Mark 13:1-2: Following Christ
Sunday, September 4, 2022
From time to time we reflect on the establishment of the Temple in Jerusalem; today we look at the foretelling of its destruction and rebuilding in a new way. The people who hear Jesus misunderstand him completely. The apostles ask Jesus to describe what will happen and he does; but they find it difficult to comprehend. They are thinking with a mind of this world which regards wealth, fame and good looks as the standards with which we measure success. Jesus, of course, speaks of the wealth of the real world, the world of the true and everlasting kingdom.
Yesterday’s Mass readings reminded us about what is real and what is unreal. Amos 6, Psalm 146, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, and Luke 16:19-31. Today’s Morning Prayer takes us to Matthew 6:19-21, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . , and Matthew 19:21, if you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come, follow me.
Jesus is constantly reminding us, through the losses we suffer, that nothing we store up here will be taken with us. It is our behavior we will wear in the next world, and that we actually wear in this one, that describes who and what we are. The clothes we see ourselves wearing today are not the clothes of the world Jesus describes. It is the actions we initiate, and the perseverance with which we persist, that will mark us as the perfect faithful. It is the fidelity we exercise, the hope we engender, and the charity toward enemies that mark us as those who have given away all they formerly had to follow Christ . . . and that make us living stones of the Living Temple. These stones will never be thrown down, never be torn asunder, never be scorched by the fires of destruction. They will remain with and in Christ forever.
This is the Jesus who explains reality to the faithful. This is the Jesus who is the new temple. This is the Jesus we willingly follow.
Image from: http://www.rootedandestablished.com/the-coming-glory-haggai-21-9/
Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 27.9 (2010). Print.
A favorite from September 27, 2010.
The Noontimes 