Pray for the Strength to Endure
Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year C)
“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36).
Jesus says to be vigilant and to pray to have the strength to escape the tribulations that are to come (Lk 21:36). There is an idea out there I’m sure you’ve heard of known as “the Rapture.” It is a very new idea among Christians, dating back only to the 19th century when it was first proposed by a Protestant minister named John Nelson Darby. The idea is that before the time of tribulation that will precede the Second Coming of Christ, all true believers will be miraculously taken away, or “raptured,” to spare them from that trial.
As I said, this is a new idea in Christianity. It is not what Catholics, Orthodox, or most Protestants believe. But the idea of the Rapture has made its way into mainstream culture so it's now what many people just assume Christians believe to be true. (One of the big popularizers of this idea was the writer Hal Lindsay, whom I learned recently passed away, so we should pray for the peaceful repose of his soul).
Those who profess the idea cite 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where St. Paul says that at the coming of the Lord the dead will rise and those who are still alive will rise up to meet Christ in the air. That's where the word “rapture” comes from; it means “to rise up.” But Paul is describing something that will take place at the Second Coming, not years before it happens.
They also cite gospel passages where Jesus warns that at the coming of the Son of Man it will be like it was in the days of Noah; two men will be working in the field, one will be taken and the other left, or two people will be sleeping in one bed, one taken and the other left. But again, Christ is talking about the Second Coming, not an event that takes place before it. And he compares that day to the time of Noah when the wicked were wiped off the face of the earth by a flood. So when Jesus says some will suddenly be taken away, he's not talking about the righteous, but the wicked who will be removed from the face of the earth when he comes in glory to reign in justice. He’s talking about the final judgment. They are not being taken away to be spared a time of tribulation, but because they don't belong in God's kingdom.
So if we don’t believe in a rapture that will spare the Church from the time of tribulation, what does our Lord mean, then, when he says to pray for the strength to escape the tribulations to come? Well, like those other passages I just mentioned, we need to read this in context. This verse is part of what’s called the Olivet discourse, where Jesus describes the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Luke 21 begins with people admiring the finery of the temple, and Jesus tells them that “the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they ask him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” The rest of the chapter is Jesus’ answer to that question. We hear only a small part of it in the reading for today.
He warns about false teachers, about coming war and earthquakes, disease, and persecution. He says this will be a time for his followers to bear testimony, and says that some of them will be put to death. When these things take place, he tells them, they will know that the kingdom of God is near, and he tells them that this generation will not pass away before that happens (Lk 21:31-32). And all those things did happen, within the lifetime of most of those who heard those words. In the year 70 AD the Jewish people rose up against the Roman authorities and Rome responded by completely destroying the Jerusalem temple. There was war, destruction, persecution, disease and even earthquakes. And not one stone of the temple was left on top of another: just as Jesus described.
So what Jesus described in the Olivet discourse has already come to pass. His prophecy was fulfilled during that first generation of Christians. But like many prophecies in scripture, there is more to it than meets the eye. Most prophecies have two fulfillments, two things they point toward. They have a fulfillment in history, and a final fulfillment at the end of history. The word we use to describe the end of history is eschaton. When Jesus says, “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory,” and “that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth,” these things did not happen in the first century. Jesus is talking about the eschaton, which the destruction of the temple was only a prefigurement of, a foreshadowing of a greater destruction to come.
Yes, destruction. The destruction of the temple marked the end of the Old Covenant sacrifices and the beginning of a new era of grace. But Christ wants to remake more than just our worship. He wants to remake the world. He says in Revelation, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). That means all things must pass away, must be destroyed in order to be remade in glory.
But before this happens, there will be suffering. This is the tribulation Christ warns us of. We are talking about a universal resurrection, and resurrection is always preceded by death. The Catechism teaches that “the Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection” (CCC 677). The time of tribulation is not something the Church gets to escape, but something the Church must pass through in order to enter into Christ's glory, just as Christ had to pass through the cross. We cannot escape tribulation, but we can be purified by it. The prophet Malachi says the coming of the Lord will be like a refiner’s fire. It will bring destruction for the wicked, but redemption for the righteous.
Notice Jesus does not say we should pray to escape the tribulations, but rather we should pray for the strength to escape the tribulations. That’s because the way we escape them is the same way that Christ escaped death on the cross — by passing through it. That's why Paul says the Cross is an absurdity to unbelievers but for those who believe it is the power of God. Jesus tells us to pray for strength, because we need strength to endure these trials. St. Paul tells us in Romans that afflictions produce endurance, and endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not fail (Rom 5:3-5). And Jesus says, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 24:13).
So we need strength to endure, to escape destruction by uniting our trials to the cross. But what kind of strength are we talking about? It’s not physical strength. It’s not even mental or emotional strength, although having those will surely help. St. Paul tells us in the second reading today that we must strengthen our hearts with love, so that we might be found blameless at the coming of the Lord. This is the strength we need. It takes real strength to give yourself for the good of another, to make sacrifices to put others’ needs first. It takes strength to forgive. It takes strength to admit you need forgiveness. It takes strength to let go of our worldly attachments.
We must be strong in love, because the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love. There is no room for hatred or malice or selfishness in that kingdom, which is why those who have enthroned those demons in their hearts will have no place in it. Or to put it another way, hatred and selfishness will be banished from God's kingdom, so if you've tied yourself to those things you will be banished along with them. So we must instead banish them from our hearts.
One way to do this is by learning to be grateful, which is why I think it’s fitting that the start of Advent is preceded in our country by the celebration of a national day of Thanksgiving. That holiday was enshrined in our calendars by Abraham Lincoln who thought it a good and necessary thing, in the midst of the death and destruction of a Civil War, to give thanks to God. That takes strength.
The scriptures are full of injunctions for us to give thanks to God. My favorite one is from the end of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians when he says to rejoice always, pray constantly, and in all circumstances give thanks (1 Thess 5:16-18). This year it did not escape my notice that this instruction comes in the part of his letter where Paul warns us to stay vigilant for the day of the Lord’s coming. He says to stay awake and alert for that day. And this is how we are to do it: with rejoicing, and prayer, and thanksgiving — in all circumstances. In all circumstances, even and especially in times of tribulation, Christians can rejoice in the victory of God’s kingdom, pray that we have a place in it, and offer thanksgiving in the sure hope that we will.
And remember this: the word in Greek for “give thanks” is Eucharist. That's the word Paul used when he wrote his letter. So when Paul says, “in all circumstances give thanks,” we can read it as “in all circumstances, Eucharist.” That should tell us something about how we are to sustain our gratitude and our hope. When good things are happening, Eucharist. When bad things are happening, Eucharist. When not much is happening, Eucharist. No matter what is going on in the world, Christians should always return here to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a sign that we no longer belong to this world that is passing away. We are already citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, and are even now being fed from his table. This is the source of our strength. When Jesus tells us to pray for strength, he knows that we do not have the strength on our own. We need his strength to endure, and so he gives it to us by giving us his own flesh to eat, the same flesh that endured the cross for our sake and rose again to glory.
So having been strengthened by the Eucharist, let us pray for the strength to endure the tribulations of life with charity and repentance, as we await with joyful hope the coming of that kingdom. Amen.