33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Mark: 13:24-32)
As we come towards the end of the Liturgical Year we are reminded of the ‘Last Things’; Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell, Eternal Life, The Last Day, Resurrection. The Gospel today has an Apocalyptic tone to it and the effect that it can have on us is no less frightening than it was for those listening to the words of Jesus as He tried to prepare them for His own death and the trials and persecutions that awaited the early Church of the first century.
We need to read this passage of Mark’s Gospel on three levels: what it says of Jesus Christ, what it meant to those who first read it and what it holds for us today.
1. Throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasised his mission as the Suffering Servant of God who would sacrifice himself in Jerusalem on behalf of sinners. At this point of the gospel His death is imminent but he emphasised that there would be glorification.
2. Those for whom Mark was writing knew what darkness and distress meant. They lived in constant danger of suffering like their leaders had. They needed reassurance and reason for Hope.
3. For us too, in the throes of the ills and darkness of modern society, the doom and gloom of apocalyptic pronouncements might be frightening.
But for all who are in distress this Gospel holds out the message of hope. Pain, anguish and injustice are conditions which Jesus suffered on our behalf and he did not remove these from us by his suffering and death but he did assure us that we could find God in them. So a careful hearing of the gospel message will give us hope, a hope comes from the victory won for us by Jesus.
We are also assured that this victory is very near. How near? We do not know, nor is it for us to know. For us it is only to believe and to wait in hope for Christ to come again. In the meantime we are graced with the Word and the Sacraments to strengthen us in holiness.
Isn’t it reassuring for us, as believers, that, no matter what happens, what disasters befall, that heaven and earth may pass away, the Word of God will endure?