Chúa Nhật Thứ Bốn

[hoangvu]

CÁC BÀI ĐỌC BẰNG TIẾNG ANH

BÀI ĐỌC I: First Reading: Micah 5:2-5

The Lord says this:
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be the one of peace.

ĐÁP CA: Resp. Psalm: Ps 80:1-2, 14-15, 17-18

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might, and come to save us!

Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted.

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

BÀI ĐỌC II: Second Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'See, God, I have come to do your will, O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)."
When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

PHÚC ÂM: Gospel: Luke 1:39-44

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.


BÀI ĐỌC I: Mk 5, 2-5a (Hr 1-4a)
"Nơi ngươi sẽ xuất hiện Đấng thống trị Israel".

Bài trích sách Tiên tri Mikha.
Đây lời Chúa phán: "Hỡi Bêlem Ephrata, ngươi nhỏ nhất trong trăm ngàn phần đất Giuđa, nhưng nơi ngươi sẽ xuất hiện một Đấng thống trị Israel, và nguồn gốc Người có từ nguyên thuỷ, từ muôn đời. Vì thế, Người sẽ bỏ dân Người cho đến khi một người nữ phải sinh, sẽ sinh con. Số còn lại trong anh em Người, sẽ trở về với con cái Israel. Người sẽ đứng vững và chăn dắt trong sức mạnh của Chúa, trong thánh danh cao cả của Chúa là Thiên Chúa của Người. Và họ sẽ trở về, vì bấy giờ Người sẽ nên cao trọng cho đến tận cùng trái đất. Vì vậy, Người sẽ là chính sự bình an". Đó là lời Chúa.

ĐÁP CA: Tv 79, 2ac và 3b. 15-16. 18-19
Đáp: Lạy Chúa là Thiên Chúa chúng con, xin cho chúng con được phục hồi, xin tỏ thiên nhan hiền từ Chúa ra, hầu cho chúng con được ơn cứu sống(c. 4).

Xướng: 1) Lạy Đấng chăn dắt Israel, xin hãy lắng tai nghe! Chúa ngự trên Vệ Binh Thần, xin hiện ra trong sáng láng. Xin thức tỉnh quyền năng của Chúa, và ngự tới để cứu độ chúng con.
2) Lạy Chúa thiên binh, xin thương trở lại, từ trời cao xin nhìn coi và thăm viếng vườn nho này. Xin bảo vệ vườn nho mà tay hữu Ngài đã cấy, bảo vệ ngành mà Ngài đã củng cố cho mình.
3) Xin Chúa ra tay bang trợ người ở bên tay hữu Chúa, con người mà Chúa đã củng cố cho mình. Chúng con sẽ không còn rời xa Chúa nữa. Chúa cho chúng con được sống, và chúng con ca tụng danh Người.

BÀI ĐỌC II: Dt 10, 5-10
"Này đây con đến để thi hành thánh ý Chúa".

Bài trích thơ gởi tín hữu Do-thái.
Anh em thân mến, khi đến trong thế gian, Chúa Giêsu phán: "Chúa đã không muốn của hy tế và của lễ hiến dâng, nhưng đã tạo nên cho tôi một thể xác. Chúa không nhận của lễ toàn thiêu và của lễ đền tội. Nên tôi nói: 'Lạy Chúa, này con đến để thi hành thánh ý Chúa, như đã nói về con ở đoạn đầu cuốn sách'". Sách ấy bắt đầu như thế này: "Của lễ hy tế, của lễ hiến dâng, của lễ toàn thiêu và của lễ đền tội, Chúa không muốn cũng không nhận, mặc dầu được hiến dâng theo lề luật. Đoạn Người nói tiếp: Lạy Chúa, này đây con đến để thi hành thánh ý Chúa". Như thế đã bãi bỏ điều trước để thiết lập điều sau. Chính bởi thánh ý đó mà chúng ta được thánh hoá nhờ việc hiến dâng Mình Chúa Giêsu Kitô một lần là đủ. Đó là lời Chúa.

ALLELUIA: Lc 1, 38
Alleluia, alleluia! "Này tôi là tôi tớ Chúa, tôi xin vâng như lời Thiên thần truyền". - Alleluia.

PHÚC ÂM: Lc 1, 39-45
"Bởi đâu tôi được Mẹ Thiên Chúa đến viếng thăm tôi".

Tin Mừng Chúa Giêsu Kitô theo Thánh Luca.
Ngày ấy, Maria chỗi dậy, vội vã ra đi tiến lên miền núi, đến một thành xứ Giuđêa. Bà vào nhà ông Dacaria và chào bà Isave. Và khi bà Isave nghe lời chào của Maria, thì hài nhi nhảy mừng trong lòng bà, và bà Isave được đầy Chúa Thánh Thần, bà kêu lớn tiếng rằng: "Bà được chúc phúc giữa các người phụ nữ, và Con lòng Bà được chúc phúc! Bởi đâu tôi được Mẹ Chúa tôi đến viếng thăm tôi? Vì này, tai tôi vừa nghe lời Bà chào, hài nhi liền nhảy mừng trong lòng tôi. Phúc cho Bà là kẻ đã tin rằng lời Chúa phán cùng Bà sẽ được thực hiện". Đó là lời Chúa.

SUY NIỆM LỜI CHÚA
BÓNG TỐI VÀ ÁNH SÁNG

Hình ảnh cô thôn nữ Maria băng qua miền núi, đến tận nhà chị họ Isave thăm viếng để đem ơn giải thoát cho Gioan Tiền Hô hãy còn trong lòng mẹ, là hình ảnh đẹp tuyệt vời của ơn cứu độ trong Mùa Vọng. Gioan nhỏ bé sống trong đêm tối chờ thấy được ánh sáng, cũng giống như toàn thể nhân loại đang sống trong thất vọng tội lỗi chờ đợi ơn cứu độ của Đấng Cứu Thế. Hai thực tại công kích nhau không đội trời chung diễn ra: đó là bóng tối và ánh sáng. Chỉ có Đấng Cứu Thế mới có quyền năng phá đi ranh giới bi thảm giữa bóng tối và ánh sáng.

Đúng thế, khởi đầu cho sứ mệnh ấy, Chúa Giêsu Đấng Cứu Thế đã cho Gioan cảm nhận niềm hy vọng ánh sáng sự sống thật dù còn trong lòng mẹ tăm tối. Sự nhảy mừng trong lòng mẹ của Gioan đã khiến mẹ ông do tác động của Chúa Thánh Thần nhận ra quyền năng Thiên Chúa hiện diện trong lòng cô thôn nữ Maria. Hình ảnh Gioan trước đó nằm im lìm trong khoảng không gian chật chội tối tăm đang diễn tả thân phận từng cá nhân khốn cùng vì xiềng xích tội lỗi. Ông sống được nhờ sức sống giới hạn của mẹ ban cho, cũng giống như nhân loại sống còn nhờ vào lời hứa của Thiên Chúa cho sự sống vụt lên từ người trinh nữ bao ngàn năm trước. Lời hứa đó hôm nay, sau Mẹ Maria được thực hiện trên Gioan, dụng cụ dọn đường cho ơn cứu độ mà Thiên Chúa sẽ ban cho mỗi cá nhân con người. Đấng Cứu Thế vừa phá đi ranh giới của bóng tối và ánh sáng trong trái tim thơ bé của Gioan, vừa khắc ghi nơi ông sứ mệnh Tiền Hô cho Ngài.

Sự xuất hiện của Gioan Tiền Hô dọn đường cho Đấng Cứu Thế thực ra là công tác huyền nhiệm cộng tác vào việc phá đi bóng tối bao phủ nhân gian. Gioan Tiền Hô đến để giới thiệu Đấng Cứu Thế. Chính Ngài là nguồn sức mạnh ánh sáng sẽ tiêu diệt tối tăm tội lỗi và sự chết cho cả nhân loại đang mong chờ Ngài. Những người không biết đợi chờ ánh sáng cứu độ của Ngài đang đồng hóa mình với tối tăm và sự chết; ngược lại những ai khắc khoải mong chờ ánh sáng sẽ cảm nhận vui mừng khôn tả khi Ngài xuất hiện. Như thế ơn cứu độ của Đấng Cứu Thế chỉ có thể tác động hữu hiệu nơi những tâm hồn muốn nhận ánh sáng của Ngài. Và khởi đi từ biến cố cô thôn nữ Maria viếng thăm chị họ Isave, các Mùa Vọng tâm hồn cũng bắt đầu xuất hiện, và sẽ còn tiếp tục mãi cho đến khi toàn thể nhân loại nhận ra ánh sáng cứu độ thực của Chúa Giêsu Đấng Cứu Thế. Nếu chúng ta nhận ra sự cần thiết của ánh sáng Chúa Kitô, hãy cùng nhảy mừng với Gioan Tiền Hô và can đảm đứng lên bước đi dọn đường cho Ngài.

Lm. Raphael Xuân Nguyên

4th Advent Sunday
Mic 5:2-5; Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45
Awake My Soul (John Walsh)
Mary's Amen (Tommy Lane)
The Visitation (Alex McAllister)
A Firm Quest (Mary Durkin)

Awake My Soul
(John Walsh)

"My heart is ready, Oh God;
I will sing, sing your praise.
Awake my soul; awake lyre and harp.
I will awake the dawn."
That is the first verse of Psalm 107, and it is full of hope and expectancy, looking forward to a new dawn, a new era. Today is the First Advent Sunday and it marks the beginning of a new year in the Church liturgy celebration of the mysteries of Christ, our Redeemer. The term “Advent,” which means coming or arrival, is used especially in connection with the first coming of Christ at his birth, and also in looking forward to his second coming at the end of time. In the readings of the last few Sundays, and in particular today's, we find a tremendous yearning for the coming of a Redeemer, a Messiah. The first reading is part of one of the most impressive poems in the whole Bible.
Most of the influential people in Jewish society had been carried off into exile by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., and, after fifty years, at last they were being allowed return to their own country. But the Temple in Jerusalem still remained in ruins, no sacrifice was being offered to God, no voice lifted in prayer to the Almighty in the place where once that Temple had stood. It was a period of gloom and utter desolation. The prophet, Isaiah, called by divine providence to be the mouthpiece of the returned exiles, confesses that they all have been sinners, blown hither and thither at the mercy of the winds of change in their fortunes. He raises a heartbroken cry to God, to return, to tear the heavens open, and by his renewed presence among them to free them from the shackles of their sinful habits, and so end their disappointment and frustration.
Advent also is a time when we should call upon God to renew us in heart and soul, so that we may be able to celebrate his divine Sons coming among us in a truly religious way. But neither should we forget that, Sunday after Sunday throughout the entire year, the heavens in a divine sense are truly opened, and Christ comes down to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist. He comes to visit each of us personally, to grant our inmost needs, to keep us, as St Paul tells us, steady and without blame until the last day, so that we may be witnesses to his presence before the whole world. There is a clear message for us, as well, in the gospel parable of the man who set off to travel abroad, after warning his servants, whom he had left in charge, to watch out for his return. This is a very definite reference to the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, and to his expected second coming, what the first Christians called the “parousia."
From earliest times then, the Church is asking its members to look forward with confidence to their eternal destiny, and not to heed the crosses they encounter. So earnestly did the first Christians take to heart this injunction that, whenever they met, they greeted one another with a saying in the Aramaic language which became a watchword among them, a kind of password which identified them as being followers of Christ. St Paul used it as part of his farewell greeting to the Corinthians at the end of his first letter to them - “marana tha.” which means “Our Lord, Come.” We are troubled, however, when we consider that life on earth for everyone is full of trials. We are troubled in view of temptations to come, so much so that we ask the Father repeatedly in the Lord's Prayer not to lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We are especially troubled at the thought of leaving this world for a destination hidden from us, and yet we pray every day that God's kingdom may come.
We want to be rewarded with the vision of God hereafter, and yet we depart from this world against our will, whereas the saints regarded this world as a place of exile, and heaven as their true home. It was a custom of St Augustine to urge his people to sing Alleluia to God, as travellers sing along the road, in order to shorten their journey, or as workers do to sweeten their toil. So rejoice, for religion is not a sad thing. But at the same time keep pressing forward, advancing in true faith, in virtue, in right conduct. St Paul advised the Thessalonians to look forward to the Lord's coming, and with such thoughts to comfort one another. “Be happy at all times,” he advised them, “pray constantly, and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:16-18 ). From such considerations we too should find consolation, as we prepare this Advent season for the coming of Christ.)





Mary's Amen
(Tommy Lane)

It is a great joy for a mother to give birth to her baby. The great moment comes after weeks of anxious expectation, highs and lows, getting clothes for the new baby, preparing everything necessary. Because the mother carries the baby in her womb even from the start there is a special bond between the mother and child. During Advent we have been thinking of Mary bearing Jesus in her womb. During Advent we remember Jesus growing silently and invisibly in Mary's womb. Now on this last Sunday of Advent we think more particularly about Mary.
Israel had been awaiting its Messiah for hundreds of years. We could imagine that it was probably the dream of many a young Jewish girl to give birth to the Messiah. But when the great moment of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary came, at first Mary was perplexed. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid.” The angel explained that Mary would give birth to Jesus whose father would be the Holy Spirit. This put Mary in a really awkward situation. She was betrothed to Joseph. That meant they were legally bound to each other although they did not live together. In Israel a woman who was unfaithful during betrothal was stoned to death. What was Mary's response? “Be it done unto me according to your word.” Her response was faith. She believed. We have always regarded Mary as a model believer, an example of faith. But when we consider that the possibility that being stoned to death awaited Mary for saying yes to the angel, we see how strong her faith really was. She was willing even to risk deathfor the sake of obeying God. Apart from that, we can easily imagine all the many nasty things that were said about Mary, all the nasty looks that she had to endure, and all the hushed whisperings that she knew were about her. She was indeed a woman of great faith.
What were the words that Mary would have said to the angel in her own language in Palestine at that time? “Amen.” One word in the language of Palestine says it all, “Amen,” it means, “So be it,” “be it done unto me according to your word.” Mary literally said “Amen,” and then she conceived Jesus in her womb. St Augustine says Mary conceived Jesus in her mind through faith before conceiving him in her womb. In our Gospel today Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, singles out Mary's faith for praise, “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled."
In our times we like to have everything explained to us scientifically. If something does not stand up to science we do not believe. Faith means believing what science cannot prove. We could say that faith is going against reason. That was the faith that Mary had. Mary is a model believer, a model of faith for every age but especially for our time with our emphasis on proving everything by science. Because God is God, he does not have to obey the laws of science. Therefore Mary, a virgin conceived from the Holy Spirit, and an old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. Faith believes, as the angel Gabriel said, that “Nothing is impossible to God."
Notice also the humility of Mary. She was bearing the Messiah in her womb but she went to help and give support to her cousin Elizabeth during her pregnancy. She could have said, “I am to be the mother of the Messiah. Let her come to help me.” No, she went instead to Elizabeth. She was humble. Humility and faith go together because if we are not humble we cannot believe what goes against our reason. If you are not humble enough to admit that you cannot have all the answers then you are not humble enough to believe as Mary did. We see that humility in our first reading also,
"You (Bethlehem) Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is rule over Israel"
Jesus came from the least of the clans of Judah and still comes in the least of ways. Sometimes the poorest of families can be the happiest of families. Humility is a virtue that we would do well to think about in our times when we want the biggest and best of everything.
Mary was humble, that was why she was able to make the greatest act of faith in history. Mary said one word to the angel, “Amen,” conceiving Jesus in faith, and then she conceived Jesus in her womb. Every time we say “Amen” to God, we conceive Jesus in faith as Mary did. Then when we act on Jesus' words, we bring Jesus in to the world as Mary did. Let us say “Amen” to God and bring Jesus into the world for this Christmas.






The Visitation
(Alex McAllister)

What is the difference between a visit and a visitation?
A visit is when you visit your mother-in-law; a visitation is when she visits you.
It's an old joke but it has nothing to do with the visitation we hear about in today's Gospel reading. Mary, newly pregnant herself, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is already six months into her own pregnancy with John the Baptist.
There are two things we should observe. Pregnancy and birth are wondrous and mysterious things. And any birth takes time.
Let us be clear, there is only one creator, God alone. By the act of conception what we are doing is co-operating with him. God is the author of all life; it is he who brings about this great mystery.
We owe our lives to him; if he lapsed in his attention for us for one minute we would cease to be. So God is both the creator and sustainer of all life. The gift of our life is an act of love on his part-that out of nothing and for no reason other than love he brought us into being.
This great feast of Christmas is about a birth. I was watching the children in the school performing a mimed nativity play on Wednesday morning. Not that many of them really understood the mechanics of birth and naturally these were not made explicit but the children were nonetheless involved and paid great attention to all the events surrounding Christ's birth.
It is good that we mark this feast so well. The fact that there are so many customs attached to it brings it even more into prominence. Christmas draws attention to the importance of birth, something that is a matter of great consequence to our world today.
We hear about human cloning-a politician said that fifteen years ago this was science fiction today it is practical possibility. We hear about all kinds of sophisticated methods of contraception and the so-called morning after pill is about to become freely available. Abortion is taken for granted and some groups express the opinion that it is irresponsible not to abort a handicapped child.
All these things undermine the sacredness of life. And life is sacred because, as we have said, life is God's creation.
The debate about when life begins has special relevance amidst all these technical advances. The Anglican Bishop of Rochester said on the radio recently that by stating that life begins at conception the Catholic Church today was out of touch with its tradition because St Thomas Aquinas and others had stated that ensoulment doesn't take place until fourteen days after conception.
The debate about when life begins is special relevant but is also in some sense futile-no arbitrary line can be drawn. The point is that we Catholics have a special reverence for life-even if all we can say is that it is human life in potential. So even at the very earliest stages human life must be treated with great reverence and respect.
If we are to look to scripture for an insight into these matters we need look no further than the account of the Annunciation. The Angel Gabriel said to Mary: You will conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. The act of conception is a sacred moment and in a real sense it marks the beginning of life-not necessarily recognisable or sustainable human life, but it is a beginning.
These two pregnant women in our Gospel reading are full of joy and concern for one another. Mary surely goes to visit Elizabeth because of her advanced age and the attendant dangers of a pregnancy so late in life. This solicitude is a clear sign of Mary's goodness.
Through the influence of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth recognised that Mary was the mother of Christ. She greets her in the words we are so familiar with in the Hail Mary. And Mary responds in the equally familiar words of the Magnificat.
These two women understand the miracle of conception and birth. They do so because in each case there was a direct intervention of God in a truly exceptional way. Luke tells us that both were informed of this fact by the words of an angel-they each had a direct message from God telling them so.
But God uses the extraordinary to highlight the significance of the ordinary. The fact that these two women had this most extraordinary intervention only demonstrates that in each case our own lives were also the result of an intervention by God-what you could call an ordinary intervention if you like.
It is from this understanding that the Church takes its position on all these life issues that we have mentioned.
The second point I wanted to highlight in today's liturgy is that births take time. We know quite well that it takes about nine months from the time of conception for a child to be born. But we also know that this can feel long or short depending on all kinds of circumstances.
But everything does take time, very little happens in the world or in life without some kind of lead up. The coming of the Messiah took a very great deal of time. The scientists can give you all the figures and dates of when the world was created and when human life most likely evolved.
Scripture also indicates a long passage of time during which God made his will known on a number of occasions to certain individuals-Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc. He did this in order to move mankind on in his understanding of God's plan for the world and to encourage us to develop our understanding of God.
There was a very long lead up time to the appearance of Jesus Christ-a long gestation you could say. We experience the same in our lives. We need time to work things through with God. We need time to fully recognise just how much he loves and cares for us. It takes us a long while to work out just what he has in mind for us.
At particular moments we might recognise the hand of God in our lives. Maybe it was when we finally decided on our partner in marriage, or came to the conclusion we had a priestly or religious vocation. Maybe it was in the birth of a child, a change in job circumstances, or the death of a parent. Maybe it was a moment in prayer, the experience of a sacrament, advice in the confessional, wise words from a friend or relative at a critical moment.
Each of us has surely already recognised the action of God in our lives on particular occasions-otherwise why would we be here in Church? But these actions of God are not finished, they were not simply things that happened in the past and are long behind us.
No, God continues to work with us and for us. He takes the long view and there are periods of seeming barrenness, seeming unimportance, seeming aloneness. But these are all part of that gestation period which is our life on earth. We were born into this world and we will be reborn into eternal life.
Every now and then like John the Baptist we leap in this womb of ours, which is our life on earth. Every now and then we recognise God's presence, just as John recognised Jesus' presence, and we leap with joy. But life is constantly moving on and God is always with us. He caused us to come into being, he sustains and feeds us, and he will welcome us into life eternal.
We celebrate a birth at Christmas--a birth, a life, a death and a resurrection.
A Firm Quest
(Mary Durkin)
Background:
Luke's presentation of Jesus eschatological discourse alludes to his realization that there is a delay in the arriving of the parousia (end time). He still anticipates an end time. However, while awaiting the return of the Son of Man, his followers are urged to be on guard and to pray. The end time still has not arrived and the conditions that indicate an approaching end time have been present from Luke's time up until our present day. His exhortation for correct behavior holds true for us as we face the individual and community trials of our lives in this age.
Story:
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Tom was the star athlete of his grammar school and of his high school. The two sports he excelled at were football and basketball. In his junior year of high school, he shot the winning basket a second before the final buzzer making his school the city champs. In senior year he was the top scorer in the city's football championship game, leading his team to victory. Tom was one of those natural-born athletes and, although he liked sports, his first love was anthropology and especially archeology.
As a very young boy he watched a program on a famous dig site and told his parents thats what he wanted to do. So every summer while his friends went to football and basketball camp, he would be at some museum program. Still each year he was the best player on the teams. Parents of his classmates kept telling Toms Mom & Dad that he should be at a sports camp. How else would he win a scholarship to a good college? In senior year of high school as his team mates anxiously awaited word about possible sports scholarships, Tom was being recruited by schools with some of the best teams in the country. Imagine the surprise of his teammates and their parents when he turned down all offers. He was a National Merit Scholar and had applied to several of the Universities that had excellent anthropology programs and was awarded scholarships at each school. Now that Tom is a Dad and a famous archeologist, he shoots hoops with his sons and daughters and plays in his wife's family's Thanksgiving Day touch football game.





A Firm Quest
(Mary Durkin)

Background:
Luke's presentation of Jesus eschatological discourse alludes to his realization that there is a delay in the arriving of the parousia (end time). He still anticipates an end time. However, while awaiting the return of the Son of Man, his followers are urged to be on guard and to pray. The end time still has not arrived and the conditions that indicate an approaching end time have been present from Luke's time up until our present day. His exhortation for correct behavior holds true for us as we face the individual and community trials of our lives in this age.
Story:
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Tom was the star athlete of his grammar school and of his high school. The two sports he excelled at were football and basketball. In his junior year of high school, he shot the winning basket a second before the final buzzer making his school the city champs. In senior year he was the top scorer in the city's football championship game, leading his team to victory. Tom was one of those natural-born athletes and, although he liked sports, his first love was anthropology and especially archeology.
As a very young boy he watched a program on a famous dig site and told his parents thats what he wanted to do. So every summer while his friends went to football and basketball camp, he would be at some museum program. Still each year he was the best player on the teams. Parents of his classmates kept telling Toms Mom & Dad that he should be at a sports camp. How else would he win a scholarship to a good college? In senior year of high school as his team mates anxiously awaited word about possible sports scholarships, Tom was being recruited by schools with some of the best teams in the country. Imagine the surprise of his teammates and their parents when he turned down all offers. He was a National Merit Scholar and had applied to several of the Universities that had excellent anthropology programs and was awarded scholarships at each school. Now that Tom is a Dad and a famous archeologist, he shoots hoops with his sons and daughters and plays in his wife's family's Thanksgiving Day touch football game.