Today's Gospel talks about the end times, a continuation of this 21st chapter of Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus talks about some dark images in the days to come in the end times. We heard a similar message from Mark’s Gospel a couple of weeks ago on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. We need to remember the context in which these Gospels were written, as it was a time of great persecution in the Early Church.
These images of the end times can be very disturbing. Some of the apocalyptic messages we have been hearing in the book of Daniel this past week can also be dark and disturbing as well. We know that living as disciples of Christ does not promise us the easiest journey through life here on earth. We are all to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. We can be disturbed by these messages in the context of the Bible Belt in which we live, in the way some of their Evangelical Christian friends interpret them. I don’t think that these message is meant to provide us with all the answers as to when the end times are coming. Instead, we are called to pray for and to reach out to those fellow believers who are persecuted or discriminated against for their faith. We are to think about what it really means to live out a life of discipleship, to be willing to speak out from the perspective of faith in an increasingly secular world that can be particularly hostile to the message we bring. From today’s Gospel, may we feel encouragement from the message Jesus give to us, empowering us to live out our faith and to bring our message to the world.
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