GOSPEL REFLECTION, FRIDAY WEEK 34 OF ORDINARY TIME, 28 NOVEMBER 2025

Luke 21:29-33.  In the verses immediately before today’s gospel reading, Jesus the Prophet proclaims that the destruction of Jerusalem is very near; this will be a time of vengeance and great turmoil; there will be signs in the moon and stars.  But these times immediately precede the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory, for our redemption is coming very near.  Jesus is reiterating much of what the Old Testament prophets had to say about the coming of the Son of Man, but proclaiming it in his own words, for he is the Prophet of all prophets.

What are we to make of this when in our age we have almost lost the ability to hear what these prophecies meant?  Jesus tells us a parable to say what he meant.  First of all, there is an urgency in his prophecies, and we are becoming deaf to it.  Then there will be signs that if we only ‘watched,’ stayed alert, stayed awake, we would know what they meant.  His parable tells us that some of these signs are like the budding of trees before bursting into bud when summer comes.  Then we will know that the fullness of the Kingdom of God is very near.  These must surely be signs of hope and expectation, whatever else is happening.  The signs point us forward, not for us to wallow in the dire prophecies of doom.

In Christian thought, history has a goal, and that goal is Jesus himself, when he will be Lord of all.  In the meantime, we wait with patience, but also with joyful hope and expectation for that time to come.  This is very much the theme of Advent, which is almost upon us – joyful hope and expectation brought to us by the birth of Jesus Messiah, and by joyful hope and expectation for what is to come in the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

The early Church fathers often put it this way: if we are ‘in Christ,’ as Paul’s letters say, then being ‘in Christ’ our King is to be ‘in the Kingdom’ – for being in Christ is to be in the Kingdom.