Two-Minute Warning
33rd Sunday In Ordinary Time, B
2009-11-15
Mk 13:24-32Time is running out. The seconds tick away. It’s almost over. Will there be enough time? It doesn’t look good.
Suddenly, the clock stops. A man in a zebra-striped shirt steps onto the field, blows his whistle and raises his arms. It’s the two-minute warning.
Yes. We ARE talking football here. And, the two-minute warning is a critical moment in many games.
It’s a time to step back, analyze the situation, and come up with a play strategy that will lead to a lightning-fast romp down the playing field and a triumphal dive across the goal line.
Where most possessions last anywhere from 5 to 10 grueling minutes each, drives in the last two minutes are often marked with long, spectacular passes, daring “last chance” runs, the no-huddle offense and “do or die” pressure from the defense. It can be truly exciting.
It’s always amazed me that there can be that much action in the last two minutes, and so much can change, with dramatic reversals of fortune. In fact, many games are won…or lost in these last two minutes.
Some of you may already know where I’m heading with this. Some of you are still wondering how this is connected to today’s readings. Still others hate football, and wish I would just move on.
So in deference to our PBS viewers in the pews, let’s change the channel and leave the stadium for a moment, and talk about what Sacred Scripture is telling us.
If we look at the beginning of Chapter 13 of St. Mark’s Gospel, just a few verses before today’s reading, we find that Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, talking to Peter, James, John and Andrew. And, they’re having a fascinating conversation about the end of the world. They say to Jesus, “Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be when all of these things are about to come to an end?”
Jesus’ answer to their query has been the focus of countless books, essays, articles, talks, plays, movies and television shows for years and years. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the end of the world. First there is a period of great tribulation: wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, earthquakes and famines. We are told brother will hand over brother to death and children will rise up and kill their parents. Jesus warns of hatred, beatings, and martyrdom in His name. And He tells us there will be false messiahs and false prophets.
We then pick up at today’s reading, and Jesus speaks of His glorious return, “the Son of Man coming in the clouds” who sends out His angels to the four corners of the earth to gather the elect.
Wow. That IS harrowing stuff. And, I certainly do understand how one can get caught up in watching modern day theologians on the History Channel debating the secret codes in the Bible that point to the world’s final day, or Sunday morning televangelists rattling off the tell-tale signs of the end of time, or even the latest block-buster movie that tells us that according to the Mayan calendar, the world will end in 2012.
“Wait a second,” you say. “Wars? Earthquakes? Famine? These things ARE happening! Are you telling me the world is ending now?”
Well, I don’t know that. And don’t trust anyone who says they do know that. Remember, Jesus Himself says, “But of that day or hour, no one knows.”
But, what I do know is this: whether or not the world is ending now, Jesus wants us to be prepared. You see, the real questions we should be asking ourselves are these…What if all these things ARE happening now? What if the signs of which Jesus speaks ARE happening at this very moment? What if the world were to end in 2012, or this year, or IN TWO MINUTES? Would you be one of the “elect” that Jesus comes to gather to Himself?
I still have childhood memories of traveling down the road, gazing out the window of the family station wagon. I can see the billboards over Baptist churches asking, “If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?”
So I ask you, “If the world WERE ending right now, what would you do?”
Let’s go back to football. As we read this Gospel, we discover that Jesus is giving us our very own “two-minute warning.”
By placing this Scripture before us, the Church is asking us to step back, analyze the situation, and come up with a strategy that will lead to our own crossing of the “goal line”…eternal life in Heaven.
And, even if we’ve been behind the entire game…we CAN change it all for the better – we CAN have a dramatic reversal in fortune – all in the last two minutes.
OK, so I’m not talking about a literal two minutes. Our two-minute warning starts now, but we don’t know when the game ends.
All we know is that we can spend this last portion of the game – all of our remaining time – living the life that Christ wants for us: living with Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, with Mary as our example, St. Michael as our Guardian and Holy Mother Church as our guide.
There is so much to do, so much that our brothers and sisters need from us, so much that God is asking of us. We can’t just sit on the sidelines. We can’t just wait for the other players, the “stars” on the team to do it for us. We each have a part to play, and all of us together make up that most glorious team, the Body of Christ.
We need to start learning the plays. And how do we do that? We have to read – and study – the Catholic playbook: the documents of the Church, the writings of the Church Fathers, and of course, the Sacred Scriptures. How can you run a play – or implement a strategy – you haven’t studied? Do you REALLY know what the Church teaches?
But, there’s more. We need to follow the laws of the Church and keep her precepts. We need to live out our Baptismal promises. We need to frequently participate in Sacramental Confession. We need to attend Mass EVERY Sunday and Holy Day of obligation.
And most of all, we need to trust in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We need to LIVE in the love of the Trinity, so that we can GIVE in the love of the Trinity.
So as you return home today, perhaps as you watch your favorite football team playing on television, think about it. How will you spend your last two minutes?