAYS KEEPING IN MIND THAT THERE MIGHT BE THAT KNOCK AT THE
DOOR AND SHE WOULD SEE HIM AGAIN.
CAN IT BE THAT THIS IS
WHAT JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT? THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, LIKE NOAH'S
NEIGHBORS, LIVED IN ANTICIPATION OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.
EVERY TIME ONE OF THEM DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES OR MARTYRDOM, IT SHOOK
THEIR FAITH, BECAUSE THERE WAS THE EXPECTATION THAT JESUS WAS GOING
TO RETURN AND TAKE THEM ALL WITH HIM. SAINT PAUL HAD TO TELL THEM
THAT IT DIDN'T MATTER IF YOU WERE ALIVE OR DEAD WHEN JESUS CAME, JUST
SO YOU WERE READY. AND HERE WE ARE 2000 YEARS LATER, AND WE'VE LOST
THAT SENSE OF URGENCY; FOR US THERE IS ALWAYS TOMORROW.
JESUS TELLS US TO BE
PREPARED. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULD RUSH OUT TO A MOUNTAIN
TOP TO WAIT; IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULD STAND ON THE STREET
CORNER WITH A SIGN ON OUR BACK THAT SAYS “REPENT, THE END IS NEAR!”
SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGOURI
RESOLVED WHEN HE WAS ORDAINED A PRIEST THAT HE WOULD NEVER WASTE
TIME. HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 90, HAVING FOUNDED AND LED THE
REDEMPTORIST RELIGIOUS ORDER, HAVING BEEN BISHOP OF NAPLES, AND
HAVING WRITTEN 111 BOOKS AND OTHER WRITINGS WHICH ARE STILL READ
TODAY. HE IS STILL CONSIDERED A LEADING EXPERT ON THE BLESSED
MOTHER, AND ALSO ON MORAL THEOLOGY, AND WAS NAMED A DOCTOR OF THE
CHURCH. SAINT ALPHONSUS SHOWS US THAT ONE OF THE THINGS SERIOUS
CHRISTIANS NEED TO DO IS TO BE VERY AWARE OF HOW THEY USE THEIR TIME.
SAINT AUGUSTINE WAS ASKED
WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD DIE BEFORE SUNDOWN. HE
REPLIED THAT HE WOULD CONTINUE HOEING HIS VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAINT
AUGUSTINE TEACHES US THAT WE HAVE TO LIVE INTENTIONALLY; WHEN WE
CHOOSE TO DO SOMETHING, WE DO IT BECAUSE IT IS THE THING TO DO RIGHT
NOW, AT THIS TIME.
AND SAINT FRANCIS DESALES
TELLS US THAT IF YOU ARE THE MOTHER OF SMALL CHILDREN, YOU SHOULD NOT
BE PRAYING BEFORE THE BLESSED SACRAMENT FOR SEVERAL HOURS EVERY DAY.
SAINT FRANCIS TEACHES US THAT CHRISTIANS MAKE THEMSELVES HOLY BY
DOING THE WORK THEY ARE CALLED TO DO, AND DOING IT AS WELL AS
POSSIBLE.
WE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED
TO WITNESS THAT GOD CAME INTO THIS WORLD, HE BECAME MAN, HE LIVES IN
US. WHEN I WAS GROWING UP THE TIME BEFORE CHRIST WAS DENOTED AS
“B.C.” – BEFORE CHRIST – AND AFTER CHRIST IT WAS “A.D.”
WHICH STANDS FOR THE YEAR OF THE LORD. NOW OF COURSE IT IS
POLITICALLY CORRECT TO DENOTE THOSE TIMES AS BCE AND CE, – BEFORE
THE COMMON ERA, AND THE COMMON ERA. BUT THE OLD DESIGNATION REFLECTS
THE IDEA THAT FOR A CHRISTIAN, EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
AT A PARTICULAR TIME AND PLACE, AMONG A PARTICULAR PEOPLE. AND WE
GIVE WITNESS TO THE FACT THAT OUR WORLD IS INFUSED BY GOD BECAUSE OF
THE INCARNATION IN OUR STRUGGLE TO BECOME SAINTS. WE LIVE WITNESSING
THAT IT MATTERS HOW WE TREAT OUR NEIGHBORS; IT MATTERS THAT WE ARE
HONEST, EVEN WHEN NO ONE WOULD KNOW; IT MATTERS HOW WE TAKE CARE OF
OUR BODIES AND OUR MINDS, BECAUSE WE ARE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
WE CHRISTIANS WITNESS THAT EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
WHEN WE CONSCIOUSLY TRY TO BRING CHRIST INTO THE WORLD THROUGH OUR
IMITATION OF HIM.
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE
CHURCH, WE ARE TOLD THAT THE PAGANS SAID TO EACH OTHER, “SEE HOW
THESE CHRISTIANS LOVE ONE ANOTHER!” AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT MANY
PAGANS BECAME CHRISTIANS BECAUSE THEY SAW THIS. TODAY OUR GOSPEL
TELLS US THAT WE NEED TO LIVE OUR LIVES SO THAT OUR NEIGHBORS WILL
SAY, “THEY REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT JESUS WILL COME AGAIN. AND THEY
ARE READY.”
