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by Rev. Fr. Paulose T. Peter, New York
First Sunday after Feast of the Holy Cross
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert!
You do not know when that time will come.” Mark 13:32-33.
The gist of this Sunday’s reading is the Second Coming of Christ or parousia
which is a Greek term meaning ‘arrival’ or ‘coming.’ Though the common usage is
‘second coming,’ the phrase is missing in the New Testament. The word ‘second’
is omitted in the New Testament except by way of reference as seen in Hebrews
9:28. The idea of the Second Coming of Christ in Mark is also echoed in Matthew
24:36-51. One can identify about a hundred or so references pointing to the
Second Coming of Christ in the Bible. Those references tell us the manner of His
coming and how we should be prepared to receive Him rather than give us a time
table for His arrival.
Jesus’ Second Coming is one of the foundations of Orthodox Christian
spirituality. In Matthew’s version, Jesus will come again but “No one knows
about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father.” (Matt. 24:36) The key words used by Mark in this Sunday’s reading are
“Be on guard! Be alert!” and “keep watch.”
Unpredictability is the underlying theme here. We all agree that there is
unpredictability in our lives. No matter how careful we are, things do happen
without warning that change our lives upside down. We know that we are helpless
when things get out of control. Yet, we also know that proper precautions and
preparations will better equip us in unanticipated situations. The very fact
that our lives are subject to change without notice calls us to be alert and
watchful so that we are not caught unprepared. The same idea is projected by
Mathew and Mark in our preparedness to receive Christ at His Second Coming. The
life of Moses is a classic example to our own everyday lives.
Moses enjoyed all the comfort and luxury as a prince in the royal court of Egypt
for the first forty years of his life. He was young and he had education, power
and wealth (Acts 7:22-23). The fact that the rest of his life would be so
radically different is hard to imagine. He spent the next 40 years of his life
as a shepherd and herdsman (Acts 7:29-30). Moses probably thought at the age of
eighty that he would live out his days as a shepherd but God had other plans for
him. From the day he saw a burning bush on Mount Sinai, he went on to live
another 40 years as a prophet, a law-giver, and a leader of a nation. Truly, he
lived three lives in one lifetime, and even his last days were not exactly the
way he had planned (Deut. 3:27).
Moses’ life teaches us that we must not be too quick to pronounce our lives as
settled or done. Our lives may change at any time and the Lord may require from
us things that we never anticipated. As Moses’ life illustrates, if the
unpredictability in our lives force us to be cautious and prepared in our daily
lives, how much more should we be on our guard and be alert for the Second
Coming of Christ?
"No one knows about that day or hour”. God has His own time schedule. If Jesus
was there on time her brother would not have died, complained the sister of
Lazarus. We get frustrated when we do not get what we want when we want it. We
are like the little boy who prayed ‘Lord, give me patience and I want it right
now.’
Look at Moses’ life again. When he was a young man he killed an Egyptian and
that was the right time for the Lord to use him to deliver Israel (Acts
7:23-25). He was bold and confident in the strength of his youth, and he was
ready to take on the challenge. But that was not God's plan, and Moses had to
flee to save his life. Years later, God called upon him to deliver Israel when
he was old and weak. (Ex. 3:9-10) But by that time Moses was unwilling to take
on that challenge.
We sometimes look at the way things unfold in our life, and we wonder if God
knows what He is doing. Make no mistake; God knows what He is doing. In Moses’
case God accomplished His purpose using an 80 year old man. God, through Moses,
proved to the world that it is His power that delivers and not that of the
person he uses. God has his own exquisite timing. In our everyday lives, if
things do not work according to our time table, how much more we be alert and on
our guard to await the Second Coming of Christ of which no one knows the day or
the hour except the Father?
Those who are on their guard keeping watch and be prepared for the Second Coming
of Christ place their hope on the promise of God for a better life when our
earthly life is over. Moses, during his earthly life, could not exactly fulfill
all his wishes. He led the Israelites into the Promised Land but he himself was
forbidden to enter. Though he could not enter the Promised Land in his life time
he certainly did after his death. He appeared with Elijah at the transfiguration
of Jesus on Mount Tabor in the Promised Land many years after his death.
St. Mathew makes a beautiful comparison of the coming of the Son of Man to what
happened in the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37). As there was but one ark in the days
of Noah, there is but one way of salvation. The whole world was drowned under
the flood of God’s wrath, except for those few souls who prepared themselves to
go into the ark even when others made fun of them. Even so, the whole world
shall be destroyed in the everlasting wrath of almighty God, except those
blessed men and women who lead a life pleasing to God and be on their guard
keeping watch to receive Jesus Christ at his Second Coming because "There is no
other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."
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