Today’s question is for movie buffs or those who watch television. My question is this: What is your favorite way to destroy the world? Or what’s your favorite movie about how the world will end? Hollywood has a variety of options for you to choose from. Meteors and asteroids colliding with the earth were in vogue for a while. Now there seems to be a focus not on things from outer space but rather, global destruction resulting from what we humans have done, or failed to do, regarding our environment. Ice storms and floods seem to be “in” now days.
There are also symbols of destruction to consider. The Statue of Liberty has been big, ever since the making of “The Planet of the Apes.” Of course, besides natural disasters, there is also planetary destruction by alien invaders from space. The ones in “Independence Day” got rid of more monuments than just the Statue of Liberty.
For the Israelites the major symbolic monument has always been the temple in Jerusalem. It had been destroyed several times by invading armies. And each time, the original Temple of Solomon was rebuilt on even a grander scale. In today’s gospel reading, the disciples of Jesus were very impressed by the majesty of the temple in its construction of huge stones and magnificent decorations. But Jesus said that it, too, would be destroyed.
He began with specifics about the temple. After his death and resurrection, as his disciples awaited his return and the end of the physical world as they knew it, they began to interpret his words in a broader sense: as a prediction of the signs portending the destruction of the entire world and not just the Temple of Solomon. Christians, ever since, have been asking the same question: how will it be known when the world will end? In our collective mind, there appears to be the corollary concern: if only we knew when the world will end, we could prepare ourselves for its destruction. It’s not unlike the unstated question many individuals have: if only I knew when I was going to die, I could prepare for it by changing my life just before it happens. In the meantime, it’s business as usual.
The answer given by Jesus to his disciples about the destruction of the temple was simple. Although there will be signs, only God the Father knows the actual time of the event. This specific response has not stopped future Christians from wondering and predicting, themselves, when the world will end. They have done this in each age for the past two thousand years.
Throughout the centuries we have seen the signs given by Christ, who said: “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.” And yet, the final days have not arrived. Thus far, no one has been “left behind.” Nevertheless, we experience the signs. We continue to experience destruction after destruction. So, the question may well be not “when” but rather, “how do we respond to the destructions we experience? How do we live daily with the knowledge that today may be the last day of our lives on this planet – as an individual person or as a people?”
Perhaps one response might be given through an observation of ruined monuments. Have you ever visited the ruins of a great building? In our travels, Karen and I have had the good fortune to see where castles and cathedrals once stood. And as impressive as the ruins might be, or as magnificent as they once were as seen by the eyes of our imagination, I, personally, have found my greatest awe in another sight: in the glimpse of flowers growing among the rocks, sometimes, seemingly, from the very rock itself. What I see is not only the edifice which once soared above me or the present ruins before me but also, and most importantly, the hope, the expectation of new life.
Each of us as individuals, or as members of a particular community or nation, experience destruction in our lives. Radical events happen over which we have no control. We could wish for a prediction of what might occur so we could prepare ourselves for the event that will destroy our previous lives. But we receive no such predictions. All we can do is look for the flowers in the ruins of our lives. All we can do is nurture their growth.
I began a few minutes ago by recalling movies and TV programs about the destruction of the world. Although I can be momentarily entertained by such programs, they are not really my favorites. I, myself, prefer watching “American Dreams” or “Joan of Arcadia.” At present I’m hooked on “Lost.” In these presentations, there is always the potential for harm, for major changes, for destruction. But there is also the potential for hope. For a better tomorrow. With the expectation that each episode will end on a positive note. That life, itself, has meaning.
In our first reading from the book of the prophet Malachi, we heard of the destruction of the world by a blazing fire. However, for those who trust in the Lord God, Malachi said that rather than a blazing consummation, “There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”
In the final line of today’s gospel, we heard the words of Jesus: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” Yes, there will be a destruction, a falling apart of what we have and what we want on this earth. Yet, as followers of Jesus the Christ, we also know that with perseverance and hope, we will experience an everlasting life with him. Our ultimate focus is not on the monuments of earth but upon the banquet of heaven.
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time; November 14, 2004
Mal 3:19-20a; 2 Thes 3:7-12; Lk 21:5-19