Homily Ordinary 33B: Death (and taxes) and Judgment, Heaven and Hell

Homily for Ordinary Time – 33rd Sunday Year B 2018 

Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14,18; Mark 13:24-32 

Introduction 

Every now and then, some Catholics will complain to me.  “Father, why don’t you priests today preach those fire and brimstone homilies like in the olden days?  Why are you wimps and you don’t you preach about hell and judgment anymore?” 

I usually tell said Catholics that what we preach about is dictated by the readings of the Sunday; most readings do not lend themselves to that subject.  Well, today’s readings, coming as they do on the second to last Sunday of our liturgical year do speak in an ominous way about the events of the end-times.  And so, for those who have been looking forward to a homily on hell-fire, you asked for it!  Here it comes. 

Scripture and Theology 

In the gospel reading of today Jesus is responding to two questions: one about the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and other about the end of the world. His answer is that one  will  happen  within  a  generation,  and  you  should  be  able  to  tell  when  it's  coming.  This event did indeed happen, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.  The  other  event, the end of the world, when the sun will be dark, the moon not reflect light any more, and the stars fall from the sky, that is  going  to  happen  at  a  time  and  on a  day  when  no  one  knows  “neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  And so we just need to be prepared for it, for the end of the world. 

But of course the two events are related.  The destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple in judgment prefigures the end of the world as we know it, also in judgment, the final judgment.  What happens to Jerusalem and its temple will also happen to the world at the end of time. 

In fact the passage we read from the book of Daniel had also prefigured these events.  Daniel had told the people that a terrible judgment would come upon them, with varying destinies depending on how they had lived their lives. 

• Of those living “everyone who is found written in the book” shall escape. 
• Of the dead that shall awake “some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.” 
• And: “the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever." 

Benjamin Franklin told Americans that the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes.  Our readings today add a few more things to Franklin's list.  For Catholics four things are certain in this life, the so-called Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.  Let us look at them one by one. 

Death is the first of the Four Last Things.  Death, brings an end to human life as we know it.  Death brings an end to that time, which God gives us to either accept or reject his love in Christ (CCC 1021).  The time while we are on earth is the time to choose, to be with God or against him.  In fact, that is the only reason God created us, to share his love with us, so that we can then love him back in this life and in the life to come.  With death, this opportunity of choosing ends. 

Judgment, the second thing, follows.  After death we are judged on the choices we have made before our death.  There are two kinds of judgments that await us: the Particular Judgment we receive immediately after we die and the Last Judgment that will come at the end of time. 

1. In the Particular Judgment right after we die, we are rewarded immediately in accordance with our faith and works.  In the Parable of Lazarus, for example, as soon as the poor man dies, he is judged and found worthy and therefore rewarded with a place in the bosom of Abraham in heaven.  The rich mean man, however, is judged and found unworthy and is therefore punished with a place in the fires of hell.  And on the cross, Jesus promises the good thief an immediate particular judgment telling him, "today you will be with me in paradise." 
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2. The Last Judgment will come at the end of time, as we heard in today's gospel, when Christ will return and assume kingship of the whole universe.  Jesus describes this judgment in the story of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25, when he will separate the sheep to one side and the goats to other.  The sheep are those who were kind to him in the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and prisoners, while the goats ignored him.  This Last Judgment will restore the world to God and reveal the ultimate meaning of God's plan; we will finally understand why things have been the way they were (CCC 1040). 
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And so death brings about judgment and at judgment, depending on how we lived, God will assign a place of final abode, Heaven or Hell, the last two things. 

The Bible describes Hell as a place of fire, perhaps because being burnt is one of the things we human beings fear most.  It is a place of punishment for those who rejected God; the punishment is essentially that one is cut off from God.  As much as he wishes that everyone would go to heaven, Jesus warns that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," (Mt 13:41-42) and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!’ (Mt 25:41)” (CCC 1034). 

As for Heaven, the Bible describes it in terms of a beautiful paradise, a lavish banquet, astounding garden.  These marvelous images of heaven are really trying to describe the indescribable.  How could you describe life with God, true happiness (CCC 1024)?  In heaven we get to fulfill our destiny and live as God created us to be, sharing in his life and love forever. 

And so for Catholics, while Death and Judgment await us all, our final destination will either be Heaven or Hell, depending on how we lived our lives. 

Christian Life 

Unfortunately some Catholics have further reduced these four things to just two: death and heaven.  They keep death because it is unavoidable; but they assume that heaven has an open door policy with no cover charge or requirements.  They ignore judgment and hell, because they are too unpleasant to speak about. 

If April is the month that reminds us about the taxes that Franklin spoke about, November is the month that reminds us about death and these Last Things. 

• Coinciding as it does with the season of Fall, November has nature adding its gloomy reminder of death in the shedding of falling leaves. 
• Some of us began this month by celebrating Halloween, the secular holiday of the condemned dead, who have failed to make it to heaven. 
• But most of us began this month by celebrating All Saints Day, the Catholic holiday of the blessed dead, who have made it to heaven 
• On November 2nd, we then celebrated All Souls Day, praying for the faithful departed, who are still on their way to heaven, having made a brief detour in purgatory, to take care of some unfinished business. 

It is no wonder then, that the readings of November should remind us of the Last Days and help us to face our own mortality and what lies beyond it. 

Conclusion 

You perhaps remember those long road trips you took as a family for vacation or to visit the grandparents.  Your kids kept shouting from the back seat: “are we there yet? are we there yet?”  Of course when asked every five minutes, these questions can be annoying.  But there is something to be said for this enthusiasm of children, who look forward to where they are going, the destination. 

May we have a similar enthusiasm for heaven that inspires us to live now with one another, the love we hope to share with God in heaven forever and ever.