(Listen to this homily here).
We’re ending the liturgical year on a bang! Both of our readings referred to
destruction and the end of an era.
The
disciples were exclaiming the grandeur of the temple. Jesus’ response: “All
that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon
another stone that will not be thrown down.”
This
would have been devastating for the Jewish mind to hear. The temple was the center of everything
Jewish—worship, sacrifice, Law, faith and politics. To think that this, their very lifeblood, would be destroyed
would have been a terrifying thought.
The
book of Revelation, in its cryptic apocalyptic language, refers to the
end. Angels were to harvest with
sickles the earth and its vintage will be thrown “into the great wine press of God’s fury.”
It
is natural, even at times necessary, to have a healthy fear of the end. Death, judgment, hell and the cessation
of the cosmos are all realities.
Yet
consider again the temple. For
those who followed Jesus Christ faithfully, the destruction of this building
was not the end of the story.
Through fidelity to Christ his disciples entered into a whole new way of
living—the Christian faith. They
could rejoice again in transitioning into a brand new relationship with God!
So,
too, whenever we consider death and the end times. While there will be judgment and destruction in both, those
of us who are faithful will enjoy an infinitely fuller relationship with God. We can live with great hope that
whatever happens will only serve to transition us into a more complete state of
being.
Just
as Jesus was faithful to the people he prophesied to regarding the temple, so
too he will be faithful to us as we pass from this life to the next.
No comments:
Post a Comment