Our Choices Have Consequences
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 24, 2022
- 7 min read
Our choices have consequences. This is a universal truth that we all understand. If I choose to step in front of a moving car I choose to get hit and likely severely injured if not killed. Yet when it comes to the spiritual life we often operate as if there aren’t consequences tied to our choices. We approach sin as if it is no big deal. We delay going to confession or even resist fully turning to Jesus and embracing all of his teachings. How many Catholics use artificial contraception, even though that is expressly forbidden by the Church, yet act like it is fine? In AD 70 Jerusalem saw the consequence of their failure to turn to Jesus, a consequence he predicted decades before. As we read the words of Jesus let us ask for the wisdom to understand the choices we have made in the spiritual life and what the consequences of those choices are.
The Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold & The Coming of the Son of Man
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written. Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21 : 20-28
Scriptural Analysis
Jesus has predicted both the destruction of the temple as well as the persecution that awaits his disciples. Now his prediction moves to the destruction of Jerusalem itself. Luke makes it clear that what Jesus is presenting are signs not of the end times but specifically the destruction of Jerusalem. That is important as we often see these signs mistakingly used when discussing the end times.
The events that will fulfill Jesus’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem will also fulfill the scriptures. First Jerusalem will be surrounded by enemy armies, “And I will encamp against you round about, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you” (Isaiah 29:3). Second, just as before the Babylonian exile, enemy armies will come against the city, “when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities.” (Jeremiah 34:1).
This will lead to the desolation of Jerusalem, “until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.” (2 Chronicles 36:21) These will be days of divine punishment, “The days of punishment have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it.” (Hosea 9:7).
People will die by the sword, “and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives.” (Jeremiah 21:7 ) Or they will be taken captive, “He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land.“ (2 Kings 24:14)
The Greek word translated here as vengeance, ekdikēsis, can mean vindication or retribution. It is the same word used when discussing the persistent widow who seeks a fair judgment, “and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Vindicate me against my adversary.” (Luke 18:3) The destruction of Jerusalem is the punishment for the people failing to have recognized the time of her visitation. They failed to recognize that God was in their midst in the person of Jesus.
However, Jesus also signals an escape for the people of the city. When this is happening, people need to flee to the mountains. This recalls Jesus’s earlier reference to Sodom where he stressed the importance of not turning back. The early church fathers record that the Jewish-Christian community in Jerusalem heeded such prophecies and fled before the siege of Jerusalem.
The result of this is clear, Jerusalem will be trampled on by Gentiles, “and it shall be trampled down.” (Isaiah 5:5) Or from Daniel, “For how long is the vision concerning the continual burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled under foot.” (Daniel 8:13) The duration of this trampling, how long Jerusalem will be underfoot, is unspecified. Instead, we get this odd phrase, “until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Saint Pauls’s Letter to the Romans also gives a similar duration, “a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in.” (Romans 11:25). This phrase points to the events leading to the second coming.
Jesus then turns his attention to the world announcing the cosmic upheaval that will accompany the end times. There will be signs causing people to become perplexed or to even die or faint out of fright. These events are described in a really general way. The images used are often found in prophecies concerning the heavens, sun, and moon. The second coming will follow this as foretold in Daniel:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7 : 13-14
The disciples should not cower in fear but raise their heads to the skies. The day of redemption is at hand, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.“ (Ephesians 4:30)
Daily Application
With great specificity, Jesus describes what will happen to Jerusalem. It is clear in the text he is speaking specifically about the events that will befall the city and not the end of times. The prophesied destruction of Jerusalem is a direct result of the failure of the Jewish people to recognize and accept Jesus. They failed to repent, and follow him. The coming of Jesus was laid out in the Old Testament and yet the people did not turn and follow him when he was among them.
We often think of the decision to follow Jesus in a positive sense only. If I turn to Jesus, repent, and follow him, then I will be on a path to eternity in heaven. However, there is also a negative sense. That is to say, if I choose not to follow him, then I am on a path to eternal damnation. Now, it is absolutely true that we cannot judge an individual’s soul: only God can do that. Ultimately, we do not know what he is going to do or where someone will spend eternity. However, we can and should make judgments on behavior based on what he told us. He laid out a clear path that will lead us to heaven and warned us that following a different path will lead to hell. Therefore, it is reasonable to point to certain behaviors and warn them that if they do not repent and continue that behavior, they are putting their soul in jeopardy.
Of course, just as Jesus told us, the first person’s behavior we need to examine is our own. We need to take stock daily of what we have done and determine what we need to repent of. Additionally, we need to take a hard look at our lives and figure out what areas we have yet to allow Christ into. Recently we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King. Christ is to be the king of all of our lives. Yet it is common for us to not allow this, to keep certain parts of our lives off limits to him. What are those areas and what false reasons have we created to justify these barriers?
Our choices have consequences. This is especially true in the spiritual life. The Gospel provides us with the path, with the rules we are to live by. If we choose to follow them then the consequence is to spend eternity in heaven with our Lord. If we choose to ignore them, then we do so at great peril. One day our lives will end and we will face judgment for the choices we have made. Make the right choices, the Gospel choices, so that you may be judged worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Comments