20201126 DIVINE JUDGEMENT
26 November, 2020, Thursday, 34th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading |
Apocalypse 18:1-2,21-23,19:1-3,9 © |
Babylon the Great has fallen
I, John, saw an angel come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth was lit up with his glory. At the top of his voice he shouted, ‘Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird.’ Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, ‘That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.
Never again in you, Babylon,
will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels,
the music of flute and trumpet;
never again will craftsmen of every skill be found
or the sound of the mill be heard;
never again will shine the light of the lamp,
never again will be heard
the voices of bridegroom and bride.
Your traders were the princes of the earth,
all the nations were under your spell.
After this I seemed to hear the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory and glory and power to our God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he has condemned the famous prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication; he has avenged his servants that she killed.’ They sang again, ‘Alleluia! The smoke of her will go up for ever and ever.’ The angel said, ‘Write this: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb’, and he added, ‘All the things you have written are true messages from God.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 99(100):2-5 © |
Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.
Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Go within his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.
Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt24:42,44 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready,
because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk21:28 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stand erect, hold your heads high,
because your liberation is near at hand.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 21:20-28 © |
There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you must realise that she will soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts must not take refuge in it. For this is the time of vengeance when all that scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come!
‘For great misery will descend on the land and wrath on this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every pagan country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the pagans until the age of the pagans is completely over.
‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.’
DIVINE JUDGEMENT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [REV 18:1-2, 21-23, 19:1-3, 9; LUKE 21:20-28]
As we come closer to the end of the liturgical year, the question of the end of history becomes more urgent. What is going to happen to history and how would history end? Both scripture readings today are prophetic visions of the future of Jerusalem and Rome; both symbolized by Babylon, the most feared city in the world during the 6th century, whose barbarous army invaded Jerusalem, reducing the Temple and the city to ruins, and sending their captives into exile. Untold misery and horror stories of how the Israelites were killed when Jerusalem was plundered were recounted. The words of this passage were taken from the prophet Jeremiah predicting the fall of Jerusalem (cf Jer 50,51,7,26), but it reflected the predicament that John and the early Christians were facing at that time.
In John’s time, Babylon was used as a symbol to describe both the Jews and the Romans who were in power. On one hand, the Jews failed to recognize the dangers ahead of them by their rejection of the gospel of peace that Jesus brought. Earlier on, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you … and hem you in on every side … because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” (Lk 19:42-44) They were the new Babylon because they practiced all sorts of corruption, injustices, oppression and hypocrisy, especially among the leaders. The poor were manipulated and oppressed. True enough, by A.D. 70 Jerusalem, with its majestic temple rebuilt by King Herod the Great, was destroyed.
Then towards the middle of the first century, the Christians were persecuted by the Romans. They were Babylon for the Christians. Many were cruelly put to death for their faith by Emperor Nero in AD 64. The Christians were thought to be a movement that disrupted social and political unity because they refused to worship the Emperor who represented the state-god. They were perceived to be disobedient to imperial authority and so were persecuted. Furthermore, there were false perceptions of the Christians as promoting incest and cannibalism because of the Eucharist they celebrated in secret. Rome was also symbolized by Babylon because she epitomized corruption, power, sexual immorality, prostitution and idolatry.
The future of Jerusalem was prophesied by the Lord twice in Luke’s gospel. Divine judgment would eventually take place. In today’s text, the words of Jesus were even clearer and more poignant. “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you must realise that she will soon be laid desolate. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every pagan country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the pagans.” Indeed, there would be no escape from the tragedies caused by the sins and atrocities of humanity. St John had the vision of the angel shouting, “Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen. A powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, ‘That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down.”
Today, this Babylon symbolizes the world. We are the New Babylon awaiting divine judgment to take place. What we are seeing in the world is possibly even worse than in those days when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians or the Romans. More than at any other time in history, the world is becoming more and more decadent each passing day. With a hostile secularism against religions, against belief in God, a growing dictatorship of moral relativism, with no absolute moral norms to guide society, the world is in disarray as truth is determined by consensus and the majority. There are no objective norms to guide the conscience of the individual, political and corporate world, science and technology, bioethics and society. A society without a strong moral foundation cannot last. All the achievements and progress in life would be destroyed by the greed and selfishness of man.
Indeed, we see this happening in the destruction of family and marriage life. When humanity loses its identity, not knowing even its gender, we cannot speak of founding a strong marriage or family which is supposedly the bedrock of society. Today, the individual lives for himself because he has no sense of life after death, since he has been taught that he is simply made of matter and when he dies, there is no continuity of life as he has no soul. So today’s generation is concerned with living life to the fullest on this earth, since there is no question of reward or retribution in the next life. To live to the fullest simply means, “Me first, my family first, my loved ones, my country first”; the rest of you are not important unless you can benefit me. When the institutions of marriage and family are destroyed, we will have a nation of dysfunctional people lacking love and stability. The population will also be decimated. Populations will get older and older with no young people to replace the older people and to procreate and expand humanity.
We see judgment taking place on the global and international level. Nations are suspicious of each other, using unfair and unjust means to compete with other nations so that they can continue to dominate over other countries and make use of them to serve their purpose. Economic conflict and trade wars will lead to technological and military wars. This is already happening, with nations seeking to outdo each other in technological progress and even using manipulation, power and psychological weapons to destroy other nations. At the same time, powerful nations are promoting nuclear armaments and technologically advanced military weapons. Those who are equipped with nuclear power will continue to grow stronger at the expense of the weaker nations. There is so much distrust among powers that war can break out any time. When that happens, humanity and planet earth will be destroyed. Narrow nationalism and protectionism will divide and destroy us all.
We see judgement also taking place in science, medicine, genetic engineering and Artificial Intelligence. With the advancement of science and technology in the areas of medicine, genetics and Artificial intelligence, there is a real danger of creating a superhuman race and even the possibility of super intelligent AI controlling humanity. We are promoting a culture of death through abortion and euthanasia so much so that only the fittest can survive. Without moral guidance, what hope do we have that evil people will not use such technological powers to control others for their own selfish interests? In the not too distant future, wars will be fought at the touch of a button, not by human beings but by AI or robots.
Finally, we see divine judgment taking place in the world of ecology. We see the effects of climate change, but world leaders do not take heed. They are only interested in developing the economy, even at the expense of global warming and nature. They continue to pollute the world and destroy nature just for their immediate gains. Indeed, the Lord said, “There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.” It will come eventually as the world is not doing much to protect the earth. All are saying, “it will not happen in my time. Not my business. I only need to take care of myself, have a good life now. “
Regardless when divine judgment will take place, the Lord assures us, God will be victorious over evil and sin. “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” St John said, I “hear the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory and glory and power to our God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly.’ They sang again, ‘Alleluia! The angel said, ‘Write this: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.'” The Lord exhorts us, “when these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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