22nd Week, Tuesday, August 31
1 Thess 5:1-6, 9-11 / Luke 4:31-37
Paul warns the Thessalonians; Don’t let the Lord’s coming surprise you.
The volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Its ash buried alive thousands of people in the exact bodily position they were in when the unexpected disaster struck. The decayed bodies of these people have left hollow cavities in the volcano’s hardened ash. By pouring plaster into these cavities, archaeologists have made casts and reconstructed the bodies of the victims. For example, one plaster cast shows a mother holding her child tightly. These casts remind us of Paul’s warning in today’s reading: The Second Coming of Jesus could ‘‘overtake you like a thief.”
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If the Second Coming of Jesus were to take place ten minutes from now, how prepared for it would we be? “Beware ... that day [may] catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray.” Luke 21:34-36
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When is the end of the world? This question was much discussed in the early church. There were two opposing currents of thought. One thought the end is close. This current was mainly among Jews. The last prophets (Ezra, Zephaniah, Malachi) and contemporary Jewish writers (like the historian Josephus Flavius), held the opinion that the end and with it the kingdom of God is close at hand. They were eagerly expecting it. Whilst the others, the Christian current of thought, held that the time was not known to any man, not even to Jesus, but only to God. What was important was to be ready for the coming of Christ: to do one’s work quietly and to live a good life. The answer Paul gives is the same as Christ's: The Day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night, most unexpectedly. We must live as children of light, not in the darkness of sin. With this, we can encourage each other and be firm. A Christian need not be anxious about when the Day will come, because he already belongs to the Day. The eschatological age has already begun, the climax will come at the Parousia of the Lord.
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Don’t you worry when the end time will come, Paul tell his Thessalonians. There is nothing to fear, just be always ready for the Lord’s coming.
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No one likes to live in a state of oppression and without freedom. It is like living in a dark and dirty confined chamber, almost like being in a prison. Furthermore, the stress and anxiety of a sudden torment out of nowhere will make life like a living hell. That was probably what the man who was possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil was experiencing. How he got possessed, we were not told, but we can be certain he was looking for a way out and be freed from this possession.
That was why he made his way to the synagogue to look for Jesus and it certainly took a great deal of effort on his part, as he had to fight with the unclean spirit who would be trying to prevent him from going there. But once in the presence of Jesus, the unclean spirit had to expose itself and now it was its turn to break free from the presence of Jesus.
Indeed, Jesus is the true Light who scatters the darkness of sin and evil and brings us Truth and Love. The 1st reading reiterates this by saying that we don't live in the dark, and that we are sons of light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness. But we must also keep encouraging each other and be the light of Christ to each other, so that darkness and evil will not oppress or possess us.
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The people and Jesus’ own disciples were often struck by the authority of Jesus. Here was someone higher than a mere human being. There was authority in his teaching – he had something to say that challenged men and confronted them with themselves and with God. He had authority over the law, which he wanted to trim from its man-made trappings. By his authority, he overcame the powers of evil and sin. He claimed to judge people. He used his authority for the good of people – it was a power of salvation. Yet it was a power that came in humility and weakness, an authority of service that brought faith, that gave hope, that expressed and created love. And when the time came, he used it to lay down his life and to take it up again, to pass it on to his disciples, and then to leave.
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Prayer
Lord our God, we say that authority means service, but we experience that it is very hard to make this beautiful principle work. Keep always before our eyes the example of your Son Jesus Christ. His authority was healing and saving, respectful of people and yet committing us to get out of our mediocrity. May all authority among us be humble, dedicated, self-effacing, willing to serve to the end, and patterned after that of Jesus, your Son and our Lord forever. Amen
