The Gospel according to Mark 13:24-27
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
I don’t know what kind of darkness this is – whether it’s the kind where the sun will no longer be visible in the sky, or whether it’s a moral darkness; that moral ignorance reigns, and there’s no light of hope, or perhaps a darkness of the kind in which people will be in complete despair and there’s nothing that can be done to comfort them, even for a moment. I don’t know what darkness he’s talking about, but he was talking about darkness, and it’s a symbol of something very evil.
When Saint Paul spoke about darkness, he told people to throw off the works of darkness because the night is far gone and the day, that is Christ, is at hand. And when he’s talking about works of darkness, he primarily means sins. As it is also in the 9th chapter of Revelation, the angel of darkness opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and caused darkness to reign in the world. People suffered incredible torture and torment for a symbolic period of 5 months, and they sought death but couldn’t find it. This a very symbolic image of our world in which everyone is fed up with life, but they try to get as much pleasure as they can but can’t actually find Heaven, because, as it seems to me, they make counterfeit ones for themselves.
Let’s remind ourselves of the Lord’s parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. The foolish bridesmaids had no oil but had lamps and they remained in the outer darkness as a symbol of their rejection from God. And even though they knocked at the door calling out “Lord, open up”, the Lord did not open it to them, because they had no inner oil.
The speechless man at the banquet, who didn’t know what to say when the king asked him where his wedding garment was – he was also thrown out into the outer darkness.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me.
So, what is darkness? And why do we Christians have to explain darkness to ourselves?
For Jesus says: “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light”. What is Jesus telling you in the darkness? What sort of darkness are you in as the Lord speaks to you?
In my darkness, when I have no light, when I have already experienced rejection, the closed door of hope, when it seems that I experience hell on Earth, when everything that surrounds me is like a black, viscous, painful, unbearable tar, not able to be washed away, when it now seems that it will never end, and yet in this darkness the Lord speaks to us. What does He say? Say speaks words that are a burst of hope. He says: “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light [. . .] Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are more valuable than many sparrows. So, every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is heaven.” These words breathe great hope and love. These words tell us that God in the darkest night, when we have the darkest thoughts, and around us are the darkest types, and when we have the darkest feelings, He speaks to us with hope and says “Persevere, because I am with you. I see you, and this hell, which is on the Earth, will pass”. Keep my word which is as a vow, that I will not abandon you, that I will not leave you, and all your enemies and all those who tear you down and crush, ridicule and scoff at you, will pass as clouds do, they cross the sun, as the moon during an eclipse. It passes, because in this world everything passes away, even hell. Rather let’s be afraid of that hell which never passes away.
No, let’s not be afraid of people, and let’s not be afraid of all those experiences that may be overwhelming us and that take away our hope and make us worry. Let’s remember what Jesus says elsewhere in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well”.
Care about God, God cares about of you. As we care about God, so God will take care about saving us from our hell. Because this hell on earth is passing. That one doesn’t go away. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them can fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even the hairs on your head have all been counted”. It’s hard to believe that God predicts every flap of a sparrow’s wing or knows the exact number of our hairs. But of course, why not? He even knows the make-up of the genome of everyone of us. Why shouldn’t He know this, since He is omniscient? In the end He is God and some god. God, and not some idol. He is not someone brilliant, He is someone beyond brilliant. And He doesn’t forget about those who don’t forget about Him.
This is why today, my brothers and sisters, we have to say once more to ourselves: God vows that He will pull us out of every pit, from every darkness, even from death. God gave His Son so that we would not perish in the darkness.
Let’s have hope in the future. Let’s pray that we will survive any hellish stage of our existence. Let’s thank God that He gives such words in the Bible which allow us to believe in the sense of perseverance and allow us to awaken perseverance and an expectation in the coming of God’s Help in all that is for us an overwhelming darkness. This gloom which is unbearable. Whatever would be unbearable for me or for you, will pass. If we would hold the hand of God. Amen.
21/01/2024
