Sunday 17 November 2024
Thirty third Sunday in Ordinary time - Year B
Be still and know
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We sometimes describe the time when we lose someone as being like the end of the world.
Most particularly it is to do with the great wound of grief that leaves us empty with the sure foundation of our lives turned to nothing.
‘The end of the world’ fits exactly that feeling of hopelessness.
We do not know when the world itself will come to an end but the troubles we see in the news and experience in our own lives can make us feel that it is close.
We all worry about war and the possibility of escalation; we feel helpless when we are told of climate change and the seeming failure to address it; ruthlessness seems to triumph and gentleness lies forgotten. The danger is that we can be drawn into a downward spiral that robs us of hope.
Jesus repeatedly tells us to trust in him and we can only hope that through the deafening silence of loss and the clamour of our questioning his steady voice repeating in our hearts may gradually take hold. In a dark vale of tears we need him to hold us steady.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about his words. They shall not pass away, he says, even if heaven and earth does.
This is a strong claim. To understand it we recognise that he is not referring to the ink marks found in a book or even engravings made in stone; paper turns to dust and eventually rock too. It is the rhythm and steady beat of a message that passes from heart speaking heart.
Jesus invites us to listen his words of comfort, his affirming presence especially in the face of doubt and fear.
Also, he invites us to join in the murmur of reassurance with those around us. When the world seems to be coming to an end it is then that we most need a friend, a neighbour.
The conversation of comfort is not about trivialising the chasm of worry it is to do with being there as a still small voice of calm. God speaks to us through others and he reaches out to the most sorrowful using our voices.
We are being invited to recognise that in the times we feel tested most and in the support we give each other that the Lord is at his closest.
‘So with you when you see these things happening:
know that he is near, at the very gates’
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