Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
I have just returned from a 18,000 miles back-and-forth travel from the other side of the globe. Travel used to be fun. Now, there is more to be cautious about than the simple joy of travel. I had to get a negative COVID test report. I then had to upload it on an immigration portal along with a copy of my passport and my vaccination card. Despite all the caution and clear directions, it is hard to believe how many people show up at the airport without having fulfilled the requirements. It is painful to see people being denied boarding on to the flight. People do not follow directions. People do not take the warning and caution seriously. I am the opposite. I am over cautious. I go overboard. On the other hand nobody denied me entry. My travel was smooth. It works.
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, we are reminded that life itself comes with ample caution. We are all invited to live well. We are invited to strive to be happy. We are all invited to make life meaningful. However, today’s gospel cautions us that life is unpredictable. All things will come to an end. As with travel these days, there are those who heed the caution, fulfill the requirements, and those that do not.
May I offer three points for reflection. I invite you to draw your own practical implications.
Eternity Prevails
Just for a moment, let us reflect upon Jesus’ caution, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Mk 13:24). The sun and the moon are the surest things we experience in the natural world. Never have we awoken to a day when the sun was not in the sky or the moon refused give light. But Jesus says to us that even things as sure as the sun and the moon will cease to exist. This is Jesus’ way of cautioning us that nothing is permanent. Everything we know as we do now, will end. However, there are those realities that are permanent. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” says Jesus, “but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31).
In other words, when everything ends, God will still be there. This means two things for us: first, that God cares for us beyond the temporal world. God’s love, care, and providence extends beyond the material world. God offers us eternity itself. Second, the scriptures invite us to fashion our lives in such a way that when everything fails, we do not find ourselves helpless and hopeless. We do not want to be people who are denied boarding on the flight when we reach the airport. Today, Jesus invites us to fashion our lives in such a way that our lives have meaning and that we put our trust only in that which is eternal.
To Be Wise and Just
Considering the unpredictability of life, what recourse do we have? Scripture does not leave us clueless. In today’s first reading, Daniel holds out hope to his people in these words: “But 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" (Dan 12:3). Who is wise? How do we define wisdom?
I define wisdom as, “the way in which God acts in the world.” Jesus entire ministry was about this – to teach humanity to live the way God wants us to live. Jesus came to teach to live just, godly, and holy lives. The best way to ensure our destiny is to be wise and just, i.e., to live and act, here and now in this world, the way God would do.
Humility
When all is said and done, scripture passages like the ones we have today are about humility. “Learn a lesson from the fig tree” Jesus says (Mt 13:28). For that matter, today, Jesus might say to us, “Learn from the pandemic,” or “Learn from the changing weather patterns,” or “Learn from all the wars, violence, and inequalities.”
If we must learn, we must be humble enough to be teachable. We humans beings must approach life and eternity, with humility. So often we conduct ourselves in ways that arrogantly defies our mortality. So often we conduct ourselves as if we are our own destiny. How often we live as if our life, our wealth, our nation, our politics, our ideologies, our wealth, our fame, our power, our institutions, and our creations are eternal realities? If there is one caution that we should heed today, it is this – that we approach life and death, mortality and immortality, earth and heaven, with humility.
Take a look around this church. Everybody here and everything here will one day be no more. That which is eternal lies on this altar. If we are wise and just, in humility we would heed Him. He is the One in whom we would put all our trust.
- Fr. Satish Joseph