Tuesday of the Thirty fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the 34thWeek in Ordinary Time
Commentary:
Reading 1 Rev 14:14-19
St. John’s apocalyptic vision shows us the image of Jesus (one who looked like a son of man) harvesting the earth; bringing the faithful to the Kingdom of God. The vision also makes clear that not everyone will enjoy that salvific event. Some (“He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury”) will be thrown down.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:10, 11-12, 13
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
This hymn of praise poses an invitation to the faithful and links us to John’s vision above – “The Lord comes to judge the earth”
Gospel Lk 21:5-11
We are given in today’s Gospel St. Luke’s version of Jesus eschatological (end times) discourse. This version differs significantly from the version found in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 13:1-37) in that it does not anticipate the parousia (second coming) within the lifetime of the audience. We note from many of St. Paul’s epistles that the early Christian community was pretty convinced that Jesus was coming again within their life times. In the version we hear today, Jesus points to events in the future as opposed to those that would have occurred during the author’s life time.
Reflection:
Since the 5th Lateran Council in 1516 the Church has prohibited anyone from announcing or predicting the end of all things. So, when the end does come, you’re not going to hear it from us. That does not mean you will not hear predictions of the end of the world – the Apocalypse – Armageddon. There will always be people who have some special knowledge or have discovered some special code that tells them exactly when the world as we know it will end. The scripture we have today is an excellent example of a whole class or genre of biblical literature intended to vision what that end time must be like.
If I were a Baptist Preacher, I could take off in a fire and brimstone way using these selections, pointing out that “the bible says” the end is at hand. Pounding furiously on the pulpit, I would read the passage from Revelations once more that says; “He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury” and would probably add the next verse from this chapter of the Revelations that was omitted in our reading that says; “The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse's bridle for two hundred miles.” (Rev 14; 20) I’d add that just for the shock value.
We have to accept this scripture for what it was, symbolic literature of a style intended not to be read literally, but rather a vision seen through the lens of faith. What we need to take away from this scripture is a sense that all things come to an end, ourselves included. If scripture and history have taught us nothing, we know that we will not be able to predict the day or the hour of that very personal event.
As disciples of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, present before we were conceived and Great Judge whom we will come before when we return to Him, we are called to be prepared daily to face that event. We are reminded in harsh words and gentle invitation that we need to reconcile our debts to the Lord and our brothers and sisters so that we can fly home to that loving embrace when we are called.
Today our take away is this; there will come a time when the life we are living on this earth ends and we will be called to account for what we have done, whether good or ill. We must make sure that, as best we can, we have made every effort to be in complete accord with God and His Son, our Lord Jesus who is the Christ, the King at the end of all things.
Pax
Tuesday of the 34thWeek in Ordinary Time
Commentary:
Reading 1 Rev 14:14-19
St. John’s apocalyptic vision shows us the image of Jesus (one who looked like a son of man) harvesting the earth; bringing the faithful to the Kingdom of God. The vision also makes clear that not everyone will enjoy that salvific event. Some (“He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury”) will be thrown down.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:10, 11-12, 13
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
This hymn of praise poses an invitation to the faithful and links us to John’s vision above – “The Lord comes to judge the earth”
Gospel Lk 21:5-11
We are given in today’s Gospel St. Luke’s version of Jesus eschatological (end times) discourse. This version differs significantly from the version found in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 13:1-37) in that it does not anticipate the parousia (second coming) within the lifetime of the audience. We note from many of St. Paul’s epistles that the early Christian community was pretty convinced that Jesus was coming again within their life times. In the version we hear today, Jesus points to events in the future as opposed to those that would have occurred during the author’s life time.
Reflection:
Since the 5th Lateran Council in 1516 the Church has prohibited anyone from announcing or predicting the end of all things. So, when the end does come, you’re not going to hear it from us. That does not mean you will not hear predictions of the end of the world – the Apocalypse – Armageddon. There will always be people who have some special knowledge or have discovered some special code that tells them exactly when the world as we know it will end. The scripture we have today is an excellent example of a whole class or genre of biblical literature intended to vision what that end time must be like.
If I were a Baptist Preacher, I could take off in a fire and brimstone way using these selections, pointing out that “the bible says” the end is at hand. Pounding furiously on the pulpit, I would read the passage from Revelations once more that says; “He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury” and would probably add the next verse from this chapter of the Revelations that was omitted in our reading that says; “The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse's bridle for two hundred miles.” (Rev 14; 20) I’d add that just for the shock value.
We have to accept this scripture for what it was, symbolic literature of a style intended not to be read literally, but rather a vision seen through the lens of faith. What we need to take away from this scripture is a sense that all things come to an end, ourselves included. If scripture and history have taught us nothing, we know that we will not be able to predict the day or the hour of that very personal event.
As disciples of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, present before we were conceived and Great Judge whom we will come before when we return to Him, we are called to be prepared daily to face that event. We are reminded in harsh words and gentle invitation that we need to reconcile our debts to the Lord and our brothers and sisters so that we can fly home to that loving embrace when we are called.
Today our take away is this; there will come a time when the life we are living on this earth ends and we will be called to account for what we have done, whether good or ill. We must make sure that, as best we can, we have made every effort to be in complete accord with God and His Son, our Lord Jesus who is the Christ, the King at the end of all things.
Pax
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