34th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 26th November 2024 – Rev 14,14-19; Lk 21,5-11
Fiery Sickles of Judgement
The first reading presents John’s vision of the Son of Man and His angels using sharp sickles. The sickle was a tool for harvesting grain. It signals judgment and the end of an age. The first angel harvests the wheat, a symbol of the righteous and good, who are gathered and stored in a granary. The second angel is sent out to sever the sinners and bad like grapes from the vine. The unbelievers, who are wicked and useless, are discarded and crushed into winepresses of God’s anger, a common symbol of God’s judgement (Is 63,3). Obviously, God is not pleased by those who fail to follow the Lord Jesus. The judgement symbolizing the harvest of grain and grapes, evokes a prophecy from Joel 3,13. In Joel’s prophecy, the nations who threatened Jerusalem were judged. Here in the Book of Revelation, Jerusalem itself is judged and has its everlasting effects. In Mathew’s Gospel, the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Mt 13,24-30.36-43) refers to the righteous and unrighteous. Both are cut down and separated. The righteous will be vindicated and welcomed into the eternal dwelling of God, while the unrighteous will be judged and tossed into the eternal fire. The thought on the final judgment, at the end of the liturgical year, invites us to reflect on where we stand before God and before each other and how prepared we are for the unexpected end.
