Servant of the Word: Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

“Saint John at Patmos” by Diego Velazquez, 1619

Readings for Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time[1]

Commentary:

Commentary on Rv 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, the doom of the ungodly (cf Joel 4:12-13; Isaiah 63:1-6).

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:10, 11-12, 13

R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.

Commentary on Ps 96:10, 11-12, 13

Psalm 96 is a hymn of praise to the one true God. The psalmist invites all people to come to faith and believe in God who created all things, and is above all things. He exhorts the people to praise the Lord for his wondrous works of creation. The reason for this exhortation is that God will come to rule the earth with his justice. In this passage we see the forerunner of the understanding of the New Jerusalem – the Heavenly Kingdom.

“What does this justice and fidelity mean? On the day of Judgment, he will gather his chosen ones to himself and send the rest away, he will place some to his right hand and others to his left. It is only right and fair that those who show no mercy before the coming of the judge should not then hope for mercy from him. Whereas those who struggle to be merciful towards others will be judged with mercy.” (St Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, 95, 15) [4]

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Gospel: Luke 21:5-11

Commentary on Lk 21:5-11

This selection is part of 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 anticipated that Jesus was coming again within their lifetimes.

In this passage, Jesus points to events in the future as opposed to those that would have occurred during the author’s lifetime. St. Luke focuses on the Christian community living the faith from day to day. He relates how Jesus told the disciples of the coming persecutions and bid them to trust in the Holy Spirit who would keep their souls safe from harm.

CCC: Lk 21:4 2544

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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 claim to have some special knowledge, or to 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 envision what that end time must be like.

If I were an old-time 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 Revelation 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 Revelation 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.” (Revelation 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 anything, 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, we believe he was present before we were conceived. We are called to be prepared daily to face the time when we will come before the Lord, sitting in judgment, when we return to him. 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 we hear this message: 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

[1] The Picture used is “Saint John at Patmos” by Diego Velazquez, 1619.

[2] S.S. Commemoratio