33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nov.

14, 2010
(Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Lk. 21:5-19)

Malachi (“my messenger” in Hebrew) prophesied after the Babylonian Exile

ended and the Temple reconstruction had begun. The date is sometime after 520 BC
perhaps even as late as Ezra and Nehemiah about 450 BC.
Malachi accuses Israel of various offenses against the pure worship of the
Lord. Malachi also promises that “a day” will come when there will be a reckoning.
“The day of the Lord” will be a day of purging, “blazing like an oven” when evil-
doers will be destroyed. Malachi envisions their destruction but offers hope for
those who fear the name of the Lord. For them “will arise the sun of justice.” This is
a metaphor to describe a new day or a new era in the history of Israel’s relationship
with the Lord.
The metaphorical language of “blazing fires” and ovens and the destruction
that is understood to be part of this new dawn, historically has led to fear at the
prospect of “the day’s” arrival. Only evil ones need fear, but the threat of doom has
been passed down through the ages.
Such imagery paves the way for the “apocalyptic” mentality that would soon
arise in Israel and which certainly thrived by the time of the first century when
Christ came. Vestiges of apocalyptic continue to thrive in the more fundamentalist
fringes of most organized religions including Catholicism. It’s easy to trace the
roots of apocalyptic to prophets such as Malachi. In light of this apocalyptic mind
set we turn now to consider the sobering words of Luke’s gospel.
The scene takes place in the Jerusalem temple, which had already been
destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Luke’s gospel is not written until about 85 AD
so Luke knew about its destruction when he wrote, even though he describes it as
an event still to happen. In fact nearly everything Jesus comments on had taken
place by the time Luke wrote.
Luke focuses on the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. When Jesus is
pressed for a sign as to when these things will happen, he remains somewhat
enigmatic. “Don’t be deceived, many will come in my name, etc.” The various
other signs come from the apocalyptic mind. Wars and rebellions and natural
catastrophes like earthquake, plague and famine are all standard items in
apocalyptic. This is all capped off by heavenly omens as well.
 Reflecting the experience of the members of the Church in the years after the
death and resurrection of Jesus from about 30 AD on, the mention of being handed
over “because of my name” to synagogues and prisons and kings and governors is
precisely what had already happened during those 40 or 50 years prior to Luke’s
writing of this gospel. Perseverance, not surprise, is needed when these things
happen. Luke implies it will continue to happen. But “By your perseverance you
will secure your lives.”
Even though the liturgy tends to draw our attention to our own mortality, and
to a lesser extent, to the end of the ages at this time of year, Jesus’ remarks here
remain primarily concerned with events prior to the destruction of the Temple,
which was in some ways even more of a catastrophe than any earthquake or plague.
The Temple was at the heart of Judaism, and with its downfall began a radical
restructuring of Judaism. This also helped assure that the Church would forever
after be a separate and distinct entity from Judaism. This too was cataclysmic (both
to Judaism and to the Church) and is worthy of the apocalyptic language used here
to describe it.

Fr. Lawrence L. Hummer