33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
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FOCUS ON THE “MIDDLE”
It makes us happy when we reach
the end. Whether it is a movie, or a book, or a long travel, or a problematic
situation, when it ends, we rejoice.
But there is one “end” that makes
people, even devout Christians, afraid – the end of the world. In the spiritual
sphere, many self-styled prophets pretend to know how to predict the end. The
gospel today shows how far away from Jesus’ idea of the end the usual proofs we
hear about the end of the world.
Preachers will come in my name,
the Lord Jesus tells us. But it is not the end. There will be wars and
destructions. But the Lord assures us, this too is not the end. There will be a
string of calamities around the globe. Again, not the end of the world. There
will be sufferings and tribulations in the lives of many, but Jesus does not
give teachings on the endtimes, but rather encouragement to perseverance and
patience.
In the time of St. Paul many
people did nothing but think of and discuss the end of the world. They did
nothing else. St. Paul however, invited these people just to continue silently
and patiently working, so that their lives will be profitable. Only the Lord
knows the details of the end. Our duty is to make our present life a fertile
ground for the Kingdom of God.
Are you afraid of the end of the
world? Or the end of your life? Or the end of your dreams? The readings today invite us not to be
afraid, and not to be unduly preoccupied with matters beyond our control. Rather,
Jesus invites us to trust him and be like Paul, a model for believers in honest
and patient daily labor for the Kingdom.
Jesus ushered the beginning, when
he inaugurated the Kingdom. The end is in the hands of God in a future unknown
to us. Our responsibility is not to tend to the beginning or the end, but to
work in the “middle”, in the present, the now of our lives.
