It’s the end of the world as we know it!!! This was a popular song a few years back. Face it; we are obsessed with the end of the world. Experts think they know when it’s coming but they are always wrong. Y2K was surely the end of the world. Nope; did not happen! All the predictions of Nostradamus have surely been right about the end of the world. No, that did not happen either. Of course we now know the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012 based on the new Hollywood movie and the Mayan calendar. I’m not going to bet the farm on that one either.
Someone recently told me it must be the end of the world because the New Orleans Saints are 8-0 and are mentioned as the best team in the N.F.L. I don’t know about the end of the world, but I did see a sign at the last game that said: “hell is freezing!”
Sometimes it just feels like the end of the world. When we experience the loss of our first boyfriend or girlfriend it feels like the end of the world. Bad news can make us feel the same way. Those of us who endured Katrina felt like it was the end of the world.
As people of faith, do we believe in the end of the world and do we live as if the end is near?
Today our 1st reading from Daniel and the Gospel of Mark teach about end times. At first read this sound like doom and gloom; something to be scared of. But all Scripture requires the hearer of the Word to rely on context and balance. There is some joyful expectation even in end time prophesy in Daniel and a promise of Jesus’ everlasting presence in Mark.
Jesus asks us to be aware of the end. In fact, Jesus is really speaking about the end of his mission and the future destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. As for the end of the world, even Jesus says that He does not know. The hour, the day, the month, even the year of His second coming and the end of the world is not for any of us to know. The end of the world is reserved to God and God alone. No one can predict this event and no one should live in fear of the end times. Maybe we should learn our lesson from the earliest Christians who waiting eagerly for the second coming of Christ. They would meet together and pray: “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! Of course this does not mean we should stop living our lives, put everything on hold and wait for the end to come. No! Even St. Paul warned against this when he told the people of Thessalonica that: “he who does not work; neither shall they eat.” Often misunderstood as St. Paul condemning the unemployed, nothing could be further from the truth. He knew these early Christians were putting aside living, taking care of each other, even their jobs, waiting in the streets, looking to the sky, anticipating the coming of Jesus and the end of the world. Well, they were off about 2,000 years or so.
We should neither live in fear of the end times nor go the other extreme; wanting it to happen to suit our own beliefs. But yet questions persist: When will the world end, when will Jesus come again; how will we know? Here is the simple answer: we do not know. We should live our lives, worship God, go to work, raise our families, live each day to its’ fullest. And most importantly, let’s let God be God!!!
Chances are the end of the world, as we know it, will come in the manner of our own death. Now we too can prepare for that by living our lives for Christ, caring for one another and following the teachings of His Church. We have the promise of everlasting life because of Jesus Christ; who died and rose again for us. To this we can say, Maranatha; Come Lord Jesus.
Today, in this very liturgy we will call out in hope and joy several times about Jesus coming again. We will proclaim: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”. And after the Our Father we hear, “As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ!” Even the timing of today’s reading is about the end as today is the last ordinary Sunday in the church year as we prepare for Advent in just two weeks.
No; the events of Y2k, the predictions of Nostradamus , even the next earthquake or hurricane, yes even the Saints remaining undefeated does not mean the end is near. Only the end in His time, In His way through His will. And for our part, we just need to let God be God!
And we can say; Maranatha…Come Lord Jesus!!!
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