Worrying about the future is a waste of time when Christ is with you.

JESUS IS WITH US IN OUR UNKNOWN FUTURE

Lk. 21:5-19

A woman went to Confession and told the priest that she had been to a fortune teller.  The priest said, “What did he tell you?”  She said, “He told me I was going to meet a bald man and I was going to go on a long journey.”  “Fancy that,” said the priest, “Here am I without a hair on my head and in a few minutes time you are going to make the Stations of the Cross!”

I appreciate that you are not going to go to a fortune teller to know about your future but how many people are anxious about their future?  They wonder and worry about what tomorrow will bring.  Today’s Gospel reading has something to tell us about the way we think about the future.  The first is we can expect uncertainty.  We just don’t know for certain what is going to happen.  How often in the past we have predicted how things will turn out only to find we were completely wrong. 

When Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple, the Apostles were surprised to hear this, and naturally wanted to know when it would occur and what sign would be given that it is going to happen.  Jesus did not give them a direct answer.  God in His wisdom does not give us information about the future.  Life would be so different if we could read our future like we read a book.  In most of our lives there are bereavements of loved ones and tragedies of one sort or another, and if we knew about them, how would we cope?  I think it is good that the future is a closed book to us.  If some people knew their future they would never cope.  Some of them find it so difficult to cope with the present.  Why add the crosses of tomorrow with the crosses we are carrying today.  We are only doubling our load.

I thank God that our future is hidden from us.  Not knowing the future is like watching a film for the first time.  Something is lost when you know in advance what is going to happen.  Most football enthusiasts don’t like to know the result of a match if they are watching a replay.  A large part of the joy of life is locked up in the unknown, about what is going to happen.  We can be grateful for that. 

Another thing we can be certain about the future is that we must expect change.  It was a tremendous shock to the Apostles when Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple.  That magnificent building had been there for centuries, the centrepiece of Jewish religion and culture.  They could not imagine what life would be like without it.  Yet, Jesus assured them that the time would come when there would not be one stone left upon another.  How true were His words.  In less than fifty years, the temple was never to be rebuilt.  (I have often wondered why the rich Jews all over the world have never rebuilt it.) 

With the destruction of the temple we learn that nothing remains the same.  As someone very wisely said, “In this life the only constant is change.”  How many changes we have seen in our lifetime!  Perhaps our generation has seen more changes than any previous ones.  The majority of us don’t like change.  We are comfortable with the familiar even though it can be less than the ideal.  Change is part of God’s purpose.  As Christians, we should not only accept change, but should be actively engaged in bringing it about, trying to make situations get better.  It was said of the early Christians, “They turned the world upside down.”  Acts 17:6.  That is our spiritual heritage. 

Concerning the future, we have to be prepared to expect trouble and hardship.  Jesus warned His Apostles about this.  He told them there would be wars, earthquakes, plagues and famines.  They would be arrested, persecuted, and even be put to death for their faith.  It has all come true.  Jesus would be doing us harm if He said there were to be only sunny days when He knew we were heading for storms.  At least we know that adversities and hardships have not come to us as a complete surprise.  If we expected the ideal life to be all sunshine, we would be bitterly disappointed.  To admit this is not being pessimistic but accepting reality.  So, when we think of the future we can certainly think of good times, but we can also expect hardships and be better prepared to deal with them.

There is one thing we can be absolutely sure about and that is when we think of our future God will also be there with us.  He assured His Apostles about this truth.  He said to them that when they are brought to trial before kings and governors because of His Name, they were not to worry about their defence.  He Himself would give them words of wisdom that their opponents would not be able to resist or contradict.  That was His way of saying to us, “You will not be alone.  I will be with you.”

Lord Jesus, we can face an unknown future in a troubled and changing world with our chin held high because we can be certain You will always be with us.

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