NOTES for Mar 13:24-31
Today I want to draw attention to the words: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." "Heaven and earth" is a biblical expression meaning the whole universe, the whole cosmos created by God. The Bible begins with these very words, as we all remember well. But do we understand correctly what Heaven is, what earth is, where we are, and where God is? The worst thing is if we think at the level of Soviet propaganda leaflets: that we are on earth and God is in heaven. It is known that after Gagarin's flight, articles appeared in the Soviet press saying that now it had been proven that there was no God in heaven. This is a warning against very crude errors. But there is also a more subtle mistake. It is to think that God is in Heaven, with Heaven capitalized, understanding Heaven as some world beyond the earthly one, inhabited by angels and the souls of the dead, over whom God reigns. Perhaps this mistake comes from a wrong understanding of the words "Our Father, who art in Heaven..." or "O Heavenly King..." This mistake will become clear when we recall the already mentioned lines of Gen. 1:1. The Lord created Heaven too, and there was a time when there was no Heaven, but God was. This does not mean that God is not in Heaven, but when we say that He is there, we greatly limit Him, placing Him on the same level as creatures, while He is the Creator. This is exactly what the lines of today's reading, which we wanted to offer you today for reflection, should remind us of. "Heaven and earth will pass away." Heaven, like earth, is not eternal. The end of time does not at all mean that people will be selected on earth and taken up to Heaven, as though they were being saved from the sinking ship of a passing world onto the firm shore of eternity. No, the end of time will mean the complete reordering of creation, which even Heaven will not avoid. This is what today's reading reminds us of.