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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

God’s Ways, Not Our Ways

Theologians tells us that we have a God who speaks, a God who is by nature a Self-communicator. There is a symphony of voices through which the Lord of the universe sings to us—through the created world, through salvation history and the prophets of old, through the preaching of the apostles, through the Holy Spirit at work in our midst, and of course through the written saga of the Word-become-flesh, Jesus himself, as recorded in the scriptures. Our God is not silent. 

Today, Luke gives us Jesus’ final end-times speech. Calamities and disasters will happen. Read the signs of the times in history and in the created world: earthquakes, famines, plagues! Persecutions, wars, and insurrections! Bad stuff. The end is coming. Be attentive!

There are times when we are more aware of our fallibility, our finitude, and our ability to break. In the northern hemisphere,  November is such a month. The tree branches look lifeless. The sunflower stalks are in the compost bin. The Baltimore orioles have flown south. The daylight grows short. 

We do not know the future. Jesus says not to presume that we do;  we should not be deceived. Though God is always speaking, there are some things about which God does not communicate—not the when, not the how, not the where—of the world’s end or our own.  About that, God is silent. 

Malachi prophesies about the coming of the day of the Lord, in a blaze, on fire! 

And yet, ironically, when that great and terrible day came, the  Savior of the universe, slid through the birth canal of a young woman, in the most helpless way possible, to come into the world. Is there a heavenly sense of humor? 

God’s ways are not our ways. We do not know what is coming. 

Consider/Discuss 

  • We understand some things. Yet there is so much more that we do not grasp. Who knows what is yet to come? How can we persevere and remain faithful, be attentive and stay strong in trust, even though we do not know? 
  • Bad things happen. But whether we live or die, no matter what darkness swirls around us, no matter how dire the situation, the Lord desires to  shine through us like stars in the night sky. You and I are to be the blessing of God in this point of history. What does that mean for how are we to  act? For how we are to pray? How can you and I grab onto that personal mission even more strongly as this church year draws to a close? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, you are the God of surprises. If we had known so many  years ago what our lives would be like, would we have had the  strength to walk forward into them? Thank you that you don’t show  us the future either! But you do show yourself to us in so many little  ways, right here and right now. You are full of amazements! Who  would have guessed that you would have become flesh in the way  that you did? Do you chuckle a bit at that? You are so good. Lead us  to your eternal light, whenever and however that comes. Thank you,  thank you, God of glory!

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Scripture Study for

The first several decades of the post-exilic period were a time of great trial. The former kingdom of Judah remained under foreign rule and only very slowly emerged from severe economic and demographic stagnation. Malachi focuses on additional problems: the resumption of injustice in the land, widespread marital infidelity, and priestly negligence and complacency. Through the prophet, God continually chastises the people for persisting in many of the very behaviors that led to the Exile in the first place. Where was the purification that was supposed to have taken place? The people always respond to these criticisms with disbelief: “How have we disdained your name?”  (1:6). The prophet and others begin to wonder, “Where is the just  God?” (2:17). In response we have today’s short reading. There will come a purifying fire when the Lord comes in judgment. The heat of God’s judgment will consume evildoers, but it will bring “healing rays” for those who are faithful to God.

In his conclusion to his Second Letter to the Thessalonians,  Paul exhorts the community to avoid acting in a “disorderly” way,  which is to say, in a way that disrupts the peace and harmony of the community. This can happen in a couple of ways: by sowing doubt  and dissension about Christian doctrine or by refusing to contribute  to the needs of the community through work (3:6). As they have been instructed to look to Christ as a model of trust in God (3:5),  so they should look to Paul as a model of industriousness for the “common good.” Paul and his companions have avoided burdening the Thessalonians by demanding anything from them, but instead have worked for their bread. Those among them who are shunning work (perhaps because they thought the parousia had already occurred) or otherwise disrupting the harmony of the community are not looking out for the good of that community. 

The temple in Jerusalem was massive and completely covered in gold. It must have been hard to imagine that it could ever be destroyed, as Jesus claims it will be (and was, by the Romans, in  A.D. 70). Jesus assures the crowd that there will come a time when the world will come undone. But before this, and more immediately relevant to them, his followers will be subjected to the same trials and persecution that he is about to undergo. In response to this,  they should not fear, but trust in God and see the trials as occasions to proclaim the gospel, which is perhaps most effectively and authentically preached under such circumstances. Although many will suffer, some even to the point of death, yet “not a hair on your head will be destroyed” if they remain faithful. He is speaking, of course, of life in him, both in this world and in the next. 

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