Happy
New Year everyone! We start the
liturgical calendar anew this weekend, and we are in Year C, which has some of
the most creative and stimulating combinations of lectionary readings.
We
just concluded the liturgical calendar by reading largely from the Book of
Revelation and Our Lord’s eschatological discourse from the Gospel of
Luke. We spent a good deal of time
meditating on the second coming of Our Lord, the end of history, and the final
judgment. We now make a smooth segue
into Advent, because the first week of this liturgical season is given over to
contemplating the second coming, as well.
The second week of Advent will move into the “John the Baptist” stage of
the season, where we meditate on John as the introductory and transitional
figure between the Old and the New Testaments.
But
for now, we are thinking about the return of Christ and the final
judgment. This Sunday’s Readings
continue to present to us Jesus as the King, the Son of David and Son of God,
who will come to bring human history to its conclusion.
The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and Judah.
In those days, in that time,
I will raise up for David a just shoot;
he shall do what is right and just in the land.
In those days Judah shall be safe
and Jerusalem shall dwell secure;
this is what they shall call her:
“The LORD our justice.”
when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and Judah.
In those days, in that time,
I will raise up for David a just shoot;
he shall do what is right and just in the land.
In those days Judah shall be safe
and Jerusalem shall dwell secure;
this is what they shall call her:
“The LORD our justice.”
We begin with an important oracle
from the prophet Jeremiah, taken from near the end of what is known as
Jeremiah’s “Book of Consolation” or “Book of Comfort,” the section Jer
30-33. This is the one section of the Book
of Jeremiah where the prophet seems to be in a good mood and have something
positive to say about the future! In the
center of it is the famous “new covenant” oracle of Jer 31:31-34, the only
passage of the Old Testament to employ the term “new covenant.”
Here, however, we have a less famous
but clearly related oracle that further describes the future era of the new
covenant. In that era (“In those days,
in that time”) the Davidic kind will be re-established: “I will cause to sprout
for David a shoot of righteousness.” This
shoot (Heb. tzemach) refers to an heir to his throne.
The arrival of this king will bring
peace to the people of God: “Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell
secure.” This was not fulfilled in a
political sense, but an interior sense.
The Messiah came and formed “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16). The peace he gave to the people was the most
important kind of peace of all, peace with God:
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this
grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of
God. (Rom 5:1-2)
This peace is compatible even with
going through external hardship, as St. Paul continues in Romans 5: “More than
that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance
….”
Jeremiah speaks of “Jerusalem” (the
people of God) being called by the name, “The LORD is our Righteousness.” The “name” in Hebrew refers to the essence or
nature of a thing. Jeremiah is prophesying
an era in which the people of God will be given the righteousness of God
Himself. This consists of the gift of
the Holy Spirit, given to each of us in the sacraments, and received by us in faith. St. Paul explains, “God’s love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to
us” (Rom 5:5). We now have divine
love—which is divine righteousness—indwelling us and enabling us to live a
truly “superhuman” lifestyle, a life of love and self-giving.
The Christian life does not rely on
a goodness that we ourselves produce: St. Paul insists he does not have “a
righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in
Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” That is, the gift of the Holy Spirit, accepted
by faith, which fills us with the righteousness of God.
2. Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14:
R. (1b) To
you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Psalm 25 is a Davidic prayer for
deliverance from enemies. In the
passages we read at Mass, David acknowledges that merely being delivered from
external foes without becoming righteous internally would not be enough. He prays for God to “teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth.” In the Old
Testament, God performed this teaching through the written law of the Mosaic
covenant, which taught the fundamental principles of divine morality. In the New Testament, however, God teaches
more directly, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, received in faith. So we can take this Psalm on our lips at
Mass, and thank God for teaching us his ways by giving us the gift of Himself. The indwelling Holy Spirit produces in us
fruit that fulfill all the laws of God: “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness,
kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control” (Gal 5:23-24).
David thanks God for his
“friendship,” or perhaps better, “intimate counsel” (Heb. sôd). There is no closer
friendship or counsel than for God to infill us with his Spirit. This is not just “using the Force,” but the
internal communion of persons, a true friendship
between ourselves and God. What better
friendship could there possibly be?
2. Reading 2 1 Thes 3:12—4:2:
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
The epistles to the Thessalonians contain much teaching about the second coming, which was a pressing issue for the Thessalonian church. In this reading, we see many themes discussed earlier. The theme of divine instruction from the Psalm: “you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.” The Spirit makes use of the example and teaching of the Apostles to instruct us. The theme of the indwelling of God’s “righteousness” or “love”: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love… be blameless in holiness before our God.”
Basically,
St. Paul is instructing the Thessalonian church on how to behave as they await
the second coming of Christ “with his holy ones.” The main elements he mentions are: continuing
growth in love and in holiness, which are closely related to each other; and
following the example of the lifestyle of the apostles (“as you received from
us … what instructions we gave you”).
Imitation of the apostolic lifestyle is actually a theme that recurs
multiple times in St. Paul’s epistles, and it reminds us that Christianity is
not just a body of teaching but a way of life that must not just be “taught”
but also “caught” by modeling ourselves after holy “practitioners” of
Christianity. This is an aspect of
Tradition, which along with Scripture constitutes a “mode” of the transmission
of God’s Word to us.
4. Gospel Lk 21:25-28, 34-36:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Jesus speaks to us about the end of
human history and his return in glory.
Many of the natural signs that Jesus mentions as associated with the end
of the world actually occurred and were provisionally fulfilled in the events
surrounding the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in AD 70, which marked an
irrevocable transition from one “world” (the old covenant era) to another
“world” (the new covenant era). Yet this
seismic movement was also a sign and foretaste of the upheaval that will take
place at the end of time, when we move from the new covenant era, where the
kingdom is manifest under mysteries perceived by faith, to the era of
fulfillment, when all things will be perceived in their reality, and the
Kingdom will be manifest not by faith but by sight.
The great danger for disciples of
Jesus is that we get sidetracked while waiting for the return of the LORD and
fail either in temperance or fortitude.
Failure of temperance is to give in to “drowsing, carousing and
drunkenness,” that is, just start seeking physical pleasures and comforts in
this temporary life. Failure of
fortitude is to succumb to “the anxieties of daily life.” The struggle of the Christian life is to
capitulate neither to fear nor pleasure as we wait for Our Lord to return for
us.
Our Lord’s words here remind us of the parable of the sower and seed, in which there were four classes of people: those “on the path” who never receive the seed/word; those who are shallow soil who cannot withstand tribulation; the thorny soil who give in to “cares of this world and delight in riches” (Mt 13:22); and finally the good soil that produces fruit. Notice the same twofold trap that snares those who are almost to the point of being fruitful: fear (cares) and pleasure (delight).
Our Lord’s words here remind us of the parable of the sower and seed, in which there were four classes of people: those “on the path” who never receive the seed/word; those who are shallow soil who cannot withstand tribulation; the thorny soil who give in to “cares of this world and delight in riches” (Mt 13:22); and finally the good soil that produces fruit. Notice the same twofold trap that snares those who are almost to the point of being fruitful: fear (cares) and pleasure (delight).
Jesus warns that tribulations will
precede the coming of the “Son of Man”
“in a cloud with power and great glory.”
This is a reference to the vision of the end times in Daniel 7. There, the “son of man” is the one who
receives the kingdom of the whole earth.
Reading the Scriptures synthetically, we realize this “Son of Man” is
the same as the “Son of David,” because to the Son of David was promised a
universal kingdom (see Psalm 2:6-12; 89:25-27).
Jesus is both the Son of Man and the “shoot of David” promised in our
first reading.
First World Christians perhaps do
not take quite seriously the reality that the Christian life is a struggle that
requires exertion and sacrifice. In some
parts of the First World, Christianity has been part of a comfortable cultural
phenomenon, and a sanguine attitude has prevailed such that pretty much
everyone goes to heaven as long as you don’t do anything “really bad,” like
mass murder or something.
Jesus certainly doesn’t describe the
path to salvation in terms like this. He
constantly says it is difficult, and implies or states that many will try and
fail to enter “the kingdom of Heaven.” Concerning
the nature of the path to heaven, we can choose to believe either Jesus, or the
contemporary prophets of optimism. I
would recommend taking Jesus’ words with utmost seriousness, since he probably
has more personal experience of the realities under discussion than modern
theologians and intellectuals.
Jesus’ words to us are “be vigilant
at all times.” That is a lifestyle of
attentiveness that lives each day as if it could be one’s last, knowing that
Jesus may come for all of us—or just for one of us personally—at an hour we do
not expect. Vigilance means a lifestyle
of prayer, temperance in physical pleasures (including acts of mortification),
fortitude (courage in the face of persecution), and love (self-sacrificial
giving). These are the “ways of the
Lord” in which he instructs us. He gives
us His Spirit to enable us to live in this superhuman fashion.
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