The readings for Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111322.cfm
Believe it or not, we are at the end of another church year.
In fact, next Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the last weekend of the liturgical year.
So, it makes sense that the readings this Sunday are about the end of the world and what to look for before it comes.
In today’s passage from St. Luke, Jesus is in the Temple at Jerusalem.
He is nearing the end of his life on earth.
At that time, the temple was one of the most impressive buildings in the world.
To most Jews it was a place built to last forever.
But just as Jesus said would happen, the temple was completely destroyed.
For many Jews it must have seemed like the end of the world.
But just like them, we are not able to predict when the end will come.
Sacred scripture gives us signs, but it doesn’t predict.
Instead, Sacred Scripture shows us that God is in control - so that we are not afraid.
To see and have confidence in God.
God’s plan doesn’t center around our comfort.
Instead, it focuses on hope in our eternal reward.
As St. Luke writes, Jesus tells His disciples and us, some of the warning signs.
First he warns us to, “Watch out that you are not deceived.”
When the FBI trains its agents to identify counterfeit notes, they don’t study fake bills.
Instead they study genuine currency – how it looks, how it feels, how it smells.
They get to know the real thing so well, so thoroughly, that it’s easy to spot the fake.
And the key to knowing what is fake is...knowing the truth.
We must not fall into Satan’s trap.
His strategy has not changed.
The first thing he did to Adam and Eve was to deceive them.
The first thing he did to Jesus when He started His ministry was try to deceive Him in the wilderness.
Our spiritual enemy is still at it today, disputing, denying and displacing God’s Word.
So Jesus warns us, “Do not be deceived”.
Jesus also warns us “Do not fear.”
If our hope is in God and if we believe that He is in control, we can be confident – even in this broken world.
So many of us place our hope in things and people rather than God.
Now, hoping in God, doesn’t mean we’re not affected by world events.
We feel the pain of loss, anger when things go wrong and fear of tragedy just like everyone else.
These emotions are normal and emotions are God given.
But emotions inform, they don’t decide - and emotions, what we feel, never changes the truth.
We take refuge in the truth, in knowing that God is in control.
Jesus told us “not to be afraid” - that when we face difficulties, not to give in to the fear of this world, but instead to focus on God.
Jesus tells us clearly, not to be distracted.
In this world, bad things will happen.
But these things happen to bring us closer to Him by providing us “an occasion for testimony”.
When the world is comfortable and times are good - people forget about God.
But, Jesus said that the coming of difficulties is an occasion for us to testify.
When bad things happen, the world will ask ‘why’ and look for something to believe in - for somewhere to find hope.
But we don’t have to look.
Our hope is in the truth - our hope is in Jesus.
We may not be able to answer the ‘why’ or ‘when’, but we can answer the ‘what’.
If we hope in the things of this world, we will always be disappointed.
Someday, the end will come.
But Jesus is not a liar.
We have the answers to the test.
This week, let us pray not to be distracted by the why and the when of short-term worries and anxieties.
Instead, let us better understand the what - that God sends us out to bring people to Jesus Christ so they can be forgiven just as we have been.
To glorify God and have a personal, intimate relationship with Him.
To focus less on what we feel or what is fake and more on what is genuine and lasting and true.
