APOCALYPSE
(A biblical refection on THE 33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 18 November, 012)
First Reading: Dan 12:1-3; Psalms: Ps 16:5,8,9-11; Second Reading: Heb 10:11-14,18; Gospel Reading: Mk 13:24-32
Vision of the future. The leader of a certain Indian tribe was dying. For many generations his people had been encamped at the base of a large mountain. The chief summoned his three sons and said: “I am dying; before my death I must choose one of you to succeed me as the head of our tribe. I have the same task for each of you. I want you to climb our holy mountain and bring me back something beautiful. The one whose gift is the most outstanding will be the one who will succeed me.”
The following morning the sons set out on their search, each taking a different path to the top of the holy mountain. After several days the three sons returned. The first brought his father a flower which grew near the summit of the mountain; it was extremely rare and beautiful. The second son brought his father a valuable stone round and colourful, which had been polished by rain and sandy winds. When the third son approached his father, everyone saw that his hand were empty.
The empty-handed son said to his father: “I have brought back nothing to show you, father. As I stood on the top of the holy mountain, I saw that on the other side was a beautiful land filled with green pastures. In the middle of there is a crystal lake. And I have a vision of where our tribe could go for a better life. I was so overwhelmed with what I saw and by what I could see that I could not bring anything back.” And the father replied: “You shall be our tribe’s new leader, for you have brought back the most precious thing of all – the gift of a vision for a better future.”
Apocalypse. In the pages of the Bible there are many stories of great figures who, as they see their death approaching, gather their children or followers to give a final testament. Before Jacob died, he called his twelve sons to give an appropriate blessing to each one. The dying Moses encouraged his people to be strong and stand firm, then appointed his successor to lead the twelve tribes. Before King David ended his days, he addressed the officials of Israel and passed authority to his son Salomon. In the same way Jesus, before he died, gathered his disciples and delivered his final teaching on the future age, instructing them how to live in the midst of political and cosmic upheavals. Part of Jesus’ final testament is wheat we hear in today’s Gospel.
It’s helpful to remember that Saint Mark is writing at a time when there is widespread oppression and persecution of the Christian community in Rome. No doubt Jesus’ followers are wondering if the end is near, uncertain in their suffering how things are going to turn out. Nobody knows the details of the las pages of history, but there is a form of writing that imagines the end time: it is called apocalyptic. To give his readers hope, Mark gives them Jesus’ vision of the future.
The vision of the future doesn’t look very appealing at first reading. The bad news is delivered first of all. Jesus imagines a time of terror and trouble and persecution. People will be betrayed and handed over to the authorities. There will be wars and earthquakes and famines. Jesus says, “These things must happen.” Then there will be cosmic upheavals: “the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven”. After this catalogue of disaster there is the good news. Jesus looks beyond the time of distress to the final time, when the Son of Man will gather the scattered people of God to Himself. Jesus sees beyond suffering and persecution to a future of peace with God.
Attending to the present. After the cosmic fireworks, Jesus imagines a peace beyond suffering. This vision of peace is important for Mark’s persecuted community: they need more than a fireworks’ display to see them through their own historical apocalypse. If their hope is not to be exhausted by force of circumstances, they need help to imagine a far side to pain and suffering. Mark gives their hope help in sharing Jesus’ vision. For that is the purpose of all apocalyptic writing: to fund the hope of those who suffer in the present.
In the meantime, we have to depend on the promise of Jesus: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” No one, not even the Son, knows when all this will take place. The only sure thing we can hold to is the word of Jesus.
We live in an age of uncertainty; the future never looks wholly secure. In a nuclear age the word of Jesus holds out a vision that takes us beyond our worst beginnings. There is a place beyond the duty to strive for peace, but it does free us from the blasphemy of believing that a nuclear holocaust will be the last word in the human story. There is only one final word: Jesus. That word has to be enough for us.
Note: Taken from Fr. Denis McBride CSsR, SEASONS OF THE WORD – Reflections on the Sunday Readings, Chawton, Alton, Hants.: Redemptorist Publications, 1993