Gospel: Luke 21: 5-19
Christians often look as foolish waiting for the coming of Jesus as Linus in his pumpkin patch expecting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. So much time and energy is invested in this enterprise from the writing of the New Testament to today. People look for clues and arcana in order to discover the date of Jesus' return to earth. A set time is announced. Books are published. The Christian media circuit is traversed. A man goes home wealthy from it all, and no coming of Jesus.
Today the scriptures tell us all sorts of calamities will presage the second coming: wars, insurrections, natural disasters. A few days ago, however, the same scriptures talked about how people would be just going about their ordinary days and suddenly it comes. Which is it? Wars, insurrections, and natural disasters are not uncommon occurrences. They are as every day as our routines. All of this forecasting is a complete waste of time.
We might well ask what is gained in our Christian life with all this perseveration on the end times. Has it made us better Christians, better human beings? Does it change the fact that our duty as Christians is to bring loving kindness and mercy to the world? No to both questions. What does make us better is our constant effort to live as Jesus did, to love and care for all we encounter in our daily lives. If we do that, what do the end times really matter?
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