What is your future?
Reflection on a reading from today's Church of England Lectionary. 23 September 2021. Mark 13: 14 - 23
I wonder what the disciples are thinking as Jesus continues his prophecy of how terrible the times will be after he leaves the earth and before his return. He says that the days of distress have never been and never will be equalled. They may have thought that they were hearing an exposition from the book of Daniel who prophesied similar terrors. What did they think when Jesus said that they would see “the abomination that causes desolation standing where he does not belong”? Perhaps they thought that they have heard people discussing these things all their lives and paid little attention. Mark does not say that they said much about it this stage. Little did they know that in a very short time the terrors would be visited on them.
Who or what is this “abomination that causes desolation”? It could be the leader of the Roman forces which destroyed Jerusalem, including the Temple, in AD70. It could be any number of the invaders and conquerors since then. From a Christian perspective and applying the idea to the era we live in we can see that the “abomination” may be the prevailing zeitgeist of today which seems to be not only a denial of the will of God but an active working for the opposite. Instead of speaking the truth politicians lie with impunity, even with the encouragement of their constituents; political leaders take the taxpayers’ money for their own use and get away with it; nations force their neighbours into penury and refuse to look after them; refugees are refused food and shelter, forced into camps or killed; healthcare is monetised and denied to the ordinary person; the earth itself is destroyed and the future of life put in jeopardy.
Where are we in all this? Do we stand with the persecuted, the victim and with the earth or with the “abomination”?