Bible
Study: Malachi 3, 19 to 20. 2nd
Thessalonians 3, 7 to 12 and Luke 21, 5 to 19.
Last
Sunday, our readings focused on death and what happens to us after our death.
The story of the seven brothers and their mothers is told to make us realize
that death is not the end of our life. Jesus explained that we shall all rise
from the dead no longer to our earthly life but to a glorified state such that
we would marry anymore.
That the
world would end is a non-negotiable fact. This is the point Jesus drives home
in today’s Gospel passage. People were admiring the Temple and commenting on
its precious stones and expensive decorations just as we admire our cars,
houses or beautiful clothes today. Jesus bluntly comes forward to say that very
soon this temple they are seeing will be destroyed and even not one stone shall
be left on another.
This must
have been really hard to swallow for Jesus’ listeners. But these very words of
Jesus came to pass in the year 70 when the Temple was actually destroyed. That
such a beautiful temple was actually destroyed should serve as a warning to us
that there is nothing that we consider precious today that would not eventually
come to an end.
Try to
read the words of Jesus again, in your heart, replace temple for anything of
value to you. Take for instance, your car or that expensive phone you just
bought, even your children, whatever you admire. Now listen to Jesus telling
you that what you are seeing today, shall eventually be destroyed. The house
you are struggling to build will one day turn to dust, the certificate or
business you are building working 24 hours a day will be destroyed and so on.
What
feeling should this evoke in our minds? That there is need for us to put God
first in life. Knowing that all these things that take up our minds and
attention will eventually end, we should not let them come in between us and
God. As the Prophet Malachi warns us, a day of fire shall come; a day when all
the arrogant and evildoers will stubble. What shall it profit us if we gain the
whole world and lose our soul?
When you
look at our Gospel passage, you will notice that virtually everything Jesus
spoke about have either happened already or are still happening today. Many
false prophets are all over the place as churches are springing up every day,
there have been earthquakes, wars, famine and pestilences. Many have died in
defence of their faith and we keep seeing videos of people being beheaded for
refusing to change their faith. Terrorism is now on a global scale.
However as
Jesus also said, these things do not indicate that the end of the world is
near. He said: “Do not be terrified, for this must first take place, but the
end will not be at once.” And so even though these things are already happening,
it might still take thousands of years before the world actually ends. We
should therefore not be deceived by those who cite examples of these ugly
events as signs that the end has come. It is not for us to speculate, it is
rather for us to prepare ourselves spiritually and be ready at any given time.
Surprisingly,
as far back as the time of St. Paul, some people were already expecting that
the world would end very soon; even during their own lifetime. Some persons
went into their rooms and refused to do any work in the name of waiting for the
world to end. Idleness became the order of the day. They wouldn’t do anything
yet they wanted others to provide food for them to eat.
This is
why St. Paul using very strong terms warns the Thessalonians not to allow this
laziness crumble them in the name of waiting for the world to end. He
challenged them to go about their normal duties and work for their daily bread.
No one should be allowed to eat if he or she refuses to work. An idle mind is
the devil’s workshop.
Dear
friends, that there are wars and calamities happening in the world today should
not terrify us, neither should it make us assume the world will soon end. Rather,
these things should make us detached inwardly. The disturbing events we hear
about on television and social media should remind us that this everything
would eventually be destroyed and so, as much as we continue to work and go
about our daily activities to make life comfortable for us, we should always keep
our minds fixed on heaven. The world will surely end and no one knows when but
our best preparation for that day is to live a righteous life.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, take far from me anything that would keep me
far from you. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy Sunday.
Fr. Abu
No comments:
Post a Comment