Raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near

Fr Paul reads from Luke’s Gospel (21: 20-28) in which Jesus talks to his disciples about the fate of Jerusalem.

In today’s Gospel, Fr Paul says, the writer of Luke focuses on the horror of the destruction of Jerusalem. The beginning of this Gospel contains two elements of accurate historical fact: The first is found in the words ‘surrounded by military camps’ and the second in the words ‘captives carried off to other nations’. After this description, there is phrase after phrase, which is drawn from the Prophets.  This is the biblical way of indicating that the destruction of Jerusalem is the fulfilment of the prophecies; this is the fate of Jerusalem for rejecting Jesus.

In the next part of the Gospel, we hear of the coming of the Son of Man, the glorious figure to whom God will give all power.  The writer of Luke promises we will see the Son of Man. The question is, when? It is with a real sense of hope that Luke writes these words.

Mindful of this theme of hope through today’s Gospel, Fr Paul invites us to reflect in our time today, on ‘What are things that I hope for in my life at the moment? What are the things that give hope to my life?’ and give thanks to God for the hope that does exist in our lives.