Sunday, Nov. 17, is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is atop the Mount of Olives with his apostles. From this vantage point, they look across the Kidron Valley to see the magnificent Temple. The apostles marvel at it’s beauty and size. Indeed, it was one of the wonders of the ancient world, so beautiful and majestic.

But Jesus challenges their admiration. He shocks them with the admonition that all the glory they see is soon to be destroyed, that not one stone will be left on another, that it will all be thrown down (Mark 13:2). Shocked, the apostles ask him when this will happen and what signs will precede this awful event.

In what has become known as “Mount Olivet discourse,” the Lord warns, in detail, of the coming destruction of the Temple and all Jerusalem. This did, in fact, take place, 40 biblical years later, in A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple; 1.2 million Jews lost their lives in that fruitless and horrible war that Jesus warned against.

Yes, Jesus warns of wars and rumors of wars soon, when nation will rise against nation and a terrible conflict will ensue. He warned his disciples to have nothing to do with the coming wars, to flee to the hills. Jerusalem is doomed for its lack of faith, and zealots are picking up the war with the Romans that they are destined to lose.

Jesus further describes this as days of tribulation, when the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky! Can stars fall from the sky? Not literally; Jesus is using a figure of speech.

And so it is with Jesus’ use of prophetic imagery. Speaking of the heavenly luminaries as being darkened or cast down is a prophetic way of saying that all the fixed points, all the ways in which we tell time, know the seasons, navigate, and find perspective will be lost to us. The world as the Jewish people knew it, centered on the Temple and rooted in their liturgical calendar, is about to be swept away. To the ancient Jewish people, the Temple was like their “Big Ben.” It was both the clock of the liturgical cycle and the great visual center of all of Israel. The Temple, with all of its rituals, its liturgical cycle, and its endless slaughter of animals in sacrifice for sin, is about to be replaced.

These ancient rituals merely pointed to Jesus and all that he would do. Jesus is now the Temple; he is also the priest, the altar and Lamb. All that the Temple pointed to is fulfilled in Jesus. Thus the Temple is at an end: Jesus is ushering in a New Covenant.

All of this is teaching us that the world as we know it is passing away. Only the Lord and his word to us remain forever. Only what you do for Christ will last. Our vision and goal must be heaven, not this passing world.