Thursday of the
Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 18:1-6; Matthew 13:47-53)
Author Graham Greene once wrote of his preference for the
Gospel according to John. He liked the
fourth gospel because it does not say anything about damnation and hell fire. It only talks of eternal life. The Gospel according to Matthew, on the other
hand, seems to relish images of punishment like in today’s passage, “wailing
and the grinding of teeth.”
Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of heaven being like a
dragnet which captures both good and bad fish.
Although he says that the good fish will be set aside in buckets, he
seems to emphasize the bad which will be thrown away. He adds that it will be this way with wicked people
who will be cast into “the fiery furnace” at the end of time.
It has become fashionable to claim that no one may be in
hell. But shouldn’t that thesis make us
wonder whether justice is rendered in the world? It seems obvious that some people deliberately
choose to do evil. Purgatory -- an
intensive purifying experience – may provide a solution to the dilemma. Or perhaps the wicked are just left for
oblivion without either the burning or beatitude? In any case we should keep in mind that
Jesus’ purpose in speaking about hell is always to spur us to do what is right.