The Sánchez Archives THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

Prepare For The Future By Embracing The Present

MALACHI 3:19-20
2 THESSALONIANS 3:7-12
LUKE 21:5-19

Years ago, a film entitled, It Happened Tomorrow, features an ambitious business executive who wished that he could buy tomorrow’s newspaper today so as to take financial advantage of his privileged glimpse into the future. Suddenly, an elderly gentleman appeared before him, holding the coveted newspaper. “I’ve decided to grant your wish,” he said. The remainder of the movie detailed what happened to the businessman as a result of his “future” knowledge. A contemporary television series, called Early Edition, has reprised the premise of the film and features a young man who received tomorrow’s paper daily. As he reads of accidents that are yet to happen and disasters that are yet to occur, he senses a certain responsibility for preventing them by altering the circumstances and/or protecting the people involved. Though such stories are somewhat interesting and attention-grabbing, they are, simply imaginative escapades into the world of fiction. Thankfully, however, the future is known by and belongs to God, who alone, is responsible for its unfolding day by day, year by year. We, for our part, are to be responsive to God by being responsible for God’s gifts of the present.

Each year, as the passing liturgical year wanes into memory, the church puts the gathered assembly in touch with its responsibilities for the present, while reminding us of what little we know for certain concerning the future. From the ancient prophet known as Malachi, which means “My Messenger” (first reading), we learn that the future, that is known to God alone, will bring healing and reward for the just and retribution for the wicked. Implied in Malachi’s message is a warning that when that unknown day does arrive, judgment will be swift and irrevocable; therefore, those who have been forewarned ought also to forearm themselves with words and works, peace, justice, mercy and truth.

From the disputed author of 2 Thessalonians (second reading) we learn that the best preparation for the future is a devoted embrace of present duties. This would require that believers strike a holy and wholesome balance between prayer and service, work and play, between the time and energy spent at making a living with the time and energy needed to develop enduring family ties and values. A full embrace of present duties would also require that the poor, hungry, needy and homeless are recognized even in their “most distressing disguises” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta) and cared for with reverence and love. A full embrace of present duties would require that each disciple of Jesus begin to think and to live in terms of “you” and “we,” rather that “I” and “me.” To fully embrace present duties would require that charity truly begin at home; a sterile and uninvolved donation sent through the mail to a faceless need in a far off place is no substitute for a visit to the lonely curmudgeon who lives next door. Present duties may demand more talking and less television, more listening and less pontificating, more silence and less gossip, more time give over to prayer, here and now, and less energy frittered away worrying about the future.

From the Lucan evangelist (gospel), we learn that the future holds a day when even the most significant human achievements will pass away. For his first century contemporaries, the temple in Jerusalem seemed timeless and indestructible; yet Jesus warned them that it too would one day be destroyed; that day came sooner than they expected in 70 C.E.! However, Walter J. Burghardt (Speak the Word with Boldness, Paulist Press, New York: 1994) encourages readers of his gospel to delve further into its meaning. The true temple, wherein God is encountered, praised and petitioned, is not made of stone but of the heart and soul and mind and strength of a human being, in love with God, in love with the human images of God. It is this temple which we are to hold in a constant state of preparedness so as to be ever ready to welcome the future and the God who has created it for us.

MALACHI 3:19-20

When the ancient Aztecs of Middle America envisioned the future, they believed that it would be ushered in by the return of the “feathered-serpent” god, Quetzalcoatl. A kind and gracious deity who had come to earth as a white man to teach the people the domestic arts, Quetzalcoatl was expected to return from the east after many centuries to lead the people to the abode of the gods where they would enjoy, eternal peace and happiness. When the white-skinned, Spanish explorer, Hernán Cortés and his shipmates landed on the Mexican Gulf coast in 1519, many welcomed him as their long awaited god. Hopes for eternal peace and happiness were soon dashed, however, when the clash of cultures resulted in a series of battles for power, land and wealth.

Centuries before the Aztecs, the Israelites, also envisioned a similarly glorious future which they believed would be ushered in by God were similarly disappointed. According to popular belief, the Day of the Lord was anticipated as a time of victory and exaltation over enemies. Israel’s collective memory of God’s past interventions on their behalf prompted a belief in eschatological Day, par excellence, whereupon God would definitively intervene and fulfill all the promises made to the patriarchs (of land, progeny, prosperity). However, the prophets, beginning with Amos in the eighth century B.C.E., offered a different perception of that great and future Day. Rather than joy and victory, they warned that the Day of the Lord would prove to be a day of reckoning and judgment not only for other nations (Obadiah 15) but also for Israel (Amos 5:18-20) and Judah (Joel 1:15). Rather than celebrate the coming of God in anticipation of expected reward, the guilty will try to hide themselves from the destroying whirlwind of dine furry (Zephaniah 1:14-18; Isaiah 2:10-11).

Like the prophetic colleagues, the fifth century B.C.E. author of Malachi warned his contemporaries that the coming Day would bring punishment, particularly as regards: (1) poorly celebrated and insincere liturgies (1:6-2:4); (2) the withholding of titles (3:8, 10-14); (3) allowing foreign and idolatrous practices to influence Israel’s cult; (4) social-injustice and the ever growing, discrepancy between the rich and the poor.

In the two verses that comprise today’s first reading, Malachi’s dire message about the future Day also holds out a promise of relief to the faithful. The same blazing sun which will ignite the proud and the evildoers and reduce them to stubble will bring the light of healing to shine on the just. As A. Marsh (“Malachi,” A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., New York: 1975) has explained, sun of justice is an exegetical genitive phrase which means the “sun which is justice”, with “justice” here connoting victory, as in Isaiah 41:2; 45:8; 46:13;51:5, 6,8). This phrase drew upon a symbol common to several cultures in the ancient near Eastern world, viz., the sun god which was represented as a winged solar disk whose presence provided warmth, light and life. Literally, the word rays (v. 20) should be rendered as wings. The scriptural authors adopted this symbolism and applied it to Yahweh, the one God of all whose presence blesses the good with light and life and punishes the evil with a destroying fire. Later, Christians applied the same title to Jesus, the incarnate Son whom the light of salvation dawned upon the world and who will return as the glorious Son through whom the light of salvation dawned upon the world and who will return as the glorious Sun/Son of justice to usher in the future age.

2 THESSALONIANS 3:7-12

Someone once quipped, “There are two ways to get to the top of an oak tree: struggle to the top or sit on an acorn until it grows.” Unfortunately, some of the members of the church in Thessalonica had opted for the latter course of action, or, more correctly, inaction. While others gave themselves wholeheartedly to daily struggles of Christian living and sought, thereby, to be prepared to welcome the returning Jesus, others removed themselves from the fray and contented themselves with simply waiting for the parousia. Their idleness threatened to bankrupt the community, both socially and financially.

Some scholars attribute the early retirement of some Thessalonian believers to the expectation that Jesus would return imminently; in their enthusiasm to welcome the future, they quit their jobs in order to enjoy the delicious excitement of waiting for the coming glory. Other scholars are probably more correct in their assessment that the Thessalonians’ idleness could be attributed to a misconceived eschatology. Misled by an incipient strain of gnosticism, some believers thought that the Day of the Lord had already come. Thinking that they were already enjoying the parousia, some assumed that the “curse” of making a living (Genesis 3:17-19) had been revoked. Evidently, the luxury of too much leisure time was also taking a toll on the interpersonal relationships with the community. Rather that keep busy, some had become busybodies meddling and gossiping about the affairs of other people. In a comment on this text, William Barclay (“2 Thessalonians”, The Daily Study Bible, The Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh: 1975) remarked, “There may be greater sins that gossip but there is none which does more damage in the church.” Those who do their work with single-hearted strength will find therein a deterrent to the maliciousness that was condemned in the Thessalonian correspondence.

In his commentary on this text, Reginald Fuller (Preaching the New Lectionary, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville: 1976) cautions against too simplistic an interpretation and application. The idleness of many in today’s world is not always a consequence of a misconceived eschatology. In a society, rife with economic injustice, many are force into idleness by down-sizing, cutbacks and layoffs. Therefore the “rule,” that those who do not work should not eat should not be enforced. It would be an added injustice if this rule were lifted out of its original context and applied literally as a panacea for contemporary unemployment. What is at issue there is a matter of hermeneutics; only with sensitivity to the scriptural message, its context and to the contemporary scene can this word be authentically preached, listened to and lived.

Would that each of us who preach and/or teach his word could offer ourselves as an example of hard work as did the ancient author. Unwilling to burden the community with his upkeep, he “labored to the point of exhaustion” to support himself. If 2 Thessalonians were written by Paul, we know from his other letters that he was a tentmaker by trade; as such, he would have worked at the making and repairing of tents as well as other leather goods. If the letter is pseudonymous, then it seems clear that its author followed Paul’s lead, working diligently to make a living and giving himself generously to his ministry. With these examples to inspire us, we who continue to await Jesus’ return in glory are called to do likewise.

LUKE 21:5-19

To better appreciate the grandeur of the Jerusalem temple and to understand why Jesus’ contemporaries were marveling at its beauty, the following description by the Jewish historian, Josephus may prove helpful: “Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over with massive plates of gold and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceedingly white. On its top, it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution of it by birds sitting upon it. Of its stones, some of them were forty-five cubits in length, five in height and six in breadth” (Jewish Wars, 5, 5, 6, 222-224).

With their mouths agape in awe at such a sight, the words of Jesus must have made his companions’ jaws drop even lower. The day would come, he warned, that every stone of the great temple complex would be razed to the ground. Exhorting his listeners not to be fearful or perturbed, Jesus also assured them that they would know suffering, struggle and trial. While there is sufficient reason to believe that Jesus did actually predict the temple’s demise (Mark 14:58, 15:29; John 2:19; Acts 6:14), scholars believe that his original statement was expanded into an apocalyptic discourse by the early church.

Often described as resistance or persecution literature, early Christian apocalyptic was not so much concerned with prediction as with interpretation. To strengthen them against present difficulties, apocalyptic writers encouraged their readers to interpret their sufferings as a sharing in the birth pangs of the “end.” If they remained constant in faith, believers were assured that they could welcome the end of all things and the beginning of eternity with confidence and joy rather than fear and dread.

What is important for contemporary readers of this piece of Lucan apocalyptic to remember is that the events in question had already taken place by the time Luke’s gospel appeared in the eighties C.E. Jerusalem and the temple fell in 70 C.E. Earthquakes, plagues and famines did occur in various places. Jesus’ followers were manhandled, persecuted, summoned before synagogues and imprisoned because of their faith. Some were betrayed and delivered up by family, relatives and friends. They were hated because of Jesus, but when they gave witness, they were blessed with words and a wisdom to which none could take exception.

What is also important for contemporary believers to remember is that while the crises Luke described have already occurred, the struggle to remain committed to Christ in an often hostile environment persists. For that reason, Jesus’ advise concerning Christian attitudes and behavior remains relevant. From the outlet, he counseled his followers not to be misled (v. 8). “Misled” or planar (Greek) means a departure from the truth or from fidelity. By recalling his words and his promise of support (v. 15), the disciples of Jesus were and are duly equipped to face whatever difficulties should arise as a consequence of Christian commitment. Moreover, each of us is encouraged to accept whatever persecution or rejection may come our way as an opportunity for witnessing to and strengthening that commitment. Though few of us will be called to pay the ultimate price of a martyr’s death, each of us is called to that daily dying without which there is no authentic discipleship.

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