Today’s readings encourage us to think about the end time, when Christ will come again in his glory and the whole earth will be renewed. None of us know when this will be for God’s time is not our time and as Scripture tells us; to God a thousand years are like a twinkling of a human eye.
The readings at the end of the Church’s Year always turn our thoughts to the parousia (end time) and cause us to focus on the meaning of Advent. We celebrate Advent every year not just to enjoy Christmas and to remember Jesus’ birth but to remind ourselves that Jesus is coming again and will change everything when he does. The Prophet Zephaniah, St.Paul and St.Matthew are all preparing us for that end time, when we will have to account for our actions and decisions and to accept the consequences of what we have done and not done. This is not to scare us but to make us ready to meet the Christ at anytime in the future.
Today’s readings and those of next week for Christ-the-King remind us that the way of life pleasing to God is the way of a servant. A servant both to God and to our fellow beings. It is not a call to subservience which is a passive state but a call to care and have compassion for others, which is an active and determined way of life. Be ready at all times to meet your Maker we are being told and along the way make sure you remember to love others as you love God and yourself.