Readings for November 15, 2009
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
“No one knows the day or the hour, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.” The readings for this Sunday all invoke the mystery of the glorious return of Christ. Beginning with the prophecy of Daniel, we get a glimpse of the coming judgment and salvation and are called to grow in trust in God.
Daniel, in the midst of a divine address from God, looks forward to a future time when the dead shall rise, the wise will shine brightly, and some will come to live forever. However, it also is a time “unsurpassed in distress” when some will fall to “everlasting horror and disgrace”. The eternal question we face living on earth without omnipotent knowledge is, “How do we avoid falling into deep separation from God--hell--and instead reach the fullness and intimacy of heaven?” Daniel promises a positive fate for “those who lead the many to justice”—to me, this is a prophetic forecast of the Church and its role as shepherd. Christ died for the atonement of our sins, rose from the dead, and then ascended into heaven. To continue his ministry, He left us the Apostles and His vicar, Peter, on which to build His Church. Since His Ascension, Christ has no body but ours, so through the Holy Spirit, the Church is the way Christ leads us to justice and righteousness. For our faith in God and seeking to live the Christian ideal, Daniel says we “shall be like the stars forever”.
In the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ is compared to priests. The priests administer the sacraments and serve in daily ministry, but their work, though important, does not equal the work of the great priest, Jesus Christ. Christ’s ministry involved the ultimate sacrifice, his death on the cross. The death of Jesus was an incredible example for us: the demonstration of perfect freedom. Because Jesus was the Word Incarnate—that is the divine Logos incarnate in man—He was God, and Jesus the Son’s will was one with God the Father’s will. Jesus was a human and had the gift of free will, but within that, He freely chose to undertake the Passion in accordance with His Father’s will and die for our sins. Jesus perfectly models complete trust in God for us to the point of death, and in His obedience, He saved us and took His seat at God’s right hand in eternal glory. As a result of our ministry as Christians, we can realize salvation in Jesus, who “by one offering has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated”.
In Mark, Jesus teaches us He, the Son of Man, will come again in a time of turbulence, like Daniel predicts, to save His elect. We read the promise of glory in Daniel and find hope for salvation in Hebrews, but in Mark, Jesus warns that no one knows the time of this final glory and salvation except God the Father. Whoa. So, we can act and live righteously, fight for justice, be saved by Jesus’ redemptive death, but we don’t get to know when that’s going to happen!? Well, no, we don’t—the Gospel reading ends right there. And if you check your Bible, the next verses only give you more metaphors that encourage you to be on your guard. So what do we do? Dig around for clues in the Bible? Wait for a crazy apocalyptic person to predict the end time? No. We trust in God, according to the model of perfect freedom that Jesus gives us. We seek to live righteously as Daniel encourages and to emulate the example of Christ so that we may realize the salvation made possible for us in Jesus’ death. Jesus will endure as an example until the end of time for us to follow until we meet God in our eternal rest: “The heavens and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
So, I leave you with the words of hope, joy, and celebration of a hymn that calls us to embrace the mystery and place our trust in God:
Sign me up
For the Christian jubilee
Write my name on the roll
For I’ve been changed since the Lord has lifted me
I wanna be ready when Jesus comes
You know not the day nor the hour he shall appear
But we know in our hearts He’s coming back again
My heart is fixed and my mind’s made up
I wanna be ready when Jesus comes
I got to the end of that post and about choked. I was laughing so hard when I read which song you had picked. Very apt choice though, and I enjoy reading these posts. You have some great insights.
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