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_{33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) 2009
 November 14, 2009}  

Soren Kierkegaard, a noted Danish theologian who lived in the early 19th century, once spoke of our use of clocks. The theologian in him thought that clocks created the illusion that time goes on and on without beginning and without end. Kierkegaard said that what we needed were hourglasses. He said, "They constantly remind us that for each of us – time is running out." With an hourglass, there is always an end before there can be another beginning.

The holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving is just over a week away. Of course Christmas is coming quickly as well; it's only 41 days away counting today. On New Year's Day, just 47 days away, the current year will have ended and a new year begun. We will celebrate the end of one year and ring in the new one. Liturgically the same thing happens next week. We will celebrate the end of our Church year with the Feast of Christ the King. The following Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, we begin all over again.

There are many ways that we acknowledge the passing of time, yet when it comes to the end of the world, the end of time itself, what we Christians call the Second Coming, we tend to panic and express fear.

Another man also appeared on the religious scene in the 19th century in the United States: William Miller. After extensive study of the Bible, Miller believed that he could predict the end of time. He announced that Jesus Christ would return sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. He gained a tremendous following. Obviously the end time did not come. A follower of Miller's claimed that a revised date for the end of time was October 22, 1844. Again the date came and went and became known as "The Great Disappointment."

One pastor tells of the fears that existed in his parish as the year 2000 approached. Fearing a calamity, several families began stockpiling food. One parishioner brought the pastor all kinds of crazy literature predicting tribulations. Conversely, thinking that 2000 would be a tremendous thing to celebrate, the parish planned a huge New Year's Eve party complete with a midnight breakfast. It was a bust! Believing that computers would fail worldwide, causing catastrophes, planes to fall from the sky, nuclear plants to melt down, parishioners stayed home because of their fears.

Today's Gospel from Chapter 13 of Mark is often referred to as the "Little Apocalypse." The word "apocalypse" means "revelation." Apocalyptic literature exists in cultures that have as part of their belief system that there will be a final showdown between good and evil. Our first reading from the Prophet Daniel is also apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature first gets our attention through frightening images, then, true to its real purpose, it offers us hope against the fear that comes when it is believed that the showdown between good and evil is coming.

The Jews for whom Mark wrote believed that the showdown was on their doorstep. Jesus was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry. While we think of this as being young, Jesus would have been in the oldest 10% of the population. Contrary to our perception of Jesus as a young rabbi, Jesus would have been seen as something akin to a wise old man. Jesus' followers would have been much younger than him. It's hard to imagine Jesus as being an older man in his day.

However, disease was so rampant that only one in five children lived past their first birthday. Most parents were dead by the time children reached the age of 16. It is not hard to see that Mark's readers were afraid the end time was near.

Worse, because he wrote almost 40 years after Jesus' death, Mark's readers would have witnessed the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman Army because of Jerusalem's rebellion. Death was all around, and defeat was close at hand. The residents of Jerusalem knew that Romans rarely took prisoners, and those they did take were often placed in slavery. Christians were doubly cursed, for not only were they suffering from the war, they were also being forcibly prevented from going to the Temple or synagogues. Mark wrote to give hope!

Our readings today give us the stance that Christians are to take. Despite seeming to fear, we are not to fear. It is not evil that will come at the end of time, it will be Jesus Christ! Next Sunday we will actually celebrate this coming day: the Feast of Christ the King.

We should be comfortable with the knowledge that time has a beginning and an end, just as do our lives. Time might end, our bodies may die, but our joy is that with the end of time there will be God. We are busy preparing for the coming holidays. We must also prepare for Christ!