If we pay attention to the readings the Church gives us in these final weeks of the liturgical year, we notice they are are more than a little dark in their mood. They tell stories of faithful Jews suffering for their loyalty to the covenant with God. They speak of bad kings, corrupt clergy, oracles of doom and gloom, incredible destruction, injustice, and pain. All of this leads up to the anticipation of a savior who will set things right and usher in a time of peace and eternal life for those who remained faithful to God and witnessed to him in the midst of trial and tribulation. The Church has us reflect on these heavy themes, right before advent begins, to jar us out of any complacency or spiritual laziness we may have developed in the past year. More importantly She asks us think about more than the life we are living right now but also the life we are made to strive for; eternity with God. And one simple question runs through it all. When the King of Heaven and Earth returns (and one day he will), what account will each of us give him? Will he find us faithful, watching, anticipating, and doing the works of his kingdom? Or will we be caught off guard, ashamed at the things we didn’t do for him because we thought there were would always be another tomorrow?
This question about the end of the world has captivated people of every age. Even the apostles wanted Jesus to tell them when it would happen. You could fill a library if you wrote down all the theories, predictions, and prophecies that have been put forth about when life on earth will reach its end. Even certain politicians in our time have offered a specific number, 12 years, as the remaining time before life as we know it, is over. But in fairness, it’s not all crazy talk and bluster. You and me, as Catholics, acknowledge the end of the world every time we celebrate Sunday Mass! In the creed, we profess that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. This second coming of Christ is the final buzzer, the moment of eternal glory for all who have been faithful in witnessing to his name and serving his people. That moment will also be the beginning of eternal shame and dread for all those who chose to serve other gods or themselves with their lives.
The natural human response to the end of the world generally takes one of two spiritually-problematic approaches. The first is to obsess over it and try to figure out the day and time by taking Scripture out of context, attempting to connect the dots of prophecies, signs, and predictions and also interpreting the problems of our times as the beginning of the apocalypse. This approach never works but amazingly, we humans do it again and again in every generation and Christians are not immune to it. In fact this is exactly what St. Paul is criticizing in second reading to the Thessalonians. A number of new converts in this town thought they had figured out that Jesus was going to be back any day. So they quit their jobs, and just sat around waiting for Jesus to appear and the world to end. Well, what happens when people don’t have anything to do? They started becoming busybodies, getting in everyone else’s business and causing trouble for the Christians who still had jobs and were trying to live stable, productive, holy lives. Worst of all, because they weren’t working, they couldn’t pay for food and were becoming a hardship to the ones who were still doing their job and living out their faith. So St. Paul takes them to task and says, “get back to work, stop being busybodies, and earn your own food”. If our thinking and preparing for the end of the world and the return of Jesus causes us to withdraw from society and abandon our responsibilities towards God and others, especially the poor and suffering, then it isn’t holy or healthy.
But I don’t think this is the main problem for Christians today. I think we are in danger of taking the other approach to the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. In our time, it is much more common to procrastinate and avoid thinking about it all together. In general, we priests don’t preach about it; shame on us because someday it WILL happen. I also think the devil has been very clever to persuade most of us that being busy is the truest measure of being a good parent, a good priest, and a normal family. And so we live generally unreflective lives and bounce from one activity to another. Our first reading was from the prophet Malachi and he was the last prophet before Jesus was born. His is also the last book of the Hebrew bible and after he spoke, there is nothing but radio silence from God for 450 years until Jesus is born quietly in Bethlehem. Guess what Malachi was speaking against? The fact that many of the priests had become corrupt. Also that God’s people no longer observed the sabbath and rarely worshipped God. Instead they looked pretty much like their pagan neighbors in how they acted and what they strove for. Couldn’t that apply to our time? Do we Christians look and act any different than those in society who do not believe in Jesus? Do we try not to think about the return of Jesus because we have grown attached to this fallen world and we are happy enough as we are? Aren’t there times for all of us, and I include myself in this, where we put aside the things of God like prayer, coming to Mass, sitting in silence with God, serving others through regular parish ministry or other charitable works and being restored by Sunday rest and time with our family. Instead we run around like crazy people doing things that have very little value in the scope of eternity, perhaps figuring that we will get to that spiritual stuff later.
Whatever our individual temptation is regarding the end of the world and the return of Jesus in glory, we would do well to look it straight in the eye and own up to it. We cannot run from the inevitable, we do not want to live in spiritual denial of the fact that this life does not last forever, the good things this world offers are passing away, and each and every one of us will stand before God to explain what we did with the time and talents he gave to us. It doesn’t have to be a dreadful experience! But we need to take the middle road between obsessing over the end of the world and trying not to think about it. You and I are called to plan as if Christ's return were years away by building spiritual lives and charitable practices that can stand up to the challenges of a lifetime, but also live each day as though it was the one when Jesus returns. Living a spiritually-balanced and vigilant life is not easy. In fact it can only be done with the grace of God, which fortunately, he cannot wait to give us. Therefore, let us all, in these final weeks of the church year, re-affirm our belief that one day, maybe tomorrow, maybe a thousand years from now, Jesus will return and we want him to find us watching and waiting and doing the works that make us his people. If we’ve become busybodies or spiritual freeloaders, let’s not lose hope but recommit ourselves to living a healthy anticipation of the return of our king.
