[stephenkhoo]

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011, 34th Ordinary Week, Cycle 1
THE DANGER OF POSTPONING LIVING

SCRIPTURE READINGS: DN 2:31-45; LK 21:5-11

As we come to the end of the liturgical year and also the calendar year, it is only normal for us all to look back and reflect on two essential questions regarding our life. These are concerned with the meaning and future of our history. The answers to these two questions are important because it will determine our orientation in life and help us to take stock of the way we live now and how we intend to live tomorrow. The answers are found in both readings today.

What then is the meaning of history? The book of Daniel and the gospel of Luke tell us that history is changing and passing. In other words, life here on earth is transient. There must be no illusion about this. That is why when the disciples were admiring the beauty of the Temple of Jerusalem, Jesus awakened them to reality, because the truth is that even the Temple of Jerusalem, which had taken years to build and was considered to be an everlasting monument, too, would be destroyed one day. Yes, Jesus remarked, “not a single stone would be left on another; everything would be destroyed.” This is a fact of life. Everything is mutable. Nothing remains the same. Whether it is our health, our physical life, talents, wealth, popularity or status, all these would be taken away from us. We might be someone of influence and status today, tomorrow, when we retire, we will fade away. All famous men and great men will soon be forgotten. We see the rise and fall of leaders, religious, political or corporate. Leaders either come and go or are overthrown and killed. This was what Daniel predicted for King Nebuchadnezzar as well. His kingdom and the kingdoms after him would one day disappear.

No earthly kingdom can last forever. Just consider the prophecy of Daniel. His prophecy concerns the four empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia and Greece that dominated the Near East, each lasting between sixty-seven and two hundred and eight years. The Babylonian empire, which ruled from 606 B.C. to 539 B.C., was conquered by Media, who in turn was conquered by Persia. These two empires lasted from 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. Finally, under Alexander the Great, the Greek empire conquered the world, which lasted from 331 B.C. to 146 B.C. Yet all these great empires are history. Regardless how great a kingdom is, it does not remain forever. Even in recent times, Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands were once the most powerful nations in the world. But today it is United States, and we know that China and India are also rising powers. One cannot cling on to one’s power, glory and wealth in life. Only God can build an eternal kingdom that will last forever. Consequently, to cling to this earthly life and its kingdom is an illusion.

Having answered the question of the meaning of history, we now must consider another equally vital but related question. Is there a future to our history? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” However, we are reminded that the final coming of God’s kingdom, although certain, is unpredictable. In the gospel, Jesus makes it clear that the signs of the second coming would be there. Yet these signs are the natural outcome of history, but they do not indicate that the time is near. They only indicate that the world needs urgent conversion to the kingdom values proclaimed by Jesus, otherwise we would only destroy ourselves. The signs are only warnings for those of us who have not yet lived the kingdom life. But the day of the Lord’s coming will remain hidden from us. Hence, we must not be so foolish as to believe all the so-called predictions and warnings that the kingdom is near.

At the same time however, Daniel affirms that the second coming, while unknown, is certain. God will establish His eternal kingdom that will last forever. He wrote, “In the time of these kings the God of heaved will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms, and itself last forever – just as you saw the stone untouched by hand break from the mountain and shatter iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold.” The New Testament interprets Jesus as the cornerstone from the Mountain of God that will destroy the statue. (cf Mt 21:42; 1 Pt 2:6) In other words, all earthly kingdoms will not stand the test of time except the kingdom established by Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment of the establishment of the kingdom of God. Only the kingdom of God can endure from age to age.

So we need not fear when we consider the presence of evil and sin in the world. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by the apparent victory of sin and evil, especially in this age of materialism and relativism. Some of us are discouraged because of scandals and sin within the Church. Yet, we must have confidence that God is in control. Christ, our king, who has won His victory over sin and evil and whose feast we just celebrated, should keep us focused that nothing can overcome the rule of God. Through the struggle of sin and grace, evil and holiness, history will become eschatology when God will eventually be all in all, when Christ subjects everything under Him and renders the kingdom back to His Father. (Cf 1 Cor 15:24-28)

If this, then, is the future of history and its meaning, and that the kingdom of God is certain, then what must we do? This is where the real message of today’s scripture readings is found. If our history is transient and passing and waiting for its full transformation through the Lord’s coming, then necessarily, to delay living the life of the Kingdom would be utter foolishness and stupidity. Considering that life is so short and that we are passing through this world but once, all the more we must live our life more fully each moment.

Indeed, if some people are obsessed with the exact date of the day of the Lord’s coming, it is but a form of escapism. They want to postpone life. If some people are so curious to know the exact day of the Lord’s coming, it is because they want to postpone living until that day is near. They want to wait until the day draws nearer before they begin to live rightly and fully. In the meantime, they want to live an irresponsible, lazy, selfish and self-centered life, a life certainly very much unlike the kingdom values that Jesus proclaimed. Isn’t this escapism from life? That is why I consider all speculations about the end of the world as distractions from real living. This is the real reason why Jesus warned His disciples not to listen to all those vain predictions about the day of the Lord’s coming.

For the truth is that the day of the Lord’s coming has already come. It is already here and is coming every day in our lives. It is given to those who are ready to seize it. But if we fail to recognize each moment as the Lord’s coming, then we are actually missing out the kingdom that is already here on earth. The life of the kingdom need not be postponed until the next world. Here and now, this kingdom is already given to us as a foretaste. We must already begin to live the life of the Kingdom if we are to gain entry into the final coming of God’s kingdom. Thus, if we take seriously the transitory nature of this earthly life, its unpredictability but certainty, then we would immediately make the best of life while we still can. If we give ourselves entirely to whatever we are doing, live and enjoy whatever life can afford us and whatever time that we have on this earth, then all speculations about the end of the world would be redundant and irrelevant.

Yes, we must avoid falling into the trap of postponement. Some of us are always waiting for that one day, that right time, hoping that things would be different and then our lives would change. By so doing, we are deceiving ourselves, for that day might never come, unless we begin to do what we can here and now. Instead of waiting for that one day for things to happen, we must start living now, doing whatever we can and living our lives as fully as possible. In this way life will not slip us by. On the contrary, we make that day of liberation even more a reality and advance it forward as well.

Yes, for us Christians, we do not wait until the end of time before we begin to live. The only thing that we should wait for is the Lord’s coming, which has already taken place and is still taking place today. If the early Christians were preoccupied with the day of the Lord’s coming, it was because they thought Jesus would come in His glory soon after His resurrection. But once they realized that this was not so, they shifted the day of the Lord’s coming to the eternal present. We too should imitate them and treasure the Lord who is coming to our lives here and now. In this way, we can affirm with Prophet Daniel that God’s kingdom is already established forever because it is established in the hearts of men.