Today's Message: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Malachi 3: 19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19 

As we approach the end of the Church year next Sunday on the feast of Christ the King and then await the first Sunday of Advent the following Sunday it is good to ask some questions basic of which is:  What am I afraid of?  Today’s readings focus in on the end-times.  This can bring much consternation.  What is the end of the world going to be like?  When will it happen?  So many movies, TV programs deal with this and somehow a ‘savior’ comes on the scene to ‘save the day.’  Do I ever look at Jesus and see that He is our Savior?  Jesus has lived this, preached this, died to show this and rose from the dead to prove this.  Jesus is my Savior sent by God to keep me and each person on track to our final goal: living with God forever in heavenly eternity.  Am I looking at Jesus’ teaching and life to see how I am to prepare for the end of my days and the end of eternity?  Do I look on these events knowing that Jesus told each of us that we are His friends?  Do I hear Him say that I am loved, redeemed even in spite of my sinfulness?  Am I allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the predictions:  what is happening to our world, it’s evil and conniving…is there no hope for our future? 

We turn to our readings telling us to trust in the Lord, follow His directions and know that each person is loved and graced by God to receive all the help that is needed.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament.   He paints a picture of life of the Jewish community after there return for years and years of ‘slavery’ in Babylon.  The author gives very sharp criticism to the priests and rulers of the people.  Because of this, he never signed his name to these prophecies rather using the word ‘Malachi’ which means messenger.  The priests and leaders had dishonored God by their pagan sacrifices.  They had allowed intermarriages.  It seemed that the wicked were leading blessed lives because they not only were prospering but seemed to escape any punishment for their evil ways. ‘Malachi’ asked the question:  Where is the God of justice?’   He tells us in todays first passage that “the day is coming," the day of the Lord.  But first the forerunner must come who prepares by prescribing repentance and true worship.  The Gospel writers point out that John the Baptist is the forerunner who announces “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  (Matthew 3:2)   Matthew tells how Jesus ushers this in as He began His Galilean ministry, “From that time on, Jesus began to speak and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  Even though Malachi is preaching ‘doom and gloom,’ he concludes that the justice of God will shine like the rays of the sun and bring blessings for the faithful ones who lived their lives faithfully.  “But for you, who fear (respect) my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”  So how am I to live as I await these predicted days?   Paul shares what is to be done in his letter to the Thessalonians.

Paul is telling the believers in Thessalonica that they had read Malachi and assumed that the ‘day of the Lord’ had already arrived so they had just stopped working.  Why work if the end of it all was coming.  Their lives had become messy, cluttered in disarray.  “We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.”  Paul suggests that when he was with them he lived the true life of a Christian so they should imitate his example.  “…in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you…rather we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us.”  People of faith are to help others, forgive others, care for others and live as Jesus.  Am I doing this?  Do people leave our presence realizing that they have been touched by a person who is God’s like?  Am I what I say I am?  Do people see Jesus is me?

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke’s reflection on Mark’s chapter 13 that emphasizes the tremendous urgency of preparing for the final days.  But there is a huge difference in the two.  Mark was convinced that the end time and Jesus’s second coming had already happened and because of this there was a great urgency to react and be prepared.  When Luke wrote today’s Gospel many years later, Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans but Jesus’ second coming had not come.  As a result Luke is not as concerned in the urgency of living but of how people should be living each day:  have a plan; know that God is with you and God loves you. Luke is writing in preparation for the destruction that has already come but this will not bring about the final end.  He tells us how Jesus is warning his audience not to be deceived by what they see around them: wars and natural catastrophes.  People are taking advantage of ‘bad times’ by predicting they know what this means and they have insight and revelations form God that these are indicators of what will happen.  Jesus says “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in MY NAME, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘the time has come.’  Do not follow them?…By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”  The earth is a strange place.  Every different section of the world has natural

disasters that occur after a pattern:  snow in the North, heat in the South, tornados in the Central, earthquakes in the West.  There seems to be no end to these famines, diseases and wars.  These are signs from nature and from distorted humanity.  I can so easily be the predictor of evil, or signs from God.  Luke is telling each of us that we must find ways to encourage people not to be afraid and to focus on those things over which we have some influence.  Living the Word has a beautiful summation paragraph today:

   “If we are busy about God’s business known throughout prophets like Malachi, or God’s Son, Jesus Christ, or preachers like Paul, we may still experience opposition, but we will not be destroyed.  We will work until the Lord returns, whether at the end of all time or the end of our time on earth.  We will be an example for those who experience injustice oppression, fear, or doubt.  Busy about God’s business, the Son of Justice will heal our hurts, calm our fears, and set the world on fire with the healing warmth of God’s everlasting love.  Make your bodies busy by imitating Jesus Christ.” 

So I reflect on:

•     What thoughts and feelings of today’s reading about ‘end-times’ evoke in me?

•     How can I be busy about God’s business today? 

•     I reflect on Proverbs 3: 5-6:

        “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

          on your own intelligence rely not;

          in all your ways be mindful of Him,

          and He will make straight your paths.”

•     When I come before the judgment seat of God at my death, what do I think God will ask of me?  To what standards will I be held?

•     The gospel challenges me to rely on Jesus’ grace and power.  How do I feel about this?  Where does it frighten me?  Does it give me hope?  Why?

Sacred Space 2019 states:

   “It is remarkable that Jesus’ prophecy is being fulfilled in our own time.  The level of unrest among people and even innate itself is frightening.  The Christian message of ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ stands out in complete contrast to this scene.  The little we can do is not in vain.

   Pope Francis has highlighted the need for compassion in our dealings with one another.  We can see this intervention by Pope  Francis as coming from Jesus when He said in the text above, ‘I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents can withstand or contradict.”