Friday Gospel Recharge
A Reflection on Luke 17: 26-37
(32nd Friday in Ordinary Time, Year A of the Liturgical Calendar, 2023)
Preparing ourselves for Christ's second coming
As a child the first-time death confronted me, I was playing Marble Madness on the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive console, a very popular gaming console of my time; I was about 7 or 8 years-old. I remember the incident that sparked the curiosity and fears of death in me. It did not register at first, however overtime, as the marble kept falling from the course, due to my amateur gaming skills, I realised that life had an end. I put the console controller down, ran to my father and told him that I did not want to die. From memory, he provided little assurance on the life that awaits us with Christ after death, but to be fair my father was gentle and kind about the situation reassuring me not to worry about it.
We all have loved ones who have died in the past too. Some we have no memory of who might be a grandparent we have never come to know; others have been closer relations. A school friend of mine died in a car crash in the first year out of high school, he was only 18. In the last year or so, politicians and cricket stars have left this world unexpectedly due to heart failure. Not all people die unexpectedly since some live to their final moments, prepared as they were before their soul separates from their broken bodies and go to God. Nevertheless, life for some takes an unexpected turn, leaving us confronted and worried about our own mortalities.
In this Gospel, Jesus confronts us with the
reality of his second coming. He tells us that he will return without any
warning: as Noah went into the ark and the people were eating and marrying and
having a good time, the flood came and destroyed them all. In fact, when the
second coming takes place, Jesus warns us that it will be too late for us to do
anything else to warrant salvation. Not even our material wealth will sway God
to save us: “when that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions
in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields
turn back either.” However, it is not doom and gloom for all. Again, Jesus
tells us that “anyone who preserves his life will lose it, and anyone who loses
it will keep it safe.”
Preservation
of this life, in Jesus’s point-of-view, is realised in those who seek security
in this world. A man pursues not only a good career which secures him money,
health insurance and material wealth; he invests his security only in created
goods, and not God. Not only does the man place his security in created goods, but
he also looks inwardly and sees himself as the only good worth preserving. He
spends all that was given and gained on himself. He only eats, drinks, and
enjoys life. When one is completely focused on himself, he forgets God and
those around him in need. In other words, he forgets to love.
As human
beings, we are called to love the people around us. The Church reminds us that
God is love and that we were created out of God’s love so that we could love
him and each other in return. In our own existence we feel a call to love even
if we are ignorant of what the Church teaches. When we are confronted with evil
our heart melts for those who suffer. Sometimes, we even respond to the evil to
alleviate the pain of another. This kind of response requires self-sacrifice
because we forsake something of ourselves so that someone else might find life again.
When
Jesus says “those who lose it will keep it safe” he means that those who invest
in God first and not themselves will find security after his second
return. To invest in God requires nothing more than trusting in his plan
for us and living it out completely each and every day. It involves living a
life of love out of love for God. We do this by first honouring him which
consists of upholding The Commandments, praying regularly and every day, and
most importantly showing people the same affection, which God has shown us - in
other words: loving others as God has loved us.
For two
reasons the last commandment should be considered seriously. Firstly, when we
love we grow as individuals, realising our best potential. It is in sacrifice
in which we discover our real selves, not in hoarding material and wealth for
ourselves, nor in drinking and eating. Those who live only for material and
pleasurable things not only become unhappier they also lack a story to tell;
they are in fact boring people. We all would like our life’s story told by
others however that story can be told only if we have something good to share
with others. Think of what Jesus did for us on the cross: he died for us so
that we might find life and that story remains to be told today. While life is
all about getting to heaven where Jesus now reigns, our heavenly journey comes
with a story, and it is one which must involve a personal cross. Lastly, we
want to love because of this gospel message. A time will come when death or
Jesus will come unexpectedly, and when that day arrives, we want to be prepared
so that Jesus might take us with him where we will live happily forever.
Do not settle
for comfort and pleasure like in the days of Noah and Lot. Indeed, comfort and
pleasure are still pursued in our modern day. Instead, put God first and live
for heaven’s sake.
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