Sunday, November 18, 2018

Signs of the Times - Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B


          A familiar feature on the streets of New York are the many people camped out on the sidewalks hawking their wares and their opinions.  You can find knock-off merchandise, original art, Hello Kitty everything, and literature and allocutions on just about every topic you can imagine.  I remember, in particular, a man standing at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, literally on a soap box, holding a big sign warning passersby to “Repent: The Apocalypse is Upon Us.”  For all I know, he may be right, though I find it hard to believe that Jesus would announce his Second Coming on a poster.  Nevertheless, we do need to be ready for Christ’s Second Coming; we need to pay attention to the signs of the times.  Today’s readings help us understand how.

          As we come to the end of Ordinary Time, our readings take a decidedly apocalyptic turn, as both our first reading and our Gospel address the end of time. “We might think of apocalyptic literature as fire-and-brimstone scenarios of the end of the world when evildoers will get their public comeuppance.  But it is not really as much about the fate of evil as about God’s exaltation of the innocent.”[1]  The word “apocalypse” has gotten a bad rap.  It’s generally understood to mean destruction, catastrophe, trials and tribulation.  Amid scandal, fires, mass shootings, and rancorous political discourse, it seems like the Apocalypse is happening right now.  But these aren’t the signs we should be paying attention to.  You see, Apocalypse really means unveiling or revealing.  The Apocalypse is the time when we’ll finally know the truth, when the hidden trajectory of the world will be revealed; when God’s great plan for us will be unveiled.  Like our psalmist, we’re called to profess our faith in God’s providence, to abide in confidence that God will show us the path to life.  So the signs we’re looking for are those that lead us to Jesus.  To find that path, we have to prepare ourselves, pay attention, and follow the signs. “The truly wise never forget that they must be ready when the summons comes. For those who live in that memory, the end will not be terror, but eternal joy.”[2]

          So, what does it mean to be prepared?  Well, God’s Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us to prepare us for the Apocalypse by teaching us to love God and to love our neighbor.  To be prepared, then, means to live as Jesus taught us; “it means that we must so live that it does not matter when [Jesus] comes;” it means that we have to make every day fit for him to see and be at any moment ready to meet him face to face.[3]  As our readings make clear, all who follow Jesus and serve his mission will be saved when he comes again.

          To be prepared, we have to follow the signs.  Jesus didn’t abandon us to wait for his Second Coming alone.  He remains with us, he abides with us, albeit in somewhat subtle ways.  Through his real presence, he continues to show us the way to eternal life through Word, Sacrament, and Spirit. 

We all know that Jesus Christ is God’s Word, the one who in the beginning spoke all of creation into being.  Spoken through the prophets, made express in his life, death, and resurrection, memorialized in Scripture, and testified to in preaching, Jesus, God’s Word, continues to speak to us today.  Whenever a passage from Scripture inspires or even disturbs you, pay attention, Jesus is giving you a sign.  Whenever a homily really resonates with you, pay attention, Jesus is giving you a sign.  To encounter Christ, to find the signs that lead us to eternal life, we have to ground ourselves in the Word, in Scripture, and contemplate how Jesus is speaking to us through it today. 

Jesus also shows us the way to eternal life in the Sacraments.  Creation and incarnation teach us that God reveals himself, and God’s grace is known to us, through physical, material reality, especially in the Sacraments.  As outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace, the Sacraments, “these very communal acts . . . are the means by which the church lives in dynamic communion with . . . Jesus” right now.[4]  They are signs that guide our feet into the way of peace.  To find these signs, we need to receive and actively participate in the Sacraments.  You know, we sit, stand, kneel, genuflect, bow, sing, listen, pray, eat and drink together in the Sacraments for a reason.  It’s not just one big game of Simon Says.  In the Sacraments, we encounter signs of grace with our whole being, body, mind and spirit.  Whenever you’re moved to tears by a beautiful hymn, pay attention, God is giving you a sign.  Whenever you’re awed by the grandeur of the Mass, pay attention, God is giving you a sign.  Through active, attentive participation in the Sacraments, we follow those signs.

Last, but not least, the Holy Spirit.  God sends his Spirit among us to animate and inspire our lives.  “The Christian life is lived in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.”[5]  The Spirit is always at work in and around us, pointing out the signs that lead us to Jesus.  “Sometimes this work is as gentle and hopeful as new life in springtime.  Sometimes it is disruptive, as Mark puts it, like ‘an enemy at the gates.’”[6]  Whenever you get that warm, fuzzy feeling after doing something good, pay attention, the Spirit is giving you a sign.  Whenever you have a gnawing sense of guilt or foreboding, pay attention, the Spirit is giving you a sign.  God is at work in and around us preparing us for that great unveiling.  It’s our job as disciples to seek out the signs of the times and follow them.

          With our lives consumed by work or school, with our noses buried in smartphones and computer screens, it’s easy to miss the signs of Christ’s presence in our lives.  I don’t know when the Apocalypse is coming, or what it’s going to be like, but I can tell you that I’m certain that Jesus won’t announce his Second Coming in a Tweet or on Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram.  But the signs are all around us—in Word, Sacrament, and Spirit.  Our readings tells us that the Apocalypse will come, and we need to be prepared.  We need to pay attention to the real signs of the times and follow them.

Readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32


[1] Mary M. McGlone, “Apocalypse is Promise,” National Catholic Reporter (November 2-15, 2018), 25.
[2] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 375.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Gordon T. Smith, Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2017), 72, Kindle.
[5] Ibid., 98.
[6] Michael Simone, “Know that He is Near,” America (November 12, 2018), 50.

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