Faith Sharing Fridays November 13, 2015
Gospel for Sunday, November 15th
It can be really important to wrestle with this passage and this particular style of scripture. With all the references to the end of time, this is part of the genre called apocalyptic literature. Often, these types of readings leave me feeling unnerved or confused. When I encounter it in the Bible my first thought is often, “oh no, this is clear evidence that Jesus was wrong. That generation has definitely passed away and the apocalypse hasn’t happened (or at the very least I haven’t been informed).”
When I read apocalyptic literature I have to remind myself that it is the genre of the disposed. It is often written by captives and exiles, people who are clinging to hope in desperate situations and yearn for a better future.
To understand and enter into this passage I need to do some soul searching. How is the current “world order” serving or not serving me? What advantages do I have over some of my brothers and sisters around the world? Depending on where I live or where I was born, I may not want a new world order. I may or may not want a complete restructuring of society.
But why?
Where am I afraid to embrace change? What privileges do I enjoy that others may be able to access? Who has been left on the margins? Who would find great hope and consolation in a restructuring of our world? Looking closely at these questions can help me to enter more deeply into the feelings and the movements of gospel passages like this one.
A Male Campus Minister
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What privileges do I enjoy that others do not? What parts of my lifestyle affect others? Are there patterns of consumption in my country that hurt others who are less fortunate?
These questions make me think about the massive flow of immigrants or exiles fleeing from violence and death as they make their way from their homeland to where it will be a safer “world order” for them and their families. How close they must be in their struggle to the mercy of Jesus. In turn, how can we be the hands and feet of Jesus in our response?
In the words from the Book of Daniel .. it is “a time unsurpassed in distress” …..a time when “your people shall escape” and “those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever”.
This painting of Koder’s evokes images of the flight of the immigrants towards the safety they desire and the need for mercy and justice for these our brothers and sisters.
A Married Couple
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