Homily for November 15, 2015 - Ordinary Time 33

Homily for Ordinary Time 33

November 15, 2015

The Beginning and the End

 

            Jesus’ words in the Gospel are mysterious, to say the least. And He is really talking about two major events – one which has already occurred, and one which will occur in the future. But first, some background.

            For the Jewish people, the Temple in Jerusalem was the most sacred space in the universe. It was the place where Heaven met earth, where God literally dwelt. The Temple was the place of sacrifice, the place of worship, the place where sins were forgiven, the place where people encountered God. It was a world unto itself – a microcosm of the universe.

            After all, it was God Himself who gave the Jews their religion. God was the origin of the Old Testament Law, and it was He who instructed them how to build the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was the very presence of God. So for them, the Temple was everything about their religion – it was where they met God!

            And Jesus knows that the cornerstone of Jewish religion was about to end.

            When Jesus died on the Cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two. This seems like a really small detail, but it has huge significance. You see, the veil separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. The Holy of Holies was a small room at the very center of the Temple, separated from the rest of the Temple by a curtain. It was in that room that God’s invisible power and presence was located. Only one person – the High Priest – once a year – on Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement – was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies. It was God’s sacred dwelling place.

            But when Jesus died, the curtain was torn from top to bottom. Now people could look into the Holy of Holies and realize…nothing. It was empty. God was not there – no, God was outside of the city, on a Cross, dying for the sins of mankind. The Temple was empty. God no longer dwelt there.

            And about thirty-five years later, the entire Temple was destroyed by the Romans, who sacked it and then destroyed it. To this day only one wall is left standing – the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, where many Jews and Christians still go to pray in Jerusalem.

            For a good first-century Jew, this would have been, literally, the end of their world. The most sacred place was violated. The Temple was empty. God did not dwell there anymore. It isn’t that Judaism was destroyed – no, rather, it was fulfilled in Jesus. Because the entire purpose for the Jewish religion was to prepare the world for the Savior.

            Jesus was preparing His Jewish listeners for this. He is essentially saying, “Your world is about to come to an end. Everything you believed in is about to fall away, because it is being fulfilled in Jesus Himself.”

            That is the historical event that Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel. But He is also leading us towards a future event – one that we will experience as well.

            If the goal of the Jewish religion was to prepare the world for Christ’s coming, then the goal of the Catholic religion is to prepare the world for Heaven. There will come a time when this earthly world will end. For most of us (maybe all of us), it will be upon our death, when our connection to this earth will be over. But perhaps it will come sooner than that, when Christ comes again. Regardless of when it comes, it will be the end of the world, literally. And for this, we must be ready.

            Because in the world to come, there will be no church buildings. There will be no Sacraments. We will not need the Eucharist, or Confession, or devotions. Just like the Jewish religion was fulfilled in Jesus, the Catholic religion will be fulfilled in Heaven, where we are able to see God face to face, enjoy total and permanent intimacy with Him, and be in a place of blessed happiness and peace forever. God will conquer evil once and for all, and we will reign with Him over a new creation of joy and love.

            The only thing we get to take with us into this new world is who we have become – the love that we have shared with others, our love for God, and the virtues that have become a part of our soul. So let us use our short time on this earth wisely, prudently, becoming the men and women who will rejoice to close our eyes to this world and open them to see the sights of Heaven.