Commentary
My
Words Will Not Pass Away
Each
Gospel passage has at least three audiences.
The
first audience was made up of the people who listen to Jesus or
witnessed first hand his life events. The second audience was the
people the Evangelist had in mind when he wrote the Gospel (often
referred to as his community, eg. the Markan community in the case of
today's passage). And we, listeners and readers of all future
generation are the third audience.
The
experiences and the reflections of the previous two audiences can
help us listen to and reflect on God's words spoken to us today.
For
both first and second audiences, the words of Jesus were fulfilled in
their lives.
The
day of Jesus' crucifixion, the sun was darkened, the powers in the
heaven were shaken. Indeed, for Jesus' disciples – the first
audience, their world was seemingly coming to an end.
For
the second audience, Christians who lived in the Roman Empire
probably around the year 70 AD, their world was also in turmoil.
Nero had begun the brutal persecution of Christians. And for the
Jewish Christians, Jerusalem was recently leveled by the Romans as
punishment for the Jewish revolt. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were
killed. Those were indeed the days of tribulation.
In
those situations, the disciples of the first audience and Christians
of the second audience also witnessed the fulfillment of Jesus'
words, “Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
The
Resurrection of Jesus conquered death and gave peace to his
disciples. Their courageous witness and faith in turn strengthened
Christians of the second audience.
May
their witness continue to strengthen us when we face the tribulations
of our own times.
