Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Revelation 18:1-2.21-23.19:1-3a.9; Luke 21:20-28)
According to an old Mayan calendar the world is supposed to end within four weeks. Do not take warning. Such predictions have been made and remade repeatedly throughout history. Although today’s gospel may seem to add its own forecast of doom’s day, it really leaves the question open-ended.
The gospel states what Luke, its writer, knew as fact. The world will not end with the fall of Jerusalem. Luke knew this because he likely penned his story ten to twenty years after the Romans destroyed the temple. In what is most probably editorial construction, Luke quotes Jesus as saying that the end of the world will come with the close of the “times of the Gentiles.” This obscure phrase possibly means when the gospel is brought to all the Gentiles. Given the “New Evangelization,” the age of the Gentiles is very much in process. Only then are signs to appear in the heavens foretelling Jesus’ coming.
Luke’s point is decidedly not to predict the end but to encourage followers of Jesus to keep the faith. We must make ready to stand tall for Christ by dropping to our knees in love of God and stooping to help our neighbor.
Showing posts with label Luke 21:20-28. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke 21:20-28. Show all posts
Homilette for Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, XXXIV Week of Ordinary Time
(Luke 21:20-28)
In 1960 when the first of the baby-boomers were growing up, the popular entertainer Pat Boone addressed himself to them. Twixt Twelve and Twenty was the title of both a song and a short book Boone wrote. In these works he gave sound advice for navigating these often difficult years between childhood and adulthood. The song asks whether teenagers are old enough to understand the devotion that love entails. Of course, it answers its question positively but also notes how faith and trust must accompany love to avoid calamity.
When Jesus speaks of “the times of the Gentiles” in the gospel, he is also referring to in between years. He sees the time of the Jews as passing away with the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, an event which takes place in the year 70. But we should not take this to mean that God has abandoned the Jews. Rather, Jesus’ envisions what his apostle Paul writes to the Romans: God has turned His attention to the Gentiles or non-Jews so that their conversion will move the Jews to also recognize Jesus as Lord.
In these in between years before the fulfillment of time with the coming of Jesus, we are also to love faithfully as Pat Boone suggests. When we truly care for others, we do not have to worry about getting mud on our faces from the difficulty of it all. Indeed, we can lift our heads high at the signs of Christ’s coming because he means to save us.
(Luke 21:20-28)
In 1960 when the first of the baby-boomers were growing up, the popular entertainer Pat Boone addressed himself to them. Twixt Twelve and Twenty was the title of both a song and a short book Boone wrote. In these works he gave sound advice for navigating these often difficult years between childhood and adulthood. The song asks whether teenagers are old enough to understand the devotion that love entails. Of course, it answers its question positively but also notes how faith and trust must accompany love to avoid calamity.
When Jesus speaks of “the times of the Gentiles” in the gospel, he is also referring to in between years. He sees the time of the Jews as passing away with the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, an event which takes place in the year 70. But we should not take this to mean that God has abandoned the Jews. Rather, Jesus’ envisions what his apostle Paul writes to the Romans: God has turned His attention to the Gentiles or non-Jews so that their conversion will move the Jews to also recognize Jesus as Lord.
In these in between years before the fulfillment of time with the coming of Jesus, we are also to love faithfully as Pat Boone suggests. When we truly care for others, we do not have to worry about getting mud on our faces from the difficulty of it all. Indeed, we can lift our heads high at the signs of Christ’s coming because he means to save us.
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