The second coming of Jesus is not something to be feared
Homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday – 17 November 2024
Talk about the end of world, about coming disasters and destruction is bound to be a bit unsettling. The readings this Sunday prompt questions such as: What is your sense of the end of the world? Where are we all headed? How is the purpose of the world finally going to play out? How is your personal destiny connected to the overall plan for all humanity? In the language of the Scriptures, we think of these things as being the “end times.”
In the latter part of Old Testament the people looked forward to an end to their oppression from foreign powers. In the New Testament, the end time refers to the end of this world and the Second Coming of Christ, when the faithful will enter the eternal kingdom of the Father with Jesus. It is this Second Coming of Jesus which is the focus of the readings for Mass this Sunday. The readings call us to connect our longings and what we look forward to, to the promises of God.
The first reading from the book of Daniel was written to encourage Jews who were suffering terrible persecution under the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, two hundred years before Christ. The end time that these Jews longed for was the end of their suffering and triumph over their oppressor. They looked to the angel Michael to rise up and help them in their trials. It is in this reading that we also have the first clear reference to the resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament. The reading says that those who sleep will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
This reading from the Book of Daniel is a good example of a type of writing in the Bible called apocalyptic literature. The word, “apocalyptic,” refers to the unveiling, the revealing, or making known. The Gospel passage for today is another good example of this kind of writing. What is common in this kind of writing is the use of frightening symbols and images, often referring to the sun, the moon, and the stars, of great battles, and the end of times.
Some of the events spoken about are things that were being experienced, or would be experienced very soon, such as Antiochus Epiphanes defiling the Temple by setting up a pagan idol in the sanctuary of the Temple, or as in the Gospel when the destruction of the Temple is prophesied by Jesus, which would have felt like the end of the world for the Jews of his time. Other themes in this kind of writing refer to the end of all time, the end of human history. Another very obvious example of this kind of writing in the Bible is the Book of Revelation, sometimes called the Book of the Apocalypse.
Most importantly for us who are listening to these words today, is that these writings were originally intended to bring great comfort and hope to the people for whom they were written. These writings proclaim that in the end God’s people will be saved, and so they call for perseverance and faithfulness. This is the spirit in which we are meant to receive this word of God.
The Gospel describes powerful, earth-shaking events. Jesus says that after a time of great tribulation for the Church, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and then he will return with power and glory. At this time all the faithful will be gathered from the ends of the earth into heaven. Jesus says that just as surely as people can recognise signs in nature such as the change of seasons, so they will be able to know from the signs that the end time is near.
We could go on speculating to what degree those signs are already evident in our world. What we know for certain from today’s Gospel is that signs or no signs, none of us knows the day or hour of the Second Coming of Christ. But we know that all history is moving toward that point, however far off it may be. Many have passed from this life, and many of us will pass from this life before that Second Coming. Whether our own bodily death occurs before the Second Coming or not, we are called to stay awake and stand ready, because we do not know the hour when the Son of Man is coming.
The question then, is what we do with our lives in the meantime. What must we do to be ready either for our own bodily death or for the Second Coming? Today’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is continuing his work of perfecting us and sanctifying us, in preparation for that moment. The reading says that when Christ had offered for all time his single sacrifice for sins, he sat at the right hand of God to wait until his enemies should be made into a footstool for him.
Through the power of his offering on the Cross, which we celebrate and participate in a special and real way at Mass, we continue to be perfected and sanctified, so we can be prepared to enter the heavenly kingdom. The Mass is the special prayer of being made holy and preparing for Heaven. Every Mass is a prayer for the coming of Jesus again. We profess our belief that Jesus will come in glory with the fullness of the Kingdom, and we ask for this to happen.
Apart from participating in the Mass, receiving the Eucharist and the other sacraments, as a way of preparing for the coming of Jesus, we also need to live the Mass in our daily lives. We need to make ourselves ready by cooperating with Jesus’s saving work in us. We need to make sure that our affairs are in order.
Perhaps there is an unhealthy habit or addiction that we need to break. Perhaps there are things we need to do in order to live a happier and more meaningful life. This could be in the area of improving and nurturing our family life and other relationships. Or it could be seeking out ways in which we can use our talents and gifts in the service of our parish or local community. Do we need to pray more, so that we can deepen our relationship with the God who gave us life and lovingly sustains us.
A guiding principle for us is that our purpose here on earth is to learn and to grow. We are to learn how to live truly human lives in imitation of Jesus and by listening to his teaching, and secondly we are to grow in holiness. Growth in holiness comes from serving others out of love. It comes through prayer, participating in worship and receiving the sacraments. It comes through embracing the ordinary, everyday tasks of our lives with a loving and cheerful heart, so that what we do becomes a means to happiness and holiness, and ultimately, when the end time comes, to our salvation with God.
Remember when we celebrated All Saints, we spoke about becoming a saint as being a decision that each of us can make right now. It is not that we can become saints on our own, but rather that God, who wants us to be saints, makes us holy. We just need to give God permission to turn us into saints. Imagine having the clarity of mind, the single-minded purpose, the undivided heart, to be able to decide here and now to want to be a saint. It sounds like something so extraordinary and yet we were born to be saints and the greatest single human tragedy would be for us not become saints.
The second coming of Jesus is not something to be feared; but its meaning and message is serious. We need to prepare ourselves for it and stand ready. It is something to be looked forward to with joy. With it will come our final and lasting happiness. So, with the psalmist in today’s responsorial psalm, we can look forward to the fullness of joy in the Lord’s presence. The psalm says that we hope for happiness with God forever. That’s something worth getting ready for.
It is not for nothing that we pray, “Come Lord Jesus,” and taught by Jesus, we pray “Thy Kingdom come.”
