As We Approach Advent, and Prepare for His Coming . . . Hear What Jesus Says About His Second Coming (TA)

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As We Approach Advent, and Prepare for His Coming . . . Hear What Jesus Says About His Second Coming (TA)

The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

Jesus said to his disciples, As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark. And the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.

On the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop, and whose belongings are in the house, must not go down to get them. And likewise, One in the field was not, must not return to what was left behind.

Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. But whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together. One will be taken, the other left. They said to him in reply, Where, Lord?

He said to them, Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather. The Gospel of the Lord.

 

Homily – Hear What Jesus Says . . .

Our first reading from the Book of Wisdom expresses a curious puzzlement on the part of the sacred author in that there are so very many who, looking at the things of the world, and when he speaks that way, he is talking about the most beautiful of the things of the world, much like the beauty we experience simply by sitting here.

The movement of the wind, the color of the trees, the deep blue of the sky, the brightness of the sun, and find themselves so overwhelmed and captivated by that beauty. They name it God and begin to worship it. And that there are others who, standing on the beach, see the might of the ocean and hear the roar of the waves.

. . . About His Second Coming

There are those who, in the middle of the storm, feel the power of the wind and the terrifying boom of thunder. There are those who feel the blazing heat of the sun and feel overwhelmed by the sheer power of these things, and name them God. And in speaking this way, the sacred author is saying, note how hungry the heart of man is to know God.

Note how ready The heart of man is to surrender to that which he perceives as greater than himself. But note how odd it is that as fascinated as man is by these things, he has a tendency to stop at the things and not move beyond them. And so it is that one is overwhelmed by the beauty of creation. But doesn’t ask the next question.

Who makes these beautiful and passing things if not one who is beautiful and does not pass away? To see the might of the natural world, its great strength, and to pause there and say, but what is the source of this might and this strength? Why is it that when the human mind sees the pointing finger indicating something beyond itself, it never looks past the fingertip and fails to see God.

Overwhelmed by the Beauty of Creation

And there’s a curious compassion on the part of the author saying, it’s understandable, it’s not as bad as rejecting God completely, and yet note how invincibly ignorant the human heart can be. Stopping only at the things, without meeting their maker. And when we stop at the things and fail to meet the maker, we wind up lost, however good our intentions may be.

This disposition that we hear in our first reading, that the heavens themselves, as our psalms said, proclaim the glory of God, and yet we… See the heavens proclaiming in their beauty, but fail to miss what they proclaim. This is a disposition that underlies the teaching of Jesus. So Jesus now, speaking to his disciples, is speaking of that day when the Son of Man will be revealed.

And in speaking of this way, he is pointing ahead to His second coming, to that day when the Lord will come and there will be no doubt at all who he is. When the glory of the Lord, the triumph of the Lord, the victory of the Lord will be unambiguously revealed. And yet he says, even as that day arrives, There are going to be two very, very different outcomes, depending on the state of the attentiveness of the heart of man.

And note the examples he uses. He uses the examples of, on the one hand, what seems to be sudden destruction, the heavens opening and the floodwaters coming down at the time of Noah, that washed away sin, but also provided a new beginning for the human race. And the moment of the destruction of the city of Sodom, and yet in speaking of this way, in this way, the Lord is very surprising.

Two Very Different Outcomes . . .

Because note, he doesn’t reference the wickedness of the world at the time of Noah. Nor does he reference the crimes of the people of Sodom, at least not directly. Not what he says. At the time of Noah, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and then the flood came. And we sit there and we say, well, what’s wrong with eating and drinking?

And what’s wrong with marrying and being given in marriage? Furthermore, we’re puzzled. Then the Lord continues as he refers to Sodom. And again, the mind, the believer’s mind is conditioned to think of the wickedness of that city. And yet, what does the Lord say? They were buying and selling, building and planting.

All of those things that we consider are the good things of a healthy society. And then destruction rains down upon them. How puzzling that is. He doesn’t say they gave themselves over to carnality. He doesn’t say they surrendered to wickedness. And, He doesn’t say they were violent and oppressive. He doesn’t say they were impious.

. . . Depending on the State of the Attentiveness of the Heart of Man

How odd. He describes very mundane things. And why? Because societies don’t become wicked overnight, they become wicked and wickedness becomes possible when the heart of man loses itself in the things of the world, in the details of just getting by. And so it is that we see time and time again worldly affairs go south and everyone shrugs their shoulders and says, how did this happen?

I was simply eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling and building and planning for the future. And in the middle of all of that, wickedness takes root. In the middle of all of that, again, what do we see? Only the heart of man stops at the pointing finger and never sees the One that is indicated.

And when the heart of man does that, it becomes lost in the things of the world. It sleeps there. So the Lord gives this example. The flood doesn’t come until Noah is taken away. The fire does not rain down on Sodom until Lot is escorted out of the city. So note what the Lord is also saying. He is saying there are those who are faithful to me that I will preserve and they will be saved.

But even as I am saving them, judgment comes on the others. And judgment is not nearly merely a matter of obvious wickedness. It is a matter of where has the heart been dwelling! Where has the heart really made its home! Note the echo of our first reading. They are less guilty who name the created things of this world their gods, but they are still guilty.

The Lord Explains

They are guilty of failing to turn to the one who truly is God. And so the Lord continues with these other mysterious examples. If you’re on the roof of your house, And we sit there and say, who hangs out on their roof? But note the image. This image of being on top of things. This image of having ascended.

And, this image of having climbed. If you have ascended and acquired real virtue, don’t go back down inside.

Stay on the roof. Stay on the height. Live in that virtue you have worked to acquire. Don’t turn away from it. If you are out working in the field, and note that this is a recurring image of Jesus for those who serve in the church. For those who serve Him. To work in the vineyard. To work in the field. What does he say?

Keep working. Don’t look back to what you gave up. Don’t look back to what you’ve set aside. Keep moving forward. And the example he uses is Lot’s wife; who as we know, on fleeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, turned around to look at what she was leaving, and she herself was lost. In speaking this way, the Lord says, don’t be nostalgic . . . for those behaviors you’ve set aside. Don’t be nostalgic for those vices you’ve left behind you. They’ll keep calling, but don’t turn back to them, and you will be safe. If you want to go back to the way things were, you’ll lose yourself. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. Don’t… Cling to these lesser things.

Rest in the Lord Means Something Specific

Hold on to the truth that I hold out for you. And so he then continues, again with curious examples. He speaks of the night and a sleeping. And note again, and then two women grinding. And note how to the eye everything is identical. So, two people sharing one bed equally asleep, two women sharing one task equally at work, and yet there’s a distinction between them.

And note here how the Lord isn’t exactly saying one way of life is better than another. He’s not exactly saying. One way of doing things is better than another. One career is holy, another career is not. But rather, within the same things, such an outward experience, uh, outward appearances, all is the same.

They’re both asleep. They’re both working. There is a difference. One will be taken. The other will be left. One will be accepted. The other will be rejected. Note that he doesn’t say one woman is working and the other is cheating. He doesn’t say one is sleeping and the other is in bed contemplating a robbery.

He doesn’t say any of that. They’re simply sleeping. They’re simply working. So the question is. What is it about the one who is sleeping that is accepted? The one who is working that is accepted? And the one who is sleeping and is rejected? The one who is working and is rejected? And so, the issue is, in what do you rest?

Where Do . . .

We all rest somewhere, even when we’re wide awake. Every life has a point of rest. Every life has a point of rest. Some rest complacently in their self-indulgence. Some rest complacently in the sense that everything is okay, I’ve done enough. Others, however, rest in the Lord, and that’s a very different rest.

They rest not in their possessions, but in the one who gives them grace. They rest not in their accomplishments, but in the one who accomplishes their salvation. Note the difference. That one who sleeps is accepted. But that one who rests in his things, that one who rests in his possessions, that one who rests in his resentment, that one who rests in an ambition that has no room for the Lord, is that one who will be left behind.

And so it is as well. That one who works on behalf of the gospel, that one who works to acquire virtue, that one who in his working is attentive to the good and the well-being of others; oh, that one, that one will be taken. But that one who works to acquire the things of the world. That one who works only to advance himself, that one whose life becomes preoccupied by all of the things we believe we need to do, to the extent that we lose the most important things, that one will be left.

. . . You Live?

Both work, and both work hard, but not all hard work is good. Both rests. And, both rests perhaps well, but not all rest is the same. What a powerful image this is. And note here again how the Lord doesn’t allow us to live with easy answers of, I haven’t committed any crimes, I think I’m okay. He’s asking that more fundamental question, Where does my heart rest?

Where do I really live? For what am I working, and how do I expend my energy? We all do these things, but there are two ways of doing them. There is the way that opens us up to the Lord, and there is the way that loses us in the things of the world around us. Like those individuals of whom we hear in our first reading, captivated by the beauty of passing things.

They surrender the control of their lives into the hands of those things. Captivated by the passing power of passing things, they surrender themselves into the control and the care of those passing things that can’t save them. But those who can see in the beauty of these passing things, and in the power and the greatness of these passing things, that one who is more beautiful.

Surrender . . .

Consider well that one who is truly great, those are the ones who will live rightly, work rightly, and rest well. Those are the ones who on that great day will be taken. And so the Lord says to his disciples, consider well, not just with the outward eye of how things seem, but look deeper. Look through them and perceive the greater reality and give your heart there.

How wonderful it is to reflect on this here, because in just a few minutes, we are going to see what to the physical eye is an incredibly non impressive reality. A little bit of wine, a few pieces of bread on this altar. In worldly terms, there is no greatness there. And, in worldly terms, it’s not particularly beautiful.

. . . Control

In worldly terms, is no overwhelming power or might there that we can see. Note, to the outward eye, there is nothing of significance. But to the eye of faith, to the eye that looks beyond the passing outward appearances, we see something exquisitely beautiful. In fact, someone exquisitely beautiful. We see not merely something great, but someone great, greater than all.

The Lord himself, hidden in the humble aspect of bread and wine, but present. The eye of the world cannot recognize him. The eye of faith does. And how wonderful it is that. That recognizing Him with the eye of faith, we come forward and we stretch out our hands to receive Him. And in that act of receiving, there is something of a very real pledge.

That even as the Lord gives Himself to us in this great sacrament, He also lets us know He desires to take us to Himself. He desires, when all things are complete, to receive us. And how wonderful that is. Even as we receive him, in a sense, we give ourselves to him. And we declare to him, we want to be among that number who are taken, not that number who are left.

And so we stretch out our hands, or we open our mouths to Him, recognizing there is a greatness and a beauty and a power here that even though the world can’t see it or understand it, the eye of faith recognizes its truth and its fullness and indeed what a great gift that is. Amen.