HOMILY/SERMON FOR 33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY/SERMON FOR 33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: END TIME HERESIES!
BY: Fr. Benedict Agbo
Daniel 12: 1-3, Ps 16, Heb. 10: 11-14, 18, Mark. 13: 24-32
A. PREAMBLE
Today’s 1st and 3rd readings are full of strange apocalyptic language – a language that has led many Christians astray due to eschatological ignorance. Eschatology is that aspect of theology that studies the church’s teachings about end time. We must be very careful about this area and continue to rely on the church’s magisterium for guideline since Christ promised: ‘I am with you always till the end of time’, Matt 28: 20.
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What is the real meaning of ‘end-time’ and how do we reconcile that with the theological concept of ‘world without end’? Without going into much theological polemics here, we need to understand that a lot of apocalyptic writings were not actually mearnt to be predictive prophesies about end time but mearnt to be consoling literature – to bring comfort and consolation to the believers under persecution. For example, that of the Book of Daniel which we read today was mearnt to bring consolation to the Jews who were being devastated by the attempts to paganize them by Antiochus Epiphanes sometime around 167BC. Today it is amazing to hear a lot of pastors use these passages to make a lot of historical predictions and calculations about the nearness of the end time especially in such a way as to frighten believers out from living their normal Christian lives now to await the rapture.
B. END TIME HERESIES
Let me just pinpoint some of the wrong teachings related to the end time that we observe around us today:
1. False Messiah claim; Many Christian denomenations have preached a number of heresies about the imminence of the rapture, end-time or dooms – day, example, the 7th day Adventist Church. In 1988, one Pastor by name, David Koresh, claimed to be the final agent of God to bring about the end of the world. So many hundreds of followers across the US sold their properties to follow such claimers.
2. Imminence of the rapture; The Jehova’s witness, The Deeper Life and even a Marian sect of the Roman Catholic Church called the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima (and Aope) sometime spoke/speaks of the 3 – days darkness, the rapture, armagedon, etc as if they were now privy to the secret timing of the ‘almighty doom’ s day’.
3. Negative prophesies; Negative prophesies have a way of turning what is mearnt to be good news to become bad news. And that is why I call them ‘heresies’ because they are wrong teachings masterminded by the devil with the target of making believers live a queer life and become existential failures in the name of preparing for the end time.
C. PREDICTIVE VS EXHORTATORY ESCHATOLOGY
Christ’s personal take on eschatology although also sounds predictive, is actually more exhortational. They are actually more like a warning on spiritual sobriety. Jesus said there will be 4 signs before the end:
1. False Messiahs; many have been seen so far.
2. Wars; we have seen the 1st & 2nd World wars, Gulf War, Insurgencies and terrorisms.
3. Natural disasters; we have also seen earthquakes, tornadoes, famines, pestilence, dangerous diseases like HIV, HTV, Ebola, CoViD 19, etc.
4. Persecution of Christians; we saw that long ago. What we see more nowadays are persecutions from Christians. Some are waiting for the mark of the beast, anti Christ regimes, etc. But a good study of the eschatological passages from Matthew, Mark, Luke and the book of Revelation will inform us that Christ does not want anybody to go theologically predictive but exhortationally alert. The emphasis is: Be prepared, be on your guard spiritually because nobody knows the end time /hour.
There is actually no need to turn the gospel of end time, which is part of the good news of Christ, into bad /frightening news. That one will surely be from the devil not from Christ. Repentance is better done out of love of God than out of fear of God’s wrath. If spiritual disciplines like celibacy, monasticism, ascetism, etc, are fundamentally based on the theological imminence/propinquity of the end time, then they are bound to crumble sooner or later. All those churches that gave us dates for the rapture are already nose-diving whether they accept that or not.
D. CONCLUSION
1. Christ says: ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson’ that though the end of the world is certain, but like the fig tree suddenly ends in one season and begins again, God never really ends with us. That is the meaning of ‘world without end’.
2. The business of mature believers is not to worry about the end time but to go about our normal business with more sobriety and holiness consciousness.
3. We should never live in fear or even overdo spiritual things because of fear of end time but we should live in perfect love for one another.
May I repeat a Guru’s question to his disciples: ‘If you hear that the world is about to come to an end in the next 30 minutes, tell me honestly what you will do?’. Some will rush for confessions; some to go and reconcile with their enemies; some to release money /properties hoarded or stolen; some to buy sacramentals like scapula to wear on their neck as they die; some will rush into chapels and churches to die with the Lord. But let me tell you that only those who can continue with their normal business are the real Christians. Please better learn the lessons from the fig tree! Never live in fear or laziness because of the end time. Your life on earth will end when you die but our business with God is life without end. Happy Sunday dear friends!
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