Gospel: Luke 21:5-19    Do not be Afraid

As we approach the end of the Church year, we are also coming towards the end of Luke’s Gospel, and things have taken a dark turn, Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem, which means, as we know, that he is on course for a violent death.  In an intense monologue, upsetting for his companions, he speaks of earthquakes and famines, persecution and death.  While those around him are enjoying the magnificence of the Temple, Jesus tells them it will be totally destroyed.  This is an unimaginable event, which they easily take to signify the end of the world.  Bleak words indeed.

This is Jesus’ talk of the ‘end-times’, the kind we still sometimes hear at times of crisis.  There have always been disasters in the world, from wars and plagues to earthquakes and tsunamis, and many people have interpreted these things as signs of the end of the world.  We face our own personal disasters too, when we lose a loved one, when diagnosed with serious illness, when a relationship breaks-down.  At times like that we feel as if our world is ending.  The recent Covid-19 pandemic comes to mind as an example.  For many of us, it felt the end of the world as we knew it, a never-ending endurance test.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is preparing the disciples for what is about to happen to him, but, in spite of the challenges ahead he offers encouragement: he will be with them.  He promises ‘words of wisdom’ when they are in difficulty.  When we are facing a crisis, Jesus tells us not to be afraid.  When we feel hopeless about the sadness and destruction in the world, he is there.  We keep going, as best we can, in the messiness and brokenness of life.  God’s grace is with us and can change everything.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2022.  A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Matthew.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2022.

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“When we are young we think that we become great through our achievements.

Life has taught us the truth of Jesus’ words: it is by endurance that we win our lives.

– Michal de Verteuil