33rd Sunday B

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Daniel 12:1-3  Hebrews 10:11-14,18  Mark 13:24-32

On this next to last Sunday of the Church year the readings proclaim the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom and the vindication of the faithful who serve God in the midst of evil and persecution.  As we dedicate ourselves to this fearless service, let each of us pray the refrain of the responsorial psalm: “Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope” (Ps 16).

The first reading is from Daniel, an apocalyptic book written during the violent persecutions of the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 174-163 B.C.), who was determined to destroy the Jewish faith and enforce Hellenistic culture and the worship of Zeus upon his Jewish subjects (see 1 Maccabees 1).  During this time of terrible suffering many Jews chose to die rather than abandon fidelity to God and the Torah (see 1 Maccabees 1-2 and the stories of the Jewish martyrs in 2 Maccabees 6-7).

Dan 12:1-3 is an apocalyptic vision announcing the future deliverance of the faithful.  It is the only unequivocal statement of a belief in the resurrection of the dead in the Hebrew Scriptures. (See also the belief in the immortality of the soul in the Greek Book of Wisdom, written slightly later).  For the author of Daniel the persecutions of Antiochus evoke thoughts about the sufferings at the end time, and he expects that those Jews who had died for their faith will be vindicated by a bodily resurrection as a part of the triumph of God’s kingdom.  In the vision, Daniel is assured that Michael, the protecting angel of the Jewish people, will arise to deliver the faithful “whose names shall be found written in the book.”  The faithful/wise “who turn many to righteousness” will awake to everlasting life and will shine like stars in the firmament.  But those who have been unfaithful will awake to shame and everlasting contempt.

The second reading from Hebrews continues the contrast between the permanently effective one sacrifice of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary which has achieved forgiveness of sin and the ineffectual sin sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood in the temple.  Using language drawn from the royal and priestly Psalm 110, the author describes the completion of Jesus’ work as being exalted to God’s right hand in the heavenly sanctuary where he awaits the defeat of his enemies.  This exaltation and battle language fits the situation of a community that has also known persecution (see 10:32ff) and now is in need of endurance in a time of testing (see 10:35-39; 11).

The Gospel is taken from the conclusion of Jesus’ apocalyptic sermon announcing to his disciples the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.  Mark is the most apocalyptic of the four Gospels, and it may have been written for a persecuted Christian community in the midst of a crisis, possibly precipitated by the fall of Jerusalem and its Temple to the Roman armies in 70 A.D. (see especially Mk 8:34-38; Mk 13:3-23).  Many false messiahs and prophets apparently expected that the fall of Jerusalem and its temple would be the sign of the end, but according to Mk 13:3-23, the Roman Jewish War of 66-70 A.D. and the concomitant persecution of Mark’s community are only “the beginning of the birth-pangs.”  In this time of crisis, the community is called to endure in giving heroic witness to its faith and is assured that this is a time for the Gospel to be proclaimed to the Gentiles (Mk 13:9-13).

Our selection is meant to console this community by assuring it that Jesus, as the suffering Son of Man was also delivered up to death (15), but has now triumphed over death in his resurrection (16:1-8; see 8:31-38; 9:30-32; 10:32-34) and will return as the glorious Son of Man to gather his elect.  Mark’s picture of this event is similar to other apocalypses, including Daniel (see Daniel 7).  After the period of trials, the cosmos will be reordered and the Son of Man will come on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory to dispatch his angels to gather the faithful from the four corners of the earth.  Using the lesson of the fig tree whose branches run high with sap just before summer, Jesus says, “In the same way, when you see these things happening (the cosmic signs), you will know that he is near, even at the door.”  Although Jesus assures his disciples that the generation that witnesses these signs “will not pass away until all these things take place,” he ends by prudently reminding the disciples that the exact time of these events is known only to the Father. “As to the exact day or hour, no one knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but only the Father.” Because the ‘day or hour’ is unknown, Jesus concludes by commanding his disciples to be alert and watchful, like faithful and dutiful servants awaiting the return of their master. “Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.  It is like a man traveling abroad.  He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on watch. Watch, therefore, you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.  May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”