THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)
Readings:
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16:5, 8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
This is the penultimate Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. That Sunday, and the days that follow, are the official end of the liturgical year. The language of those days will mimic the readings that are given to us today for our reflection. They will speak of the ‘end times,’ and the trials and tribulations that will precede the second coming of Christ, “a time,” says Daniel the Prophet, “unsurpassed in distress since the nations began.” The harshest words of Daniel and Jesus in the gospel of Mark, were, perhaps, meant to frighten a few, but in large part they were meant to be words of consolation, for “the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.” [I continue to pray for that justice which, in large part, is missing from the institutional Church.]. Jesus, in spite of the ominous beginning of His remarks when the world is plunged into darkness (just the opposite of Creation), says that people “will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then He will send out the angels and gather His elect from… the end of the earth to the end of the sky.”
Jesus would appear to be tying up loose ends before He enters into the events of His passion and death, clearly wanting His disciples to remember that there is a lot more to happen even well after His body is placed in the tomb. Mark’s last chapter, 16, which recounts the resurrection and ascension, was not an after thought, but it most likely was not part of the original gospel. Today’s gospel wants Jesus’ disciples to look even beyond the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus wants them to know that the Son of Man will one day return on the clouds to call all of the elect to Himself, and He gives us a sense of the apocalyptic signs which will precede His second coming. Daniel and Mark, no matter how awesome the signs might be, suggest that those who are aligned with Jesus need not fear. They are meant to be ready, whenever that ‘end time’ comes.
Our gospel today ends with a short parable about a fig tree, whose branches become “tender and sprout leaves,” telling those who are appropriately attuned to nature “that summer is near.” We have lived through times when charlatans thought they could predict the end of time, but Jesus’ words are very clear: “but of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
In preaching about this fig tree, Pope Francis improvised on it in a meditation titled “Times Change.” In a homily for morning Mass in the Chapel of Santa Marta, Pope Francis stated:
“Times change and we Christian’s must constantly change…. It is truly Christian wisdom to recognize these changes, to be familiar with the different times, to know ‘the signs of the times,’ to distinguish between ‘the meaning of one thing and another.’ Naturally, the Pope said, this ‘is not easy, because we hear so many comments: I heard that this happened here, or that happened there; I read this in the newspaper, someone told me that….’ However, he quickly added, “I am free [to make my own decisions], I must make my own judgement and understand what all of this means. He said that ‘this is a task we usually don’t do! Instead we conform, we become tranquillized with what they told me, [what] I heard, what “people” said; I read somewhere that someone said…, and we remain comfortable. Instead, we should ask ourselves: “What is the truth? What is the message that the Lord wants to give with that sign of the times?”
We live in an ever-changing world. The election one week ago, the expected changes in our entire political system, the wars and insurrections in Europe, Africa, and South America, all give testimony to just how fast our world continues to change. What is asked of us by Jesus, and by Pope Francis, is don’t miss the lesson of the fig tree. Although “times change,” hidden in those changes lies the key to unlocking what God wants us to do. It not only will involve facing the changes head-on, but it will involve a discernment born of silence, quiet, watching and observing. Through it all, and the discernment will be challenging, we will be able to discover what it is that God expects of us. If we conform our wills to that of Christ, then we have nothing to fear about the end times, for God will confidently welcome us to wherever God resides, and we will undeservingly enjoy the gift of eternal life.
parishionersforjustice.com 