33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Since about 66AD there have been almost two hundred predictions about the end of the world. Some very notable people have bought into historical apocalypse theories including: St Martin of Tours, Pope Sylvester II, Pope Innocent III, Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, Nostradamus, John Wesley, Cotton Mather and recently Pat Robertson and Harold Camping. And let us not forget the great Millennium scare of January 1, 2000 or the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012.

People have been obsessed with the end of the world since the time of Noah and the Great Flood. The Old Testament is full of references to “the day of the Lord” when God will directly intervene in human history. Today’s first reading from Daniel 12: 1-3, is one such reference. Before the day of the Lord comes there will “be a time unsurpassed in distress.” The world will be shaken to its core and judgment will come. But the children of Israel believed that because they were the chosen people they would survive the horror and experience a splendid new world. They believed that God is in charge and that God will win.

In today’s Gospel from Mark 13: 24-32, Jesus gives us another glimpse of the end of the world accompanied with the second coming. Jesus is not trying to scare the disciples or us. He is pragmatic. The world will end. Each one of us will die. However, it is a waste of time for us to speculate about when we will die or when the world as we know it will end. Jesus clearly says “"But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." What we do know is that “Heaven and earth will pass away,” but Jesus’ “words will not pass away.”

We know it is going to happen; the problem is we don't know when. And it is foolish for us to speculate because Jesus tells us clearly, "But of that day or hour, no one knows,

neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13: 32). Our job is to be prepared. At the close of this chapter, Jesus says " What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'" We will hear a similar reading from Luke's gospel on the 1st Sunday of Advent in just two weeks. Get ready, Jesus is coming!

God our Father,

through your Son you told us

not to worry about the day or the hour

when the old world will be gone,

for you alone know when it will happen.

Open our eyes to the sign of Jesus’ coming

and make us see him

already walking by our side.

Keep us faithful in hope

and vigilant in our love for you

and our concern for one another.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Amen.