We are almost at the end of the liturgical year. When Mark wrote his Gospel, the Roman Empire was devastated by wars, plagues, calamities, and famines. Christian communities were affected by persecution and murders. In the face of such struggles, some fanatics began to spread rumors of an impending catastrophe, the end of all creation, and the return of Christ in the clouds from heaven.

Here, the evangelist feels he must intervene to put events into proper perspective. Jesus is not making new predictions in the Gospel. Of course, he uses apocalyptic (symbolic) language from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. In chapters 13 and 34, Isaiah says that the stars of heaven and the constellation of Orion will no longer give their light; the sun will be darkened as it rises, and the moon will not give its light; all the armies of heaven will be destroyed.

Many make the mistake of interpreting Jesus’ words in the literal sense, and that is why many movies come out that talk about judgment day or the end of the world. But Jesus invites us to understand history differently. He speaks of the days of the beginning of pain. What sorrows is he talking about? They are the pains of birth, the birth of a new world, not the pains of suffering and death. During the Last Supper, Jesus used this image of the woman in childbirth. Although she is suffering, she forgets all her pain when she has the joy of having her child. The pains we would suffer in this world are the pains of our birth in the new world. As Saint Paul would say, it is a new creation.

With the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, an entirely new world will begin. With the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, the gods who had seduced humanity will begin to fall. Emperors and kings who justified slavery, moral corruption, and the oppression of people were considered the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. But now, they will lose their splendor. All rulers, from the pharaoh to the Mesopotamian emperor kings, thought they were stars in the sky. Jesus says all these stars are now falling; they should not be in the sky; they are not divinities. Where the light of the Gospel enters, everything else will be darkened.

Jesus is giving an announcement of joy; it is the announcement of an “earthquake” that will overthrow all the kingdoms of injustice and lies. Who are the false stars of the world who seduce and deceive people with their false promises of success today? Do we allow ourselves to be illuminated by the message of the Gospel, or do we continue in the darkness?

Fr. Lalo Jara, OFM Pastor,
Mission San Luis Rey Parish

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