by Fr. Tommy Lane
Spoiler Alert! A spoiler alert warns us that information about the plot of a movie or book is about to be revealed that will spoil the excitement of watching that movie or reading that book if we hear the spoiler. There is, what we might call, a spoiler in the Gospel today: “upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18) This tells us how everything will end: the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church. No matter what has happened or will happen, no matter how hopeless things may seem, stay with the Lord because the gates of the netherworld will not prevail. Evil will not prevail; evil will be conquered, and God will win.
We get another spoiler at the end of the New Testament in the Book of Revelation where it describes the end of time. The world as we know it has come to an end. Evil has been conquered and the Church in heaven, described as the New Jerusalem, is like a bride for Jesus her husband: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” (Rev 21:1-4)
When we are confronted with pain or suffering or evil, it can be difficult to see the bigger picture especially since we don’t have all the answers to evil and suffering. When there is pain and evil, it can be difficult to see beyond our horizon. But when we can see beyond the horizon or look at pictures of earth from space, we get a different perspective. The spoilers in Scripture tell us how the battle between good and evil will end, giving us the bigger picture, the picture from higher up, the picture from the end of time telling us that evil will be no more.
We also see something else in Scripture that is difficult for us to understand: that greater good comes out of evil. The fall of Adam and Eve in the garden was a monumental disaster but Paul wrote to the Romans that it brought something much better: Jesus. So Paul wrote, “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” (Rom 5:20) Sin continued to increase after Adam and Eve but Jesus paid off the price of that sin. Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more. We see the same thought in the Exsultet or Easter Proclamation during our Easter Vigil every year:
O truly necessary sin
of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy
fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
So, in the face of pain and evil, we remain confident knowing that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail. Even more, greater good comes because as Paul wrote, “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” Of course, that is not a reason to sin because sin is evil and an offense to God.
So, in the face of evil and confusion, we can and should remain confident knowing that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail. During any storms caused by evil or confusion, remember the time when Jesus was in the boat calming the storm. We are all in the boat. During any storm, go to Jesus and stay with him. We can also go to Our Lady. One traditional way of reading part of Genesis is God telling the serpent that Our Lady will crush his head (Gen 3:15). That is the image on the front of the miraculous medal that Our Lady gave to St. Catherine Labouré in Paris: Our Lady is crushing the serpent. Go to Jesus; go to Our Lady. We have been given spoilers telling us the ending. We know the end; it will all end well with the best ending.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2023
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-First Sunday of Year A
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church 2008
Jesus the Messiah different than expected
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God
Related Homilies: Peter grew to consider suffering for Jesus an honor
stories about the Pope