Homily for Wednesday, 26 November 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Revelation 15:1-4; Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 7-8, 9; Luke 21:12-19

Who among us has seen a good action movie, one in which the hero emerges in a final scene from the destruction and chaos with maybe a few scratches?

The cynical side of me says when I see this kind of scene, “This is unrealistic. That explosion would have killed our hero. In no way would our hero have survived that”!

Now imagine ourselves in one of these scenes, only we are not in an action movie. What we are experiencing is real. If we can place ourselves in this kind of action scene as the heroes who emerge unscathed from the final chaos, we have some understanding of the strange readings we hear today from Revelation and the Gospel of Luke.

Our readings today are from what is called apocalyptic literature in the Bible; writings that were meant to inspire people to remain faithful to God in times of trial; crisis; hostility. The message the same now as when Revelation and Luke’s Gospel were written: Remain faithful to God and God will have the last word. The eternal God will deliver and save us from earthly trials and crises that, as terrible as they can be, are temporary. God will have the last word; the final judgment. Remain faithful, and we will emerge unscathed, as though we were standing on “a sea of glass mingled with fire,” the action heroes looking defiantly on the chaos we have just overcome; that God has led us to overcome.

Of course the crisis we face may not be as spectacular as the “sea of glass mingled with fire” or even the brutal Roman occupation the people faced when the New Testament books were written. Our crises are more subtle today, but are nevertheless present. In our own culture, our own nation, we face affronts to the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. We face affronts to justice and human rights: The right to a living wage for workers; the right not to live in abject poverty; the rights of immigrants and refugees; rights that, when broken or ignored, contribute to situations like what is unfolding now in Ferguson, Missouri. Some of us face crises within our own families: Gossip, ridicule for holding fast to our faith even from those we love most; family division and breakdown of the kind Jesus speaks in our Gospel reading. But then Jesus ends our Gospel reading with this: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Our message is still the same today as in the spectacular apocalyptic images of our readings: Remain faithful to God. Work for what is right and just, even if we are ridiculed or ignored. God will have the final word; the last judgment.

We near the end of our Church year, with Advent beginning this weekend. This end of our Church year is a reminder of the end times; of God’s final judgement that is real, not only a scene in an action movie. And yet we are the heroes of these end times. Like a good action hero, if we remain faithful we will emerge from the chaos unscathed; saved; with God in eternal life.