Homily helper 3rd full week of Holy Cross

Third Week After the Holy Cross
Sunday of the Thrid Week of the Holy Cross
Book of Offering page 606 Phil 3:17-4:1 Mt 24:23-31

Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.

Biblical Exegesis
[3:17–21] Paul and those who live a life centered in Christ, envisaging both his suffering and resurrection, provide a model that is the opposite of opponents who reject Christ’s cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:23).

[3:17] Being imitators of me: not arrogance, but humble simplicity, since all his converts know that Paul is wholly dedicated to imitating Christ (1 Cor 11:1; cf. also Phil 4:9; 1 Thes 1:6; 2 Thes 3:7, 9; 1 Cor 4:6).

[3:20] Citizenship: Christians constitute a colony of heaven, as Philippi was a colonia of Rome (Acts 16:12). The hope Paul expresses involves the final coming of Christ, not a status already attained, such as the opponents claim.

[4:1–9] This series of ethical admonitions rests especially on the view of Christ and his coming (cf. Phil 4:5) in Phil 3:20–21. Paul’s instructions touch on unity within the congregation, joy, prayer, and the Christian outlook on life.

Gospel: Matthew 24:23-31
If anyone says to you then, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you beforehand. So if they say to you, ‘He is in the desert,’ do not go out there; if they say, ‘He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Biblical Exegesis
[24:26–28] Claims that the Messiah is to be found in some distant or secret place must be ignored. The coming of the Son of Man will be as clear as lightning is to all and as the corpse of an animal is to vultures; cf. Lk 17:24, 37. Here there is clear identification of the Son of Man and the Messiah; cf. Mt 24:23.

[24:29] The answer to the question of Mt 24:3b, “What sign will there be of your coming?” Immediately after…those days: the shortening of time between the preceding tribulation and the parousia has been explained as Matthew’s use of a supposed device of Old Testament prophecy whereby certainty that a predicted event will occur is expressed by depicting it as imminent. While it is questionable that that is an acceptable understanding of the Old Testament predictions, it may be applicable here, for Matthew knew that the parousia had not come immediately after the fall of Jerusalem, and it is unlikely that he is attributing a mistaken calculation of time to Jesus. The sun…be shaken: cf. Is 13:10, 13.

[24:30] The sign of the Son of Man: perhaps this means the sign that is the glorious appearance of the Son of Man; cf. Mt 12:39–40 where “the sign of Jonah” is Jonah’s being in the “belly of the whale.” Tribes of the earth will mourn: peculiar to Matthew; cf. Zec 12:12–14. Coming upon the clouds…glory: cf. Dn 7:13, although there the “one like a son of man” comes to God to receive kingship; here the Son of Man comes from heaven for judgment.

[24:31] Send out his angels: cf. Mt 13:41 where they are sent out to collect the wicked for punishment. Trumpet blast: cf. Is 27:13; 1 Thes 4:16.

Homily:
Few saints have been blessed with a vision of heaven while still in this life. Isaiah saw heaven (Is 6:1–8), as did Ezekiel (Ezk 1:1–28), and the apostle John saw a new heaven—God’s eternal Kingdom revealed as a city (Rev 21:1—22:5).

When we read these passages, we note an abundance of mystical, apocalyptic imagery. But the strong similarities between these passages suggests an inspired consistency of reporting on the visions. The living creatures, the light, the cherubic beings, the throne, and the glory of the Lord all work together to unveil a Kingdom of celestial majesty and splendor.

While confessing with the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Co 2:9), we nonetheless find, taking the Scriptures as a whole, that certain things can be said about the eternal Kingdom.

The saints who inhabit God’s Kingdom live in active fulfillment of His eternal plan. In the Kingdom, humanity becomes all it is meant to be. There is nothing at all in Scripture to suggest that eternal life means people passively afloat on huge white clouds strumming harps unto the ages of ages.

Originally created to inhabit Paradise, our first parents chose to sin against God and were expelled from the Garden. The Kingdom of God was closed to mankind (Gn 3:24). But God in His love called His creation back to Himself, speaking to us through the law and the prophets and ultimately through His incarnate Son. Through new life in Jesus Christ, we are brought back by God’s mercy into the new creation, His everlasting Kingdom. As kings and priests we will reign with Him forever (Rev 1:6).

We experience a foretaste of the Kingdom in the Church. The very first words of the Divine Liturgy spoken by the priest are, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.” The Church at worship enters or ascends to the heavenly Kingdom. For it is in the Church that we are seated “together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6) and are raised to “where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1).

In worship we join the heavenly hosts—the saints and the angels—in giving praise to our God. As the body of Christ, we participate with that “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) surrounding us as we come to “the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). We come liturgically “to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all” (Heb 12:22, 23). With this heavenly vision, the Church each Sunday remembers not only those in the parish but “all those who in faith have gone on before us to their rest.”

Knowledge of the Kingdom motivates us to live in complete devotion to Christ. In this life, we have a foretaste of the Kingdom that inspires us to seek its fullness. In Paul’s words, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1Co 13:12). Worship is not a solitary act. Rather it is the Bride of Christ, the one Church—those on earth joining with those in heaven—giving thanks to our God and King, who has made us citizens of His magnificent domain.

The apostle John writes, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1Jn 3:2, 3).