The End of the Story
Fr. George Smiga
November 14/15, 2009
Mark 13:24-32
When I was growing up I had a close friend who loved to read novels. She would read about one a week. But she always did it in a particular way. She would first turn to the end and read the last five pages, and then she would turn to page one and begin. This drove me crazy. I said to her, “Why do you ruin the surprise of the novel by reading the ending?” But she said, “I don’t read novels to be surprised, I read novels to enter into the story. I find that when I know the ending, I follow the story more deeply. I notice more things when I know where the novel is heading.”
Christians believe that history is a story and that our lives unfold in a particular direction. We receive this perspective from the Jews. In the ancient world most cultures saw time and history as a cycle, an endless repetition. Time was seen to move from spring to summer to fall to winter to spring again. Time did not have a direction, it kept repeating endlessly in the same pattern. The Jews saw things differently. They saw history as a story controlled by God. The story began with creation and kept unfolding until the last day when God would destroy every evil and bring all things into conformity into God’s will. Christians adopted this Jewish perspective. With the resurrection of Jesus, we came to see that this end of history would happen through Christ. That on the last day Jesus would come and conform all things to the love and will of God.
This of course brings us to today’s Gospel. Because the Gospel today presents the end of history and {SPOILER ALERT!} history will end with Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven and destroying all evil. This is our faith. It is what we believe. Jesus will bring history to and end and establish the kingdom of God.
Now the question then that is before us is do we believe that history is a story? Do we believe that history has a direction and will end in God’s victory over evil? This is not simply a theoretical or theological question. It influences the way we see our lives and the way that we live. We could follow the ancient cultures and believe that history is treading water, continually cycling in the same patters. Then every blessing in our life, every choice that we make would have a temporary meaning, but not a lasting meaning. We might be blessed for a moment, but in time things will cycle around again and repeat themselves. But if we believe that history is a story that is has a direction and that it is aiming towards an ending of God’s victory, it can change the way we think and live. In that perspective the blessings in our lives and the good choices that we make are not only blessings in this moment, but they help push history forward to that last day when all things will be good. If we see history as a story that is unfolding, then the pain and tragedy of our life is also influenced. The evil we must endure is not what the end of history will be. It is instead a twist in the story line, a detour in the narration. We believe that God will in time make that twist straight, that God will in time will heal and correct all that has gone astray.
My friend who liked to read novels said she wanted to know the ending because it helped her engage in the story. Today’s Gospel provides that service for us. It makes it clear that the final stage of history will be one in which God is victorious. One in which all is well. If we can believe that, then the pain and tragedy of our lives can be placed into a larger perspective as we deal with sickness or divorce, or rejection or pain. We can carry those crosses aware that they are not where we are heading and not where we will end up. Yes indeed they are true crosses that we must bear, but we believe that God will find a way to call us out of that evil and make all things good.
Today’s Gospel gives us the end of the story of history. Let us use that ending to live. Let us use that ending to give ourselves hope to encourage us to do what is right to build God’s kingdom. Come Lord Jesus.
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