33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

17 November 2024

Lectionary Readings: Daniel 12:1-3;Psalm 15: 5,8-11;Hebrews 10:11-14,18; Mark 13:24-32

Dear readers, shalom from Israel-Jerusalem!

This Sunday, the liturgy proposes, among many possibilities, a reflection on the end of times. The book of the Prophet Daniel contemplates several different stages in the history of the people of Israel, from the period of Babylon to the Hellenistic crisis in the 2nd century B.C. And, as is evident, the book tries to interpret the moment of great difficulties experienced by the people within a perspective of hope for better days from the intervention of God from above. The apocalyptic language of the book is part of an important trend in Jewish religious literature from the period of the 2nd Temple and that extended even after the destruction of the 2nd Temple, with a great influence on Christian literature in the first centuries of the Christian era.

Daniel develops a different vision of the coming of the Messiah. Already in Chapter 7 we have the affirmation of the coming of a being from above (on the clouds of heaven), therefore divine, of human appearance who will be given by the ‘Ancient One’ all the power of creation and everything will be subjected to him. This description does not follow the principles of the Messiah of the lineage of David. Today’s passage (12, 1-3) is one of the first direct affirmations about the resurrection of the dead as is explicit in the Book of Maccabees. This invites us to read the proposed text of the Gospel (Mk 13, 24-32) from this perspective of apocalyptic literature as an example of the Book of Daniel. We learn that the various Jewish religious currents of the period of the Second Temple are assumed in the New Testament, in the affirmation of Jesus as the Messiah: of the lineage of David, as the suffering Servant and as the Son of man who comes from above… these are not contradictory affirmations, but they are not the same thing. They are part of a rich Jewish tradition that does not weaken the unity of the people; on the contrary, they are expressions that respond to different situations and understandings of the same people and the same identity

The announcement that the time of the coming of the Messiah and with it the end of times, the movement of Jesus, which is an expression within Judaism, transforms what do we usually read as ‘that day’ into the, ‘the time is near’, ‘the time has come’, ‘the time is now’: “This is the time of fulfilment. The reign of God is at hand” (Mk 1, 15); “Take care to do all these things, for you know the time in which we are living. It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith” (Rom 13, 11-12). The question remains: where and how does it manifest itself? From God’s point of view, His Kingdom is already among us, the time has already come, we need to read God’s signs. Hence the requirement of observing the Word of God so that from the point of view of humanity the Kingdom of God becomes possible. And may everyone pray with the Psalm: “O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot … You show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever” (Ps 16, 5.11).

This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Elio Passeto, NDS, Israel, Director

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