Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time, November 26, 2023
Beginning of the last week of Ordinary Time and then comes Advent
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Thoughts about these days, and the last days too
The last enemy to be defeated is death.
Although there’s no reason to expect this will happen in my lifetime, still I cling to my fantasy of immortality. Actually I go back and forth in my clearly limited mind between 1) sighing a resigned sigh and accepting death however it might come, and 2) assuming everything in my life will go on just as it always has, forever.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.
Mostly I resist imaginings of when this climax of history will take place, and especially I resist thinking it will happen soon – in other words, before I die. This scene of justice, also reflected elsewhere in the Scriptures, sets us up for eternal rejoicing or eternal grief, depending on whether we are sheep or goats.
But which am I? In guilt, both righteous and false, I call myself a goat, having failed on many occasions to share my food, drink, clothing, and shelter in the storm. But I do not always fail, and my intentions are often good. Perhaps sheep-hood is not far away.
Come, you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
In Garrison Keillor’s fabled Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” If I count myself as strong, good-looking and above average, surely I also count myself as one of those “blessed by my father.” And I’ll bet most of us think the same way. I am not one of the bad guys! I am above average!
But of course … I have no idea.
The Lord God says, “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.”
I am neither judge nor jury. None of us are. We all stand on tiptoe trying to see into our after-life, assuming the best, then the worst, then the best, then the worst again. God’s grace holds me upright after all, encouraging me to stop my overthinking and be the trusting child he made me.
I myself, says the Lord, will give them rest. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal.
Our son Chris is calm in a crisis. He says that is mostly only on the inside. Some in our family express their panic immediately in a crisis. Perhaps that is only on the outside. Our brains secrete at least four neurotransmitters which influence our personal response to crisis.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he walks with me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Paul Meier, who wrote Blue Genes and is quoted in the above link, knew from personal experience how important memorizing Psalm 23 could be. I do too. Often those verses mediate my anxiety in the middle of the night.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
I hear my mother and father reciting those words. I hear my Aunt Mary helping me to learn them for myself. More even than those memories, I believe that those words reflect truth, and that I am ultimately and absolutely safe in the arms of God.
Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup runs over.
Much goes on every twenty-four hours in our lives, and much more so in the lives of those around the world who are far from safe or secure. In our small apartment we feel the presence of joy but also of exhaustion, and we know that as our spirits soar, our bodies wear out.
What’s the phrase?
We’re not long for this world?
So be it.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Ezekiel 34, Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians 15, Mark 11, Matthew 25)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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