Today’s Gospel (Luke 21:5-19) is grim reading. It speaks of destruction, wars between nations, famines and plagues. We think this Gospel was written around the year 80. When they heard it, early Christians would have thought of the history they had recently lived through. After Jesus died, things became politically much worse in Israel. Within Judaism, various groups such as Zealots and Sicarii engaged in violent resistance to the increasingly corrupt Roman governors. In 66, they led a revolt. So Rome lay siege to Jerusalem until the city was theirs, killed 600,000-plus Jews, and in the year 70 destroyed the magnificent temple we hear of in the Gospel. “… Do not be terrified,” Jesus tells his followers, “for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Imagine the hope with which those words were heard by survivors of the horrors they lived through! That hope helped them endure the ongoing sporadic persecutions by the Roman emperors and establish Christian communities outside Jerusalem.
Today, in so many places, Christians still struggle in situations of violence and persecution. We ourselves in the U.S. are made fearful by our politicians and our media. And all of us, during our lives, go through personal times when our worlds seem to fall apart. It is difficult, then, to believe that “these things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Being hope-givers is part of our discipleship call. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus said. Today’s Gospel calls us to renew our faith in the God who brings good from evil, who brings better times from the falling-apart times, in the God who accompanies us in frightening, dark times and helps us endure.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post November 16, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Hope: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.