33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(B - cycle)  November  15,  2009

The end of the world is one of the latest fads. High school kids are twittering about an ancient Mayan calendar that comes to a close on December 21, 2012. Hollywood is going Mayan itself with a big-budget disaster film called “2012”, now playing at your local theater. If you type in Mayan on the internet, you get an Oregon company that will sell you 58 types of freeze-dried food to nourish you during the last days.

The church seems to be getting in on the act by having us read today’s gospel. A darkened sun, a shineless moon, stars falling from the sky…my goodness, it’s pretty scary. You may be glad to know that “these cosmic events are not to be taken literally.” (F.J. Moloney, The Gospel of Mark, Hendrickson 2002) Although, I must confess I had an eerie déjà-vu moment watching a “60 Minutes” segment last Sunday about computer hackers getting into an electric grid and darkening a Brazilian city one chaotic night.

The gospel words about the sun and the moon and stars are metaphors used commonly in a form of writing called “apocalyptic”. Believe it or not, this is meant to be comforting. For many people this is an unjust and even cruel world in which they are hungry and thirsty and sick and powerless, and sometimes persecuted, as the early Christians were. Apocalyptic writing assures them that this will not always be the case that someday their oppressors will be overthrown, that the mighty will be cast down from their thrones and the lowly will be lifted up. The words about the sun and the moon and the stars are apt symbols for this great upheaval.

Jesus is not talking about the end of the world in the sense of a great bonfire that will turn our planet into ashes. He is speaking of the end of the world as we know it, That will come when he returns in glory to put things right, to undo the unfairness and cruelty that human sin has brought to this world. Then we will have the time of the beatitudes when the poor and the meek and the hungry and the persecuted, and all the victims of this world will be blessed.

Jesus' words are marked by mystery and urgency. As a human being, he doesn’t know when his return will come. He seems to guess that it would be soon, but that proved not to be true. The date of the day of the Lord remains unknown. But he urges us always to be prepared to meet him.  How do we do that? By anticipating the new world he will bring, by feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, by doing our best to make this a victimless world. We need to be reminded, dramatically, that this is our mission because Jesus is coming, justice is coming, judgment is coming.