ASK ME ANOTHER !
That was the title of a Quiz
Programme I used to follow, years ago, on the BBC. But I think that it is a fitting
title for next Sunday Gospel, (33rd Sunday). It certainly reminds me
of it. The reason I say this is simple, how many have tried, and many are still
striving to get a guess at the date fixed for the end of the world. Many a
‘sect’ have had to change their guess for over four times, so far. I am dead
sure that they will never hit the jackpot.
Who can tell? It would be
preposterous to try and guess the ‘when’. Jesus Himself, says that he does not
know the day or the hour when He will come again. There were things which even
He left, without questioning, in the hands of God. There can be no greater
warning, and rebuke, to those who try to work out dates and timetables as when He
will come again. No mathematical formulae, no juggling with numbers taken from
the Book of Revelations, and fed into a computer, can ever give a correct answer.
This is nothing less than
blasphemy, for anyone, to enquire into that which our Lord Himself consented
that He does not know of, only the Father knows. Jesus drew a practical
conclusion. We are like men who know that our Master will definitely come, but the
‘when’, no one knows. We live in the shadow of eternity. This does not mean
that there should be any fearful or hysterical expectation. It simply makes us
realise that we should do our daily task, duty on a day by day basis with
genuine interest and responsibility. In this way we are always in a position to
meet Him, face to face. Thus every single moment becomes a preparation to meet
the Master, the Lord, the Judge, the Father.
Though this is a difficult
text, but it has a permanent Truth. We learn from this that only the ‘man of God’ can see into the
secrets of history. Jesus saw the fate of Jerusalem although the Jews were
blind to it. A real statesman “must be a man of God” To guide his country a man
must be himself God guided. Only the man who accepts God’s Plans can walk and
follow His Plans.
He who abandons God and is
immersed in worldly things, in power and honour is most foolish, and will
ultimately find himself in the company of the foolish virgins of the parable.
The wise man is always ‘on the watch’ always waiting for the moment to be
summoned when the ‘call’ comes, and the end will be eternal joy.
