MEDITATION OF THE WEEK
The End Times
Mark 13,24-32.
As we approach the end of the Church’s year, (the liturgical year), it seems inevitable that we reflect on the end of the world and the inauguration of a new age, (the end of the world), when justice, peace, love, mercy and truth will abound. Mark Ch 13 is concerned primarily with Jesus’ prophecy of the imminent destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem which took place in 70 AD, amid scenes of desolation and despair. Jesus saw these events as a foretaste of the trials that will precede the final judgement and end of the world. Inevitably the language and images of the destruction and judgement are highly colourful and dramatic, and while not to be taken as literal descriptions of actual events, the message they convey and the atmosphere they contrive are highly relevant to the time of Jesus, to our own age, and the end of the world.Daniel 7, 13-14, on which today’s gospel’s Son of Man reference is based was originally not about the coming of the Son of Man but rather his returning to God, triumphant after suffering. It is about the vindication of his mission and judgement on those who rejected and opposed God and his representative. For Mark this Son of Man imagery applies strikingly to Jesus whose mission is vindicated in the fulfilment of his prophecies (here) about the destruction of the Temple, but especially in his death, resurrection and ascension, and in his coming at the end of time. The first part of today’s gospel describes the signs and portents which will precede the coming of the Son of Man at the end of time to judge the world and gather into his kingdom those who remain faithful to God.Until that time comes, and no one but the Father knows when it will come, (13,32), we are to read the signs of the times, be on our guard and stay awake. We are adept at reading the signs of nature round about us. Jesus wants us to be equally skilled at reading the signs of the end of the world.The prediction about the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem was fulfilled within a generation of Jesus’ prophecy about them.Mark wrote his gospel (65-70 AD), at a time when Christians were being persecuted in Rome by Nero, and elsewhere by his cohorts. Mark would have been well- aware that the great promises of Jesus were vindicated by his resurrection, and he wants to assure Christians that all Jesus’ promises will be fulfilled, especially his promises about the coming of the Son of Man at the end of time. His words “will not pass away” – they too will be fulfilled in God’s own good time. The how, when, and where of which is God the Father’s business alone to know and determine. We are well advised to ignore idle predictions about times and dates. For each of us the end of our world will come when the end of our earthly life comes.The Christian stance as we await the second coming of Christ is, in the words of Ignatius of Loyola, to “pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.”Fr Geoff O’GradyFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare
Mark 13,24-32.
As we approach the end of the Church’s year, (the liturgical year), it seems inevitable that we reflect on the end of the world and the inauguration of a new age, (the end of the world), when justice, peace, love, mercy and truth will abound. Mark Ch 13 is concerned primarily with Jesus’ prophecy of the imminent destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem which took place in 70 AD, amid scenes of desolation and despair. Jesus saw these events as a foretaste of the trials that will precede the final judgement and end of the world. Inevitably the language and images of the destruction and judgement are highly colourful and dramatic, and while not to be taken as literal descriptions of actual events, the message they convey and the atmosphere they contrive are highly relevant to the time of Jesus, to our own age, and the end of the world.Daniel 7, 13-14, on which today’s gospel’s Son of Man reference is based was originally not about the coming of the Son of Man but rather his returning to God, triumphant after suffering. It is about the vindication of his mission and judgement on those who rejected and opposed God and his representative. For Mark this Son of Man imagery applies strikingly to Jesus whose mission is vindicated in the fulfilment of his prophecies (here) about the destruction of the Temple, but especially in his death, resurrection and ascension, and in his coming at the end of time. The first part of today’s gospel describes the signs and portents which will precede the coming of the Son of Man at the end of time to judge the world and gather into his kingdom those who remain faithful to God.Until that time comes, and no one but the Father knows when it will come, (13,32), we are to read the signs of the times, be on our guard and stay awake. We are adept at reading the signs of nature round about us. Jesus wants us to be equally skilled at reading the signs of the end of the world.The prediction about the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem was fulfilled within a generation of Jesus’ prophecy about them.Mark wrote his gospel (65-70 AD), at a time when Christians were being persecuted in Rome by Nero, and elsewhere by his cohorts. Mark would have been well- aware that the great promises of Jesus were vindicated by his resurrection, and he wants to assure Christians that all Jesus’ promises will be fulfilled, especially his promises about the coming of the Son of Man at the end of time. His words “will not pass away” – they too will be fulfilled in God’s own good time. The how, when, and where of which is God the Father’s business alone to know and determine. We are well advised to ignore idle predictions about times and dates. For each of us the end of our world will come when the end of our earthly life comes.The Christian stance as we await the second coming of Christ is, in the words of Ignatius of Loyola, to “pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.”Fr Geoff O’GradyFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare
