Au In the beginning was the Word
 

1.- Questions are repeated in every generation: when? how? where? We know how to interpret the aspect of the sky: we will have good weather, we will have bad weather. But, do we know how to interpret the signals of the times (Mt 16, 3-4), do we know how to interpret the signals of the end? Of its own, the signals of the end indicate that the end is near. Nevertheless, the ultimate or eschatological dimension (ésiaton limit, end) has been displaced to the end of the history, though it is a dimension of the present time: what has to come, the new, the definitive. What did Jesus say about this? Could he see the signals of its own end? Did he know how to see the end of that generation, of that society, of that temple?

2.- In several ways, Jesus has his own end present. After curing on Saturday the man of the dry hand, the Pharisees and the Herodian already plan how to destroy him (Mk 3,6). In other occasion, some Pharisees tell him: Leave this place and go on your way, for Herod (Anthipas) wants to kill you. Jesus answers with decision and firmness: Go and give that fox my answer: I drive out demons and heal today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my course! Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and for a little longer, for it would not be fitting for a prophet to be killed outside Jerusalem. (Lk 13,31-33). Finally, there is the triple announcement of his violent death (Mt 16, 17,20), He knows where and who will kill him: See, we are going to Jerusalem. There, the Son of Man will be given over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, who will condemn him to death. They will hand him over to the foreigners who will make fun of him, scourge him and crucified him. (Mt 20, 17-19).

3.- The conflict of Jesus with the religious chiefs of his people is definitely aggravated: the temple is denounced as a bandit’s cave (Mt 21); the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, have sat on the cathedra of Moses (Mt 23). Nevertheless, the disciples allow themselves to be influenced by the imposing building that is the temple, a work of Herod the Great, sanguinary dictator, Rome allied. According to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, the temple was “covered anywhere with thick gold plaques”, “where there was no gold, it was covered with most white marble” (Jewish war V, 222-224). Well then, Jesus announces the end of the temple, national symbol: Not one stone will be left upon another here (Mt 24,2).

4.- When Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him and asked: Tell us when this will take place, and what signs will be given us before your coming and the end of history (Mt 24,3). Three questions in one: the destruction of the temple, the coming of Jesus as Lord (the day of the Son of man), the end of the world. Saint Mark´s evangel says it in a simpler way: Tell us when this will be, and what signs will be given us before all this happen (Mc 13,2).

5.- Open your eyes to the signals of the end!, says Jesus: You yourself can find the answer: Learn a lesson from the fig tree: when its branches become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all that I have told you, know that the time is near, even at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away (Mt 24, 32-35). In Saint Luke´s evangel this is said in the following way: In the same way, as soon as you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. (Lk 21,31). Really, the kingdom of God is not like something you can observe and say of it: “Look, here it is! There it is!. See, the kingdom of God is among you”

6.- The people were wondering (Lk 3,15). In the Old Testament the day of the Lord is expected, day of judgement in which social injustices and false piety will be condemned. That day the kingdom of God will manifest over his people, over all peoples, over the world. The hope is a new situation where right, justice and peace will become triumphant. God´s servant will announce justice to the nations: He will not waver or be broken until he has established justice on earth: the islands are waiting for his law (Is 42,4). God´s kingdom will manifest over the ruins of the human empires (Dn 7). The good news that the believer people expect is this: God reigns! (Is 52,7). The expectation may have a nationalist sense, like it happens to the walkers of Emmaus after Jesus´ death: We had hoped that he would redeem Israel (Lk 24,21). The same hope the other disciples, when they ask to the resurrected Lord:  Is it now that you will restore the Kingdom of Israel?. Jesus answers: It is no9t for you to know the time or the moment that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, thorough Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1,6-8). God´s kingdom is universal.

7.- In Jesus´ answer about the future that comes everything is mysteriously related: the final crisis that is growing, the day of the Son of man, the arrival of God´s kingdom. God´s kingdom that comes in power (Mk 9,1) is the kingdom of the Son of man that comes in the glory of the Father (Mt 16,27-28) and sits on his throne of glory to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (19,28). But, of course, all of this after much suffering and having been rejected by this generation (Lk 18,25), by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, killed and to resurrect at the third day (9,22).

8.- In general, Jesus´ generation rejects the Gospel and the judgment they deserves is severe: Came John, that did not eat nor drink, and they say: He has a demon. The Son of man came, who eats and drink, and they say: Look at this man! a glutton and drunkard (Mt 11,18-19). It is an evil and unfaithful people (12,39):  At the judgement, the people of Niniveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah. At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the other side of the world to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is greater than Solomon (12,41-42). Because of this you will be accountable for all the innocent blood of the prophets (23,33-36).

9.- There is an advice in Jesus´ answer, a call to discernment in order not to be deceived: Be on guard and let no one mislead you. Many will present themselves as the Saviour, and say: I am the Messiah, and they will deceive many people (Mt 24, 4-5), then if anyone says to you: Look, the Messiah is here! He is there!, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders able to deceive even God´s chosen people, if that were possible. See, I have told you everything ahead of time (24,23-25; see 2 Tes 2,1-3; 1 Tes 4,15).

10.- Well then, which are the signals of the end? The Gospel indicates some signals that announce to the world and to the man their own end: the war, the hunger, the plague, the death. Together with this horse riders of the Revelation (Rev 6, 3-8) that go through the earth, the future that comes is time of fight, of tribulation, of persecution: They will arrest you, and they will torture and kill you, and all nations will hate you for you bear my name (Mt 24,9). Amidst all horrors that in any epoch signal to the man his own end, resounds the good news that, spite of anything, God´s victory will be imposed: This Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world for all the nations to know (24,14). The signals of the end are the first pains of childbirth (24,8) of a new world that is being born. Now, when you see the first events, stand and lift up your heads, for your deliverance is drawing near (Lk 21,28). At the end, there is no the vacuity, but God, the Son of man. God makes with history what he made with Jesus´ life.

11.- Jesus refers to the current history, the one that his own generation is living: When you see the idol of the invader set up in the Temple according to what the prophet Daniel foretold (may the reader understand), then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. If you are on the housetop, do not come down to take anything with you. If you are in the field do not turn back to fetch your cloak.  How hard it will be for the pregnant women and mothers nursing their babies! Pray that it may not be in winter or on a Sabbath when you flee. For this will be a time of great trial such as was never known from the beginning of the world until now, and is never to be known again. And if that time were not to be shortened, no one would surprise. But God will shorten it for the sake of his chosen ones (Mt 24, 15-22)

12.- We can read Saint Luke´s evangel for more details: But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you must know that the time has come when she will be reduced to wasteland (Lk 21,20). When he approached the city, the day of his messianic entrance, Jesus cried for it, saying: If only today you knew the ways of peace! But your eyes are held from seeing. Yet, days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and shut you in and press on you from every side. And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and leave not a stone within you, for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God (Mt 19,41-44)

13.- On the years 64-66 a. D., more than three thousand persons were crucified in Jerusalem (F. Joseph, Jewish War II, 284-308). Jewish revolution against the roman occupation takes to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus´ army, the year 70. The temple was completely destroyed and a part of the population died on hunger or was assassinated. The first Christians did not make the war; they fled to Pella, on the other side of the Jordan. Without any doubt, they remembered Jesus´ breathtaking words over Jerusalem and the temple destruction.

14.- Taking prophets´ images, that announce nations and Jerusalem judgement (Is 13,9-20; 34,1-4; Zech 12,10-12), the commotion of the foundations is described: Because later, after that distress, the sun will grow dark, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the skies, and the whole universe will be shaken (Mt 24,29). The world sinks, but the last word is not the vacuity. The Son of man has it: All nations of the earth will beat their breasts and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with divine power (24,30). During his process, Jesus told Caiaphas: From now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Most Powerful and coming on the clouds of heaven (26,64).

15.- With his violent death, Jesus passes from this world to the Father (Jn 13,1), but he does not leave our world, since new manners become present in him. It is said in Saint John´s evangel: I am going away, but I am coming to you (Jn 14,28), a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live and you will also live (14,19). The coming of the Son of man will not be an additional event, in a concrete place. It will be like the lightning that flashes from the east even to the west (Mt 24,17). It will be seen from anywhere. It will be clear enough so that there is no doubt. But, where will it be?. Wherever the body is, the vultures will gather (24,28).

16.- But about that day and hour, nobody knows anything: not even the angels of God nor the son, but only the Father (Mt 24,36). So, it is necessary to be vigilant. Jesus generation looks like that of Noah: they live with their backs to the flood that is coming (24,37-39). It also looks like that of Lot: he lives with its back to the fire that lurks (Lk 17,28-29). Jesus words are said to a generation, his, but they can be applied for all generations

17.- The end is personal and is not transferable,  something that affects to each one and can arrive in any moment: Then, of two men in the field, one will be taken and the other left; of two women grinding wheat together at the mill, one will be taken and the other left (Mt 24, 40-41).

18.- So, we must be ready. The end may arrive by surprise, like the thief that assaults the house, when the owner is deeply sleeping: If the owner of the house knew that the thief would come by night around a certain hour, he would stay awake to prevent him from breaking into the house. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect. (Mt 24,43-44). The end can reach us like the death to the ignorant rich man of the parable. He believed he could have years of long and good life after a big crop, but God ended his computations: You fool, this very night your life will be taken; tell me who shall get all you have put aside? This is the lot of those who pile riches instead of becoming rich before God. (Lk 12,16-21).

19.- Peter has a doubt and asks to the Lord: Did you tell this parable only for us, or for everyone? (Lk 12,41). Also for you, says the Lord with another parable: Imagine a faithful and wise servant whom his master has put in charge of his household to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate indeed that servant if the master on coming finds him carrying out his duty. Truly, I say to you, his lord will entrust him with everything he has. Not so with the bad servant who thinks: My master is delayed. And he begins ill-treating his fellow servants while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know and at the hour he least expects. And he will dismiss that servant. His lot will be with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 24,45-51).

20.- In God´s future light, there is a tension between the already and the not yet. Times plenitude has arrived (1 Co 10,11) and the kingdom of God is really anticipated among us (LG 48), it breaks into history. As disciples, we are witnesses of this universal manifestation of God: Fortunate are you to see what you see! (Lk 10,23) Nevertheless, what we shall be has not yet been shown (1 Jn 3,2). Besides, like the council says, “we ignore the time in which the earth and the humanity will be consumed. We don´t know either the way in which the universe will be transformed. This world´s figure, deformed by the sin, passes, but God teaches us that he prepares a new home and a new earth for us where justice dwells, and which beatitude is able to satisfy and exceed every desire of peace coming out of the human heart” (GS 39)

21.- Christian faith cannot be used like a subterfuge to avoid world´s present problems. Neither compromise without faith, nor faith without compromise. The Council says: “The Christians who under the pretext that we don´t have here a permanent city, since we look for the future one, consider that they may neglect the temporal duties, without taking into account that the faith itself is a motive obliging them to the perfect accomplishment of all of them according to each one personal vocation, are mistaken” (GS 43).

 

*          For personal and group reflection:

-                     Last dimension has been displaced to the end of history

-                     It nevertheless is a dimension of the present time

-                     There are false christs and false prophets

-                     We perceive the signals of the end in our generation

-                     War, hunger, plague, death, foundation commotion

-                     It is time for light, tribulation, persecution

-                     The end is personal and not-transferable

-                     A new world is being born, among childbirth labour

-                     We must keep vigilant since we don´t know the day or the time

-                     We already perceive God´s universal manifestation

-                     What we shall be has not yet been shown

-                     Neither compromise without faith, nor faith without compromise.