Apocalypse

Homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

As is always the case when we celebrate the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Church turns our attention to the end times. The readings for this Sunday are called apocalyptic readings. The Greek word “Apocalypsis” means “unveiling,” as in the veil is lifted from the mysteries that surround the second coming of Jesus Christ. The readings are very difficult to understand because they employ images with which we are totally unfamiliar.

The first reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of Daniel. Daniel is considered one of the four major, classical prophets alongside Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. However, there is one difference that sets Daniel apart from the other three; namely, while the Books of the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were written by them, the Book of Daniel is written about him.

The particular oracle that we proclaim today is about a time of distress brought on by the fact that the Assyrians have destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple and led the Israelites into what is known as the Babylonian Captivity. Once again, the children of Israel are enslaved. As so many of the exilic prophets prophesied, God will bring them back to their homes. At the same time, Daniel hears a voice which tells him that those who perish at the hands of their overseers and captors will be awakened. They will be brought back to life. This particular prophecy is the most explicit reference to resurrection and eternal life in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark is often referred to as his little apocalypse. Jesus reveals that the Temple of Jerusalem will be destroyed, that nations will go to war against other nations, that earthquakes and famines will decimate the population of Israel. St. Mark refers to these as labor pains. In other words, these cataclysmic events are meant to give birth to the end of the world, the end of the universe as we have come to know it and the beginning  of a new heaven and a new earth. Out of these cataclysms, these traumas, we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. He will send out the angels to gather the elect from the four winds. Those who have perished as well as those who have survived will be gathered together so that they can be presented to this mysterious Son of Man and receive the gift of life from him.

However, Jesus goes on to say that “this generation will not pass away until these things have taken place. Yet here we stand some 2,000 years later having witnessed hundreds of generations. Which generation is Jesus referring to in this enigmatic statement? It seems that the unveiling or the revelation of these events has not provided us with any answers. Does this mean that Jesus had been deceived by the Father, or is it possible that Jesus was lying? We all know the answer to those rhetorical questions. We simply have not understood what Jesus has said, and the fact of the matter is that we will not understand it until it happens.

How are we to respond to these prophecies? It is quite simple. We must be awake so that we can see the signs that will precede the end times. We must be prepared for the return of the Son of Man on the clouds. We must set our houses in order so that upon his return, Jesus will find people who believe that he has come to set us free from the pains, the tears, the fears, the griefs, and the natural disasters that plague our world. William Shakespeare wrote in his Tragedy of Hamlet, act five, scene two, that Hamlet says to Horatio:

“There's special providence in the fall of a sparrow.
If it be now, 'tis not to come;
if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come.
The readiness is all.”

St. Mark says it this way: “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”