Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C | Dominica hebdomada trigesima tertia (XXXIII) « Per annum », Anno C
13 November 2022 in the year of our Lord
Lk 21:5-19 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives." |
Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον 21:5-19 5 Καί τινων λεγόντων περὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ὅτι λίθοις καλοῖς καὶ ἀναθήμασιν κεκόσμηται εἶπεν· 6 ταῦτα ἃ θεωρεῖτε ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι ἐν αἷς οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται λίθος ἐπὶ λίθῳ ὃς οὐ καταλυθήσεται. 7 Ἐπηρώτησαν δὲ αὐτὸν λέγοντες· διδάσκαλε, πότε οὖν ταῦτα ἔσται καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον ὅταν μέλλῃ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι; 8 ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· βλέπετε μὴ πλανηθῆτε· πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες· ἐγώ εἰμι, καί· ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγικεν. μὴ πορευθῆτε ὀπίσω αὐτῶν. 9 ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσητε πολέμους καὶ ἀκαταστασίας, μὴ πτοηθῆτε· δεῖ γὰρ ταῦτα γενέσθαι πρῶτον, ἀλλ’ οὐκ εὐθέως τὸ τέλος. 10 Τότε ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ἐγερθήσεται ἔθνος ἐπ’ ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν, 11 σεισμοί τε μεγάλοι καὶ κατὰ τόπους λιμοὶ καὶ λοιμοὶ ἔσονται, φόβητρά τε καὶ ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ σημεῖα μεγάλα ἔσται. 12 Πρὸ δὲ τούτων πάντων ἐπιβαλοῦσιν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν καὶ διώξουσιν, παραδιδόντες εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς καὶ φυλακάς, ἀπαγομένους ἐπὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ ἡγεμόνας ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματός μου· 13 ἀποβήσεται ὑμῖν εἰς μαρτύριον. 14 θέτε οὖν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν μὴ προμελετᾶν ἀπολογηθῆναι· 15 ἐγὼ γὰρ δώσω ὑμῖν στόμα καὶ σοφίαν ᾗ οὐ δυνήσονται ἀντιστῆναι ἢ ἀντειπεῖν ἅπαντες οἱ ἀντικείμενοι ὑμῖν. 16 παραδοθήσεσθε δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ γονέων καὶ ἀδελφῶν καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ φίλων, καὶ θανατώσουσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν, 17 καὶ ἔσεσθε μισούμενοι ὑπὸ πάντων διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου. 18 καὶ θρὶξ ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὑμῶν οὐ μὴ ἀπόληται. 19 ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν. |
Fr John Lankeit's homily :
There’s an important connection between today’s 1st Reading taken from the Prophet Malachi, and today’s Gospel passage from Luke—a connection that may not be obvious at first glance. Both readings deal with the destruction of “temples”, though only the Gospel mentions the word “temple” explicitly. Let’s start there:
While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, [Jesus] said, “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” (Lk 21:5-6)
These were shocking words because the Jews considered the Temple—the dwelling place of God among them—to be permanent and indestructible. We need only imagine our own distress if someone predicted the destruction of this Cathedral to grasp the jarring impact of Jesus’ words on his audience.
Now, turning to the 1st Reading—although there is no actual reference to a “temple”, with a more in depth reflection, we’ll see how these two readings are related in an important way. Here’s what we heard:
...the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire... (Mal 3:19)
At this point, the connection between these verses may still be unclear...until we consider something Jesus said and did much earlier in his ministry, as described in the Gospel of John:
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. (Jn 2:13-21)
In this encounter, Jesus referred to his body as a temple. In light of the Sacrament of Baptism—which makes us part of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Eph 5:23)—St. Paul reminded the Corinthians:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16-17)
After Jesus drove the money-grubbing merchants out of the Temple, he emphasized that his Body was the preeminent Temple of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul reminds us how we—like Jesus—are living temples.
Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel—which he spoke much later in his public ministry—clearly refer to the physical Temple in Jerusalem.
Knowing what happened to the Jerusalem Temple historically, and why it happened—can help deepen our own relationship with Jesus.
The Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem by fire in the year 70 AD—less than 40 years after Jesus’ death. The words of a contemporary scripture scholar help us understand why God allowed this:
In Jesus’ day, the Temple had actually become an empty symbol. There was little rigor in the religion of the Jews; it had become largely externalized...The Temple, with its beauty and sacred action, pointed toward something beyond itself...[But it] had to come down not because it was outdated but because it had become a symbol of the disobedience of God’s people.
The Jews had taken their relationship with God for granted. They ignored God’s commandments—including the prohibition against adopting the customs and practices of the pagans with whom they coexisted.
Many of the Jews of Jesus’ time paid mere lip service to their religion—much like those today who identify as Catholics, but who live no differently than non-Catholics...or even non-believers.
Many Catholics today are utterly indistinguishable from pagans and atheists in the moral choices they make...in how they spend their time and money...in what they say and do.
And many Catholics today are afraid to stand out from the crowd. But being Catholic has never been about fitting in or being accepted by the dominant culture.
Being Catholic means being faithful to God’s Commandments through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
There’s a real cost to living our relationship with Jesus authentically, just as there was for the early Christians who suffered when their Roman oppressors became more aggressive, hostile and violent in the years leading up to the deadly siege of Jerusalem. Jesus alluded to this in today’s Gospel when he said:
Before all this happens...they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives. (Lk 21:12-19)
Like these early Christians, Catholics today who strive to live their Catholic faith in an authentic manner know the resistance and even hostility that their witness provokes in the lukewarm...or the nonbelievers...in their own circles of influence...even in their own families!
This should not surprise us because Jesus himself was called a “sign of contradiction” (cf. Lk 2:33) when Mary and Joseph presented him in the Temple as an infant. And Jesus pulled no punches when he later told his closest friends:
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. (Jn 15:18-20)
We must recall these words when are tempted to blame God when we suffer for our faith. Suffering for our faith is not a sign that something is wrong. Suffering for our faith is a natural consequence of our giving authentic testimony...in a world that is naturally hostile to Christ.
That is why St. Cyprian of Carthage poses this question to each of us:
Since the world hates a Christian, why do you love that which hates you and not follow Christ who has redeemed and loves you?
Unfortunately, the answer from many Catholics today is:
“Because following Christ is too costly!”
By their disobedience, the Jews of Jesus’ time had effectively expelled God from his Temple in Jerusalem. Since God was no longer welcome in his own home, he vacated it...and it ultimately collapsed because it was sustained largely by empty rituals, rather than by the Divine Presence. Today, we run the same risk with the living Temple of the Holy Spirit that we became at our Baptism.
St. Augustine helps us see this more clearly where he says:
Death comes to either the soul or the body. The soul cannot die, and yet it can die. It cannot die, because its consciousness is never lost. It can die, if it loses God. You see, just as the soul itself is the life of the body, so in the same way God is the life of the soul. As the body dies when the soul that is its life abandons it, in the same way when God abandons the soul, it dies. To make sure, however, that God does not abandon the soul, it must always have enough faith not to fear death for God’s sake. Then God does not abandon it and it does not die.
The Temple in Jerusalem had become an empty shell of what it had once been—the dwelling place of God among his people. And what was true of the Temple in Jerusalem is true of the body and soul of each Christian today who makes himself or herself hostile to the presence of God by willful disobedience to his Commandments.
Jesus desires our salvation, so he invites us to cleanse the Temple of our body and soul—voluntarily—first through repentance...and then through persevering obedience to his Commandments...no matter the resistance from others...no matter the cost to ourselves.
Jesus made a whip of cords to drive out those who defiled the Jerusalem Temple. But he challenges us more gently—not punishing us with a whip of cords—but drawing us to him with cords of love (cf. Hosea 1:4)—through the words of today’s Gospel—to welcome his mercy now—so that we will not be in terror when he comes to judge us...and the rest of the world...at the end of time.
St. Cyril of Alexandria said:
The power of the Romans would tear [the Temple] down and burn Jerusalem with fire, and retribution would be required from Israel for the Lord’s murder. They had to suffer these things after the Savior’s crucifixion.
Prior to his Passion, Jesus lamented his rejection by the Jews with these words:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! (Mt 23:37; Lk 13:34)
But the Prophet Malachi reminds us:
...for you who fear my name, the sun of justice will arise with healing in its wings... (Mal 3:20).
For those who God’s Commandments, who give authentic testimony to their faith in Jesus Christ, and who welcome the sometimes painful fire of God’s purifying love, his final coming at the end of time will not be a time of terror as it will be for the “arrogant and the evildoers”.
Rather, his Second Coming will be a homecoming of sorts...to his rightful place in the Temple of the Holy Spirit...that is our body and soul.
And if Jesus finds a welcome place in this Temple—that is our body and soul—when he comes to judge the living and the dead—then we can expect to find a welcome place in his home...in heaven.
The time to prepare ourselves is now...while there is still time.
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