33rd Sunday OT
Palm readers claim to see the future drawn by the lines in your hand. Astrologers calculate the position of the stars at your birth and claim to know your future. An ancient Roman haruspex would tell you that the significant events of your life could be read in the entrails of a ritually slaughtered animal. That anyone actually ever believed any of this nonsense to be true is dumbfounding. Yet, our impulse to get ahead of events by knowing our future seems to be part of our fallen nature. Every human culture in every age has entertained divination – whether it be reading the flight patterns of birds, or Tarot cards, or the latest election poll. Jesus makes a prediction in the Temple courtyard: “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” The crowd – no doubt stunned – asks, right on cue, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” NB. that they do not ask for a specific date. Or an exact time. They ask for signs. Instead of signs, Jesus gives them a pattern. Or better: a pattern of signs that point to the end.
Over the centuries, many have said that Jesus' “prediction” is vague, almost meaningless. When hasn't there been wars, famines, plagues, persecutions, and just general all-around strife among nations? That sort of “prediction” can't tell us much about what's coming. What if Jesus' purpose here isn't a prediction at all? Sure, the temple was destroyed by Roman troops about 40yrs later – if you accept that the Gospel of Luke was written before 70AD. Even so, remember, he's also talking about himself, the Temple made flesh, his Body, the Church. What if his “prediction” of the Temple's destruction is also a prophecy about the on-going battle btw the Church and the world? Rather than giving the crowd (and us) a foretelling of a specific future event, he's laying out a pattern of conflict that repeatedly plays out over the centuries. There will always be wars, famines, plagues, and persecutions before his Church is destroyed. And the Church in many places around the world has been destroyed – N. Africa, many in the Middle East, Communist China and Russia; a case can be made that the Church in Europe is all but gone. The buildings still stand, but where is the faith? Where are the faithful? Where are those who will love, forgive, and show mercy when the world once again persecutes Christ?
And here is where hope enters the pattern. Just like clockwork, when the world once again decides that the Church can no longer be tolerated, persecution ensues. Our instinct is to fight back, strike out, using the tools of our persecutors. When we do this, if we do this, our persecutors win. We become them. In effect, we join their side in violence and death. Our way of fighting is far more difficult than anything the enemy can manage. Jesus says, “Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Our way is more difficult b/c we must prepare ourselves to be recipients of divine wisdom. Whether the attack is physical or legal or philosophical, Christ will give us what we need at that moment to defend his Gospel. This doesn't mean that we will win every battle. We won't. But it does mean that by responding as Christians we will preach the Good News to the faces of those who hate us b/c of his name. The goal is not total victory in this world, the annihilation of an opponent. The goal is living faithfully the victory we have already won from the Cross. If we cannot do this at peace, how can we do it at war?
We are fast approaching Advent – the annual season of preparation in anticipation of the Christ's birth. Now is as good a time as any to take stock of our faith. Ask yourself: how's my relationship with Christ? How am I praying? How am I being generous with all that God has given me? Am I receiving God's gifts fully, freely? Am I bearing witness to His mercy? Am I forgiving, loving, being Christ where I am planted? All these matter a great deal while you are at peace. Imagine how much more vital they will be at war. Am I predicting a persecution of Texas Catholics next week or next year? No. But I point you back to the pattern of signs laid out by Jesus in the Gospel. We will probably never be rounded up and executed like the Christians in Syria or Nigeria. Not anytime soon anyway. But this doesn't mean the world has surrendered to Christ and given up the fight. It just means the fight takes place at another level, the spiritual level. There the fight is furiously fought. Thanks be to God, our victory is won. Jesus promises, “...your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
