MESSAGE OF ASSURANCE

A great reckoning is coming – a great judgment – when those who are oppressing you and the wicked will be cast down, and you will be vindicated and brought into the fullness of life’. The fundamental message, then, to the faithful is not threat but encouragement, comfort and assurance.

The brief extract from Daniel 12 that we have as First Reading refers to this moment of judgment and the great upheaval that will precede it. Since Israel lacks an earthly leader, the archangel Michael will be the particular protagonist (‘Prince’) of the faithful. The text is significant because here for the first time explicitly in the Bible we have a clear reference to the resurrection of the dead. This belief allows for final justice to be done. Those who have lost their lives in the cause of right or who have simply died before the time of reckoning will not lack vindication and reward. They will be raised to everlasting life. Those who have not been faithful and have profited from their cooperation with evil will rise to ‘shame and everlasting disgrace.’

Daniel does not elaborate on what this might mean for them. But the prophet does go on to single out for special approbation the learned, like himself, who have ‘instructed many in virtue.’ In time of oppression faithful leaders and educators would have been particularly targeted for persecution. Now they will ‘shine brightly as the stars for all eternity.’

A similar message runs through the discourse on the future in Mark 13. Jesus foresees the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, wars and turmoil on an international scale, the persecution of his followers and even betrayal and deceit within the community. When all this happens many will be tempted to give up in despair. Why, granted all this upheaval and suffering, has he not returned as Son of Man to vindicate the faithful and bring in the final Rule (Kingdom) of God? Jesus foresees such sentiment and counters it in advance with a double message: 1. ‘Hang in there! the Son of Man will come. But, 2, Don’t think you can calculate or know when that will be. The time of his coming is known to God alone.’.

A reflection by Brendan Byrne, SJ. Source: https://www.australiancatholics.com.au/homily-notes-33-year-b-2024