33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 15(16):5,8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14,18
Mark 13:24-32
People seem to fall into two groups when it comes to attitudes towards the future. There are those who think that worrying about the future is superfluous. Why shouldn’t things go on as well as they have so far? And if we just try hard enough, things will even get better! Doubts and fears are often suppressed by these optimists or seen as a sign of poor mental health.
On the other hand, there are the pessimists who constantly emphasise how everything is taking a turn for the worse. Some expect a catastrophe. For example, that a dictatorship will be established after the next elections. Or that a great war will break out. That a pandemic is coming. Or that a climate catastrophe will make the earth uninhabitable. ’If you are smart, you prepare in good time for the tough times that will undoubtedly come,’ they say.
Which side are we on? What does our faith say?
The question is not so easy to answer. On the one hand, as Christians we should trust in God’s providence and face with joyful courage all the tasks that the Lord has assigned us here on earth. On the other hand, we read in the texts of today’s Mass, that a time of great distress will come. What does this mean for us? Should a Christian be an optimist or rather a pessimist?
The Christian faith does not fit into either category. You could say that a Christian is, in a way, both at the same time, and both radically.
As Christians, we are more radical than all pessimists, because we don’t just believe that hard times are coming. We believe that the world as a whole, with everything that exists, will come to an end. The distress is only the beginning. After that, ‘the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.’ In the face of this catastrophe, it is not worth building a nuclear bomb-proof storage room. All vaccinations and environmental protection measures are superfluous. The world as such will simply not continue at all.
As Christians, however, we are also more radical than all optimists, because the signs of the approaching end of the world become signs of joy for us, because they show us that our redemption is near. It is remarkable that Jesus, after announcing the end of the world in gloomy colours, makes a very optimistic comparison: ‘Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.’
What is it that makes us expect the end of the world so joyfully? It is the return of Christ. ‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory,’ says Jesus about himself.
Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, as we confess in the creed. Can we really rejoice about the Last Judgement?
It is true that the judgement might be painful for the vast majority of us. Because we will realise how often in our lives we have shown too little love for God and our fellow human beings. We will realise how often we have lacked mercy. But we must never forget who it is who will come as judge. It is Christ himself, who loves us above all and who gave his life on the cross to redeem us. Should we be afraid of Christ?
St Augustine asks in one of his homilies: ‘What sort of love of Christ is it to fear his coming? Brothers, do we not have to blush for shame? We love him, yet we fear his coming. Are we really certain that we love him? Or do we love our sins more? Therefore, let us hate our sins and love him who will exact punishment for them. He will come whether we wish it or not.’
We should await our judge with love and joy. For he is a just judge, and even more so a merciful judge. He is not only judge, but also our brother and Lord, Saviour and Redeemer.
So, in a way, the Christian faith combines radical pessimism with radical optimism: Yes, hard times will come, the world will end and finally be judged. But we can nevertheless look forward to it, because we will finally be completely united with Christ.
How should we prepare for this?
Not by withdrawing from the world in fear. Nor with desperate attempts to secure any piece of this transitory world for us alone, whatever the cost. No, the best way to prepare ourselves is, on the contrary, to turn towards this transitory world and our fellow human beings in love and mercy.
Let us listen once again to St Augustine:
’These are the sacrifices most pleasing to God: mercy, humility, praise, peace, charity. Such as these, then, let us bring and, free from fear, we shall await the coming of the judge who will judge the world in equity and the peoples in his truth.’
Amen.
