Year C – Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was rushing to catch a bus to college. Two young men accosted me in a rather friendly manner. I was almost near the bus stop, so I stopped by to listen to them. They showed me a picture of a beautiful garden – a classical scene from the Garden of Eden! “Would you like the world to be like this?” They asked. I immediately guessed that they were members of a sect or something. I came up with my answer quite spontaneously, “It is already like this; after all, the world is good.” They were somewhat surprised by my unexpected answer. They didn’t know how to proceed on with the conversation. They didn’t want to give up anyway. “Do you really think it is like this?” They went on. “Oh yes, that is how I see it.” As we were talking this way, the bus I was to take to college went by without stopping. I told my two friends, “You see, there goes my bus. If you keep talking this way, my world will indeed become bad.” They laughed and began to apologise profusely. Embarrassed, finally they left. And I went on to wait for the next bus.

As we reach the end of the liturgical year (next week will be the last Sunday in the liturgical calendar when we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, and the following Sunday will be the First Sunday in Advent) and as we conclude the Lukan account of the public ministry of Jesus, the Word of God today speaks to us about “the end”. Overwhelmed by the horrific description of events such as destructions, wars, revolutions, fights, earthquakes, plagues, famines, and fearful sights, we might forget to hear the real words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid… but the end is not so soon” (Lk 21:9).

Most human beings are naturally pessimistic. Psychologists say, our brain is hard-wired to detect danger more quickly than to perceive opportunities. As hunters and gatherers, we had to have our antenna for danger-detection on high alert. It was more important to detect an approaching threat even before perceiving a source of food. Pessimists and critical people are necessary for the survival of a group. But if you have too many of them around, don’t expect too much of creativity and spontaneity in the group. And if a group lacks creativity, eventually it will die of its own over-exaggerated instinct for protection.

So, is the world getting worse?

So, is the world getting worse, supposedly predicting ‘the end of the world’? I am a stanch ‘believer’ in the law of entropy. This law can be understood in two related ways: (1) Left to themselves, things degrade; (2) The level of usable energy in the universe is on the decline. One implication of this is that the Sun, the source of energy in our solar system, could one day die out. It could become a dark planet. When is this going to happen? Surely, not in our life time! Scientists have their prediction in terms of millions of years.

Meanwhile, there is ample evidence that suggests that the world of human beings is getting only better. Life-expectancy is globally increasing (it was 32 years in 1900 compared to 69 now), thanks to our improved health-care. The body of human knowledge is fast expanding, and more people are being educated. Human societies are getting better organized, more united, becoming more fair and just. If you watch TV tonight, and judge the history of humanity in terms of the events of yesterday, what I am saying will make no sense. A simple evidence to show that the world is getting better is that we keep giving birth to more and more children – we are happy to welcome others to this world. Yes, the world is getter better, but we do know that there is still a tendency in each one of us towards evil.

So, what is all this ‘end’ about? I hear the Word of God on this Sunday telling me the following:

My faith is not to be built on material edifice or logical argumentation.

The gospel text of today begins with the comments of Jesus about the Temple. “When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, he said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed’” (Lk 21:5-6). The implication of this is that my own faith and confidence in salvation should not be based on anything external – any Temple, of the Jews and the Christians: structures and institutions. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… But the hour is coming – indeed is already here – when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (Jn 4:21-23). Simply put, my salvation is here and now – in the experience of God in the person of Jesus. This will be the end of my own struggle with evil.

On account of the experience of God in Jesus – through our cooperation with the grace of God, through the choices that individuals make in their lives, through the conversion of hearts, the presence of evil in the world will come to a total end.

The reign of evil will come to an end.

This is affirmed by the first reading of today: “The day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and evil-doers will be like stubble… But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays” (Mal 3:19-20). These lines are also consistent with the symbol of fire associated with the ‘last judgement’ in the gospels (Mt 25:41). Fire purifies. The reign of evil, after all, is the result of the collective individual choices towards evil. Hence when individuals deal with their tendency towards evil – through the experience of God in Jesus – the reign of collective evil will end. Therefore, “do not be afraid” (Lk 21:9).

When will this happen (Lk 21:7)? Jesus does not commit himself to a specific time. He is eternal. Eternality is not calculated in terms of duration – year 2022, or the end of the Maya Calendar. Eternity is here, now, and ever.

Meanwhile, go on quietly working…

We cannot just sit and wait for eternity. There is no need to stop fulfilling our daily duties, as some Christians in Thessalonica were doing. They had stopped working, waiting for the end of the world, and preaching the same to others, confusing them and causing a lot of disturbance. Paul had to intervene and warn them in very strong words: “In the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge and call on people of this kind to go on quietly working and earning the food that they eat” (2The 3:12). Paul gives a reason for this command, “About the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, brothers, and our being gathered to him: please do not be too easily thrown into confusion or alarmed by any manifestation of the Spirit…” (2The 2:1-2).

So we continue to catch the buses to our places of work and study. Even as we do that, we can make ourselves open to the experience of God in Jesus. With His grace, we can continue to overcome the tendency towards evil in our own selves. The world is becoming, and will become, a better place.