Homily by Brent Walker

When Fr Ray approached me 2 months ago and asked if I would like to break open the word, I said of course that I would be delighted.

At the beginning of this week, he sent me the scripture readings and my heart fell. As you just heard from Deacon Rick, the Gospel passage is daunting, the promise from Jesus of great tribulation, difficulty, and destruction. Not the message many want to hear let alone experience.

One of difficult things about being called by God to speak God’s message, is that you sometimes have to speak about things that are not popular or easy to hear, such as the passage at hand. But this is the passage that Christ has appointed for us this Sunday and so, we need to face it with integrity.

In order to do this, we need to understand some basic guidelines when we look at prophecy in scripture. I want to present you with three.

Approaching prophecy in scripture.

1) Prophecy in scripture usually has an immediate and future application,

Let me give you an example. If I read to you the verse “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” what does it bring to mind?

We know this is one of the last of seven phrases Jesus uttered from the cross. But this verse was first spoken by David while under extreme duress. And so we can see, both an immediate application (a lament of David) and a prophetic utterance regarding a future event.

Psa. 22:1       My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

            Why are You so far from helping Me,

            And from the words of My groaning?

            A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

            They pierced My hands and My feet;

17        I can count all My bones.

            They look and stare at Me.

18        They divide My garments among them,

            And for My clothing they cast lots.

2) Prophecy regarding future events usually unfolds unpredictably.

The prophet Micah said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and he was. The prophet Hosea said that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt and he was. Many prophets said he would be from Nazareth and he was.

Here we can see that what would have originally appeared as a contradiction (one can imagine theologians arguing… “It says right hear, out of Egypt,” No, it says here that he will be born in Bethlehem, after all he will be a Jew!” etc. etc. And yet, when messiah came, the event unfolded harmoniously fulfilling all scripture. And so we can see the prophecy concerning future events unfolds in unforeseeable ways. As Jesus first coming happened in an unexpected way, so will his return.

3) Prophecy often uses metaphor

An example of this is the prophecy of John the Baptist’s regarding the baptism Christ would bring:

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The reference to “fire and a winnowing fan” and “gathering His wheat into the barn” are obviously metaphor. This is not a literal reference to Jesus coming with a torch and lighting things on fire.

Keeping these guidelines in view, let us look at our prophetic passage.

Our Passage:

Mark 13:24   “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

Mark 13:28   “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors! 30 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Mark 13:32   “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Notice verse 30. “Assuredly” is also translated “verily verily,” or “surely”. Jesus is emphasizing something he wants his listeners to be clearly aware of, which is, “this generation will not pass away until these things happen.” And so it came to pass that it would not be long before the Emperor Nero would send Titus down to sack Jerusalem. The Temple would be destroyed and Israel as a nation would be no more. The Hebrew people would be dispersed throughout the world for the next two millennia without a homeland until 1948. This was the immediate application to Jesus prophetic utterance. The future application is that God will, in some unforeseeable way, bring an end to all things. Christ will return and fear and death will be swallowed up by love and forgiveness as God’s Kingdom is established.

What is the underlying message Jesus is speaking? Change is inevitable, in fact, God desires it!

9/11 ushered in global change. The way we travel is completely different now. And then the tragedy in Paris this Friday. Certainly many people’s lives were changed forever. The summit in Paris that was supposed to convene to address climate change, is now preoccupied with terrorism, war, and safety.

In some ways, the immediate application of Jesus warning of war and destruction has continued to unfold culminating most recently in the tragic events of 9/11 and now Paris. Change is constantly happening.

Life is a series of adjustments/changes.

Just before my grandfather passed away he said to me, “Brent, life is a constant series of adjustments—how you adjust makes all the difference.”

How do we face change? In my observation of life, people in general do not like change. The question we need to ask ourselves, is “Do I face change and adjustments in hope or fear?”

Will to live or fear of death—we only derive strength from what we are for.

What are we for? What is God for?

In the classic Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh’s protagonist Charles Ryder, goes to visit a dying man in the hospital. The Doctor joins him. After visiting the dying man, Charles Ryder turns to the Doctor and says, “He sure as a resilience to live.” The Doctor responds, “Oh, I don’t see it like that. I know this man; he’s just very afraid of dying.” Ryder then responds, “Well, what the difference?” The Doctor turns and says, “There is every difference. We derive strength from the things we are for, but strength and vitality is taken from us by the things we fear.”

Do we as the Body of Christ—his church—do we want to be identified by the things we are against, the things we fear, or will we be identified by the things we are for? Again we ask the question: what are we for? And really doesn’t that question need to be answered in the context of what is God for?

In light of the recent tragedy in Paris, how do we respond to change? What can we be for in this horrid tragedy? What is God for in all of this?

God is for you; God is for me; God is for the people of Paris; God is even for the men who committed the atrocious killing of innocent people.  

Yes, God is for the souls of those who commit such heinous crimes. I know this is not a popular thing to say, but it has to be said. When I first heard the news, the immediate response of my heart was, “Enough is enough. These brutes need to be found and annihilated.” But this is fear.

I will tell you a deep spiritual truth, “Deep calls unto deep; like calls unto like.”

When men who have a twisted image of god try to kill and control because they are afraid that things are not going the way their god demands, their fear calls out to fear in us. We want to kill the killers, but this is to respond to fear with fear.

The cycle must be broken. The incident in Paris really affected me. I spent a mostly sleepless night wrestling with the reality of what actually happened. Somewhere in the night, God brought these two passages to mind,

Matt. 5:43   “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

And so our King, our leader, hanging from the cross and looking at the very ones who put the nails in his hands and feet, who spit on him and mocked him, cried out, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” We can see from the events in Paris that people still don’t know what they are doing. It is to this very darkness that Christ is calling us to be light.

We must not let fear and hatred give birth to fear and hatred in us. We must not give into being a people against, but a people for, we are for love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Fr William Barry, a long time spiritual director and teacher within the Jesuit community gives us three foundational pillars by which to view the universe, the world and ourselves:

1. Through mystical experience, Ignatius came to believe that the perfect community, the Trinity, which is motivated purely by love, creates a universe in which persons made in the image of God are continually being drawn by the cords of divine love into the inner life of the Trinity. In the depths of our hearts, we are being drawn by a desire for union with God and thus with all other persons.
2. Ignatius came to believe that the Trinity wants each of us to live our lives in such a way as to be part of the dream of God, collaborators with God in bringing about the kingdom.
3. We cannot, therefore, ultimately be happy and at peace in this life unless our lives are in tune with God’s dream for the universe and for each one of us.

 

What is God for? We will only move forward when we believe that God is for us, for each other, and yes, even for our enemies.

And so in closing, I invite you to pray with me the prayer of St Francis. I will read out a line, and if you mean it from your heart, then respond out loud and we will pray this together before God.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.