Reflection - Neither

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120421.cfm
Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8
Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26

The notion of the ”End Times” has been with us in our Scripture readings for more than just a few weeks now. You may say that the expression has a specific meaning, and I wouldn’t argue the point. Nevertheless, the very thought of ‘the end’ is far more ambiguous. In the technical sense “End Times” refers to the time before the end of time. How long that will be, only the Father knows. I doubt I will be around to witness that event . . . that is, the actual end of time. However, I most certainly am living in the time before the end of time. But the ‘end.’ What does that refer to? The cessation of an historical period? The dying of a human culture? The conclusion of my own earthly life? The termination of this minute? This hour? This day? This year? 

Because we live in time, we live with one end after another. We’re actually in the end time of 2021. As in all previous years, this one will probably pass with little change from its predecessor except for the numbers we use to designate the year. Still, in the broader picture, the events transpiring around us would suggest that we are certainly coming to the end of something — whatever that ‘something’ might be — and the beginning of something else. 

Historically, such transitions have always been sloppy, and no time in my life has been so unkempt, confused and chaotic as the present. The ‘news’ itself is discarded in disgust by many because they consider it as unfit for human consumption, unsanitary, or merely as more worthy of disbelief than the worms on the planet Dune.

Such being the case, I intend to take the liberty of interpreting these Scripture passages which have been presented as the word of God for our time.

When Jesus looked out over the crowd that had gathered to hear him he saw that they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. We hear this from Matthew; we also hear it from Mark (Mark 6:34). In consequence of Jesus compassion, Matthew tells us that Jesus commissioned the twelve to drive out unclean spirits, to cure every disease and every illness and to announce ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 

When Mark records the same observation about the people — that they were like sheep without a shepherd — he tells how Jesus himself ‘taught them many things’ and subsequently, with but five loaves and two fish, announced through this deed that ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand;’ so in Mark’s account the Kingdom is announced both in word and the necessities of life.

It’s not hard to find similar crowds today, though not necessarily in the places you might expect; and their gathered presence is not necessarily composed exclusively of the lost. Rather, they are a scattered crowd even as they appear in great numbers in stores, on highways, at entertainment gatherings. This crowd is composed of all who are caught up in the chaos and confusion of the day. 

Consequently, even many who believe are burdened by the disquietude of the times. Who can endure so many ‘truths’ which are lies, so many ‘facts’ which are false? Who can be at peace with the prevalence of so much animosity and division? Who is not at least mildly anxious about the wars that continue between nations and the rumors of impending war about which we are frequently warned?

Last week we heard a caution from Paul to those who live in that time before the end of time. Even in his day people could not escape chaos and confusion. The temptation to respond by turning to the opiates that were available in Paul’s day was not uncommon any more so than they are for us (Last year, more Americans died from an overdose of fentanyl than in any previous year.)

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
From carousing and drunkenness
And the anxieties of daily life,
And that day catch you by surprise like a trap.”

Paul warns against this. But it is worth noting that he also advises those who are burdened with the troubles of ordinary life: Don’t let these concerns make you numb to what is coming.

From a much earlier day, one more than five hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah also offered the Lord’s words of caution:

“While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
 ‘This is the way; walk in it,’
  when you would turn to the right or to the left.”

The meaning is obvious: don’t look for salvation to come from one side of the prescribed way or from the other. Stay on the path. In our day, at this particular time, his words have an even greater significance. The divisions in our country and the political arguments that ensue attest to a belief in an alternative means to salvation. Some would seek it in the political right; others in the political left. Accusations fly, with each side claiming that the policies of the other will lead to our doom. 

Indeed, we engage in back-biting and acrimony as if our salvation depended upon our own success. The words of Isaiah could not be more apropos: “This is the way; walk in it.” A voice — that of the Spirit — shall sound in your ears. Salvation is from our God. Neither the quagmire on the right nor that on the left can offer more than a human way. We need more.