Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 506

"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,

know that its desolation is at hand.

Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Let those within the city escape from it,

and let those in the countryside not enter the city,

for these days are the time of punishment

when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.

Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,

for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth

and a wrathful judgment upon this people.

They will fall by the edge of the sword

and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;

and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles

until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

When Jesus wanted to warn his disciples about the consequences of evil, he didn't have to look very far for stories of wrath and destruction. Roman armies maintained an ominous presence throughout Galilee, Samaria and Judea, with a citadel in Jerusalem. If the children had not seen the havoc gentile soldiers could lay on cities, villages and the countryside, their elders could tell them. The Roman army was adept at repression and terror. Soldiers and commanders despised the Jewish population; they would not cultivate cooperative, friendly relations with the populace. I have read that the child Mary of Nazareth almost certainly witnessed a sweep of the occupying army through her native Nazareth, searching for insurgents. No house or room in a house was neglected as defenseless people fell by the sword or were taken as captives by the Gentiles. Where the occupiers encountered resistance the locals were left to bury the dead.

But occupying armies are not the only punishment for sin. Today's news media tell us of the savage indifference of fires and floods as the powerful ignore the consequences of climate change. Seasides and forest glades are not the safe places they used to be. Someone will surely complain, "It's not fair that helpless old people and defenseless children should be drowned or burned alive by these catastrophes. Only the wicked should be punished!" Jesus knew that when he pronounced doom on "pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days."

As island nations disappear under "the roaring of the sea and the waves" no one can say the Bible says nothing about climate change. But clearly, the island nations, impoverished and isolated in the south Pacific, did not pollute the planet with their own industrial waste and auto exhaust. The rising tides remind us we're all in this together, even people like this author, who live deep in a continent's interior.

In today's reading from Revelation we hear the Baptized praising God for his justice:

"Alleluia!

Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God,

for true and just are his judgments.

He has condemned the great harlot

who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.

He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

The Christian worships God in season and out of season, nor do we expect a rational explanation from God for everything that happens. Our vanity has not persuaded us that we should or can understand the universe and its ways. As Saint Paul said, For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? But we might recognize God's punishing hand in the consequences of human mismanagement, even if the innocent must suffer more than the guilty.

Christians, traditionally, do not wash their hands of guilt. We do not claim exemption from the punishments that fall upon the wicked. Rather we pray, "Spare us, O Lord. Spare us, your people, lest we perish in eternity." Or, as in the ancient song, "Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo, ne in aeternum, irascaris nobis.