Catechism question: “Does Jesus know everything?” All hands are up. Sorry, you’re wrong; there are some things that God the Father knows, and Jesus doesn’t. Proof is in today’s gospel passage (Mark 13:24-32).
“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
That “day or hour” is the time when Jesus will burst through the heavens and return in glory. When it will happen, we do not know. “That” it will happen, we do know.
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
“Those days” when the sun grows dark and the moon quits shining and “stars” (maybe meteors) start falling, and the powers in heaven start shaking will be preceded by “that tribulation.” Ask any woman who has gone through labor pains what “tribulation” is all about. Severe pain precedes birth. The inside of the body goes through an upheaval as it prepares to release the child that has been growing for nine months in the womb. Whatever the final tribulation will be like, we aren’t sure, except that it will involve great suffering. After this period of great suffering, nature will broadcast that the Son of Man is about to return.
“…then he will send out the angels and gather his elect of the earth to the end of the sky.”
As the Son of Man returns, he commissions a band of angels to gather the final harvest. This will be the “elect” who have persevered in faith through the time of great tribulation. They will be “harvested” for heaven. The others on earth will be as chaff burned in the fire. Who wants to be among the “elect?” All hands! Am I willing to endure the tribulation?
A few centuries before Jesus appeared on earth, the prophet Daniel was given a vision of this day (Daniel 12:1-3).
“At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book.”
How do I make sure that my name is found “written in the book?”
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”
This is a “good news-bad news” story. Some will live forever; others will be confined to “everlasting horror and disgrace.” And “Those who lead the many to justice” will become like the stars. Do we realize that right now we are called “to lead” both by using our charisms and by example. Now we are leading people to Jesus or pointing them in another direction.
Jesus went on to say,
“Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.”
What are the signs of our times telling us? Though, like Jesus, we do not know the day or hour, we do have a “sense” that something is happening. Could it be that Jesus, even now, is standing at the gates?
Is Jesus standing at the gate of my heart now, knocking? Am I too busy to answer the door? Let the sobering message of today’s readings prompt us to open the door and let Jesus enter our hearts, so that we will be among the “elect” and the “wise” and “those who lead” when that great day comes.
