Stand Firm, Goodness Overcomes Evil!

(Homily 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. C)

     As we draw near to the end of the liturgical year, the Church brings to our consideration the question of the end. The imagery used in the readings of today is that of the “end of the world” predicated upon the present and the future, but it is not to be understood as in the end of the world as such, even though the readings especially the first reading and the Gospel speak about the end of the world, but the imagery of the “end of the world” symbolically points to the end of the world of sin, injustice, suffering and hatred. The two categories prevalent in the liturgy of the Word of this Sunday are the present and the future. It is in the hope of these two temporal processes that the existence of the human person revolves and tends. For this, in the first reading Prophet Malachi foresees the Day of Yahweh when the “arrogant and evildoers” will be uprooted and burned up. In the Gospel passage St. Luke maintained that the tribulations and trials of the present time ought not to perturb us, because through our perseverance in faith we will receive the future salvation. With the same consciousness of time and eternity St. Paul invites the Thessalonians to imitate him in his dedication to work here on earth in order to receive in the world to come the imperishable crown. However, both Paul and Luke lay emphasis on the working out of a Christian presence in the world.

    However, when we look at the happenings and events in our world today from the surface, apparently it does appear evil forces prevail over good, and the workers of iniquity dominate over the good and honest people. Thus, for the wicked they seem to have won for everything seem to work for their good. But the situation instead perturbs the believers, and they question: how come God permits that the just be always disadvantaged? Is there no time when justice will finally be done? Those were the questions that the believers in Israel were posing during the time after their liberation from Egypt. It was a period of crisis, of delusion, because even the promises of the prophets appeared to have failed. It was a time of discouragement and consequently of religious infidelity, manifested in moral disorder and apostasy. As such, they were asking: “Where is the God of fair judgment now?” (Mal.2:17). Behold, they made a fatal conclusion thus: “It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands…? (Mal.3:14). That is equal to saying that believing in God is of no need. This is the background of the episode of the first reading. No doubt, these interrogations and the dominance of evil forces still perturb us today.

     The first reading (Mal.3:19-20) tries to respond and react to the many provocations and interrogations of the people. His (the prophet) was indeed an endeavor to restore their hope. He opines: “For look, the Day is coming, glowing like a furnace. All the proud and all the evil-doers will be the stubble, and the Day, when it comes, will set them ablaze, says Yahweh Sabaoth, leaving them neither root nor branch” (v.19). The Day that the prophet is referring to here is the Day of Yahweh, the day of divine judgment. The inevitable divine judgment will be like fire that purifies and discriminates; it reduces to ashes the waste and makes precious metals to shine. Be that as it may, the divine judgment while it will be an inevitable condemnation for the wicked, will be a thing of joy and hope for the true believers, for in the words of prophet Malachi, “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of justice will rise with healing in his rays, and you will come out leaping like calves from the stall” (v.20). Indeed, the Sun of justice is Jesus, the promised Messiah. Little wonder, St. Luke puts in the mouth of Zachariah the father of John the Baptist: “the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us” (Lk. 1:78). Jesus is already the Judge of the world, he draws a discriminating line between the good and bad, between the wicked and the lovers of God’s name: he who listens to his words and put it into practice is the wise man who builds his house on the rock; and who does not put it into practice is the foolish man that builds on sand (cf. Lk.7:46-49); who is not with Him is against Him, and he who does not gather with Him, scatters (cf. Mt.12:30). Jesus is already a sign of contradiction: of salvation for the true believers and condemnation for those who do not believe.

     Indeed, the passage of this first reading strikes two important points, one that will be dominant for the next two Sundays: the last judgment, and the other: the coming of Christ in his Nativity, which will dominate the latter Sundays of Advent. And the responsorial psalm stressed the eschatological dimension of his coming, for he comes to judge the earth, he will judge the world in righteousness.

     According to the Gospel passage (Lk. 21:5-19) the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 d. C. was prophesized by Jesus himself. And it could be considered a prefiguration of the end of the world, of the final judgment and the glorious manifestation of Christ. Here we see the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus, even though it was pronounced more than 2,000 years ago, but it seems to give us in different dimensions a realistic picture of what is happening today in our world. Today there is a proliferation of false prophets, wars, revolutions, nations fighting against nations, earthquake, plagues, famines, persecutions, betrayals and even martyrdom. To those who were talking to him about the magnificence of the temple, of its beautiful stones and votive offerings, Jesus responded to them: “All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed” (v.6). This prophecy will be realized few years later, exactly in 70 d. C. Afterwards, the interlocutors posed him two questions: “Master, when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that it is about to take place?” (v.7).

      Jesus did not respond to their questions, rather he shifted the discourse to the end of the world and the glorious coming of his Kingdom. Even on this, he did not give precisions as regards neither time nor signs of the nearness of the end. Probably, because to know with precision the time and signs of the end will not be of help to man, rather it may be an obstacle, for man would have continued to live the way he likes until when the end approaches then he will begin to make amends. But man has to live essentially in uncertainty, which requires continuous readiness. However, drawing from the Gospel passage, the end of the world and the glorious coming of Jesus will surely take place, but they were not announced by Jesus with imminence, for Jesus said that things and events will take place first, “but the end will not come at once” (v.9). Rather Jesus made two important remarks:

●First, Jesus foretold his disciples of all that will happen, even within a short time, and then throughout the course of history. Jesus pre-announced “Take care not to be deceived, because many will come using my name” (v.8), they are false prophets and they will deceive you saying that “The time is near at hand” (v.8). He warned them to be careful because it is not true, they are false prophets and liars. Again, “And when you hear of wars and revolutions” (v.9), “Nations will fight against nations” (v.10), Jesus continued that they are not sign of the imminent end of the world, they do not pre-announce the end of time, instead they are inescapable facts of the corrupt nature of man. “There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famine” (v.11). Not even these are the signs of the end of the world, instead they are caducity and vanity of the precarious nature of this cosmos, indeed, in the words of St. Paul, “the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains” (Rm.8:22), with the hope of being liberated from corruption (cf. Rm. 8:21). At last, Jesus foretold his disciples: “But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted…for the sake of my name; you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death; you will be hated universally on account of my name” (vv. 12.16-17). Equally, these persecutions and sufferings are not signs of the imminent end, they are normal and inevitable situations in every time, because the mentality and criterion of judgment of a Christian cannot but collide and be opposed to those of the world. Therefore, we could say that Jesus rapidly presented to his disciples the normal situation of every epoch, what his disciples in every epoch would have confronted, the trials that surround the intermediary time, that is the time between the coming of Christ on earth, the inauguration of the Kingdom of God and his glorious coming at the end of time, the definitive realization of his Kingdom.

●Second, He instructed and gave them indications on how to comport themselves. What is more important to Jesus is how the disciples have to comport themselves. His disciples and Christians of every epoch: –Should not allow themselves to be deceived by false prophets, those who say that they are the Messiah and that the end is near. He gave them strict order: “do not follow them” (v.8c), do not listen to them, else they will lead you astray. –Should “not be terrified” in the face of wars, revolutions, and cosmic catastrophes, they should not allow themselves to be taken by panic or anguish, be serene and face the situation with self-mastery. –Should give witness of their faith: the persecutions, threats and even sacrifice of live are occasions for the Christian to express his love for Christ and to put all his trust in Him. And Jesus promised: “I myself shall give you eloquence and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict” (v.15), and “not a hair of your head will be lost” (v.18). –Should persevere in their faith, and be constant in their fidelity to the Gospel and in the coherency of their life, for “your perseverance will win you your lives” (v.19).

     From the foregoing, Jesus wants us not to live in inertia, in idleness and in alienation from the concrete existential problems of life with the thoughts of the end of the world and the hereafter. Rather, he wants us to be inspired the more at the imitation of the values of the Gospel and insert them where ever we are. However, it is important to note that Jesus with his apocalyptic discourse was not intending to give a precise time for the end of the world or to indicate the prevalent signs as his listeners wanted him to do (v.7). He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem (v.6), and this will mark the end of an epoch in the salvation history, such that the old people of God (the people of Israel) will be succeeded by the new people of God (the Church). The discourse of Jesus was directed to Christians of every time, including us, with the objective of teaching us how we have to live and comport ourselves in the various situations in which invariable we will find ourselves. We therefore, need to appropriate the advice, to always live as though each day may be your last; for time and tide wait for no one. It is on this point that the message of the Gospel dovetails into that of the second reading.

      In the second reading (2Th. 3:7-12) St. Paul reproaches the Christian community of Thessalonica because of the problem of idleness, inertia and parasitism, as consequences of the thought and mentality that all will end soon and Christ will come gloriously. On the contrary, today we run the opposite risk, of not being committed in the Christian sense, because we do not even think about the end of the world and the judgment of God. Some are tempted to believe that everything ends in this world. Little wonder, they tend to amass wealth, without the vision of the hereafter. St. Paul uses himself and the other apostles as example, and thus invites them to imitate them in their hard work and dexterity, and not to wallow in idleness.

     The message that runs through the readings of this Sunday is somewhat a reminder to us that we should not be bothered much about the end of the world, rather we should always be ready for the end of our individual journey here on earth. It is a reminder that no matter how evil and evil-doers thrive, goodness will always triumph. Therefore, it is against the above backdrop that St. Paul warned the Thessalonians not to be carried away by the worries of the imminent end of the world, rather they should imitate the apostles and be filled with the sense of urgency in preparing for the end of our individual sojourn on earth and as we prepare let us not entertain any form of distraction or desperation! For Jesus will win and goodness will triumph over evil, let us therefore, take to heart the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk. 21:19). Lord Jesus Christ fill us with the boldness and courage to witnesses and partakers of your victory over powers of sin, Satan and death. Amen!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)