Christ Will Reign in Triumph

The gunfight at the OK corral lives in our history as an event of sheer terror. It reads like a Barney episode next to today's Gospel (Mk 13:24-32). Jesus' frightening vision of the end of the world has us staring down the barrel of a gun.

For starters, if you've been a good faithful disciple, you can expect suffering, persecution, torture, and death. For starters. Then the sun will burn out, the moon will darken, and the stars will fall from heaven. Jupiter was just an appetizer.

Finally Jesus will come in all his glory, bringing much needed relief. Powerful over all creation, he will dispatch angels to the ends of the earth to find the faithful disciples who may still be languishing in exile, and return them for the most talked-about reunion in history.

The drama of this passage has caused many Bible readers to quake in fear and to seek the cosmic signs that will help them prepare for the literal cataclysm herein predicted.

To add to the impact, Jesus draws from several Old Testament sources. Isaiah 13:10 predicts a day when the stars, the sun, and the moon will not give light. Isaiah 34:4 says the skies will roll up like a scroll. In Ezekiel 32:7-8 God threatens to cover the heavens and darken all their shining lights. And Joel predicts more of the same in 2:10 and 3:15 (4:15 in some Bibles), with the moon turning to blood in 2:31. Graphic stuff. Hiding under the bed yet?

The happy side of Jesus' speech, the prediction of his return, he also draws from an Old Testament reference. He quotes from Daniel 7:13-14, a vision of the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, who rules over everyone, and whose reign lasts forever.

What we get here from Jesus, then, is not so much a new prediction, but the recitation of some old ones. What is new is that he applies them to his own upcoming death, and to the experience of his listeners. "This generation will not pass away," he says, "until all these things have taken place."

Fearsome as this prediction is, one can't help but notice that today, long after that generation did pass away, the sun still shines quite merrily, the moon still beguiles lovers, and the stars enchant campers the world over, wherever pollution is kept at bay.

Did Jesus miss? After all, he admits that only the Father really knows about that day--not the angels, and not even he the Son.

Rather, his prediction might be a clue to us that he is speaking figuratively about the persecution the early church would endure. The martyrdoms of the first Christians were every bit as horrifying as anything in this passage--lions, swords, clubs, crucifixions, all contributed to a river of early Christian blood. Not a darkened sky, maybe, but no less cataclysmic.

This passage offers hope in the realization that Christ will reign in triumph over whatever may befall us. Many are the fears that keep us locked up in the house, that reroute our cars at night in the city, that prevent us from visiting the dentist, and from opening this month's bills. Jesus instills the greatest of fears only to provide the greatest of calms: the Son of Man will reign forever.

[ 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B ]