One night King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, as we heard in great detail in our first reading. This dream truly disturbed him, and he wanted to know what it meant. Daniel, a young man taken hostage during this King’s reign, had a gift of interpreting dreams and offered, after prayer and reflection, to explain the King’s dream.
He told the King that the giant statue, which had different metallic parts, represented different earthly kingdoms. This gigantic statue, however, was totally destroyed by no less than a stone which was mysteriously thrown at the statue’s clay feet.
David told the King that even though he was the ruler, all that was under his authority had really been given him by God. Other kingdoms that followed his reign would be destroyed, as represented by the shattered metals. In the end, Daniel prophesized, God will establish an eternal kingdom, as represented by that mighty stone. This new kingdom will overthrow all other human empires and will last forever.
This kingdom, we now know, has been brought into existence by Jesus whom we just celebrated as Christ the King. He is the ‘stone which the builders rejected which has become the cornerstone.’ (Psalm 118:22)
What can we learn from this story, and Christ’s message in our gospel which tells us to be prepared for, and not be terrified of, the destructions that will happen at the end times?
- First, our security is not in this world or what we build here, but rather in God.
- Second, Jesus is not trying to scare us about the end times, but rather prepare us.
- Third, Jesus is our rock, our stronghold, the cornerstone of our lives. In him we have faith and trust as the center of our being.
This week marks the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent. It is an appropriate time for us to remember that God is the Lord of all history. Despite all the difficult news we see on the evening news and social media, Jesus reminds us today that God’s kingdom of justice, holiness, mercy and love will prevail in the end. The choice of which kingdom we’ll follow is ours to make. May we always have faith and remember the words to the song we sang as kid: ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands.’
