"Time and the Signs of the End"
Fr Paul Nadim Tarazi

www.svots.edu/Events/Orthodox-Education-Day/Articles/1999-Fr-Paul-Tarazi.html

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The same applies to an event so central in and to American life: the court case or law suit. No one, I am sure, is going to deny its reality, and yet time in the court is eminently irrelevant, immaterial. Whether one is dealing with the individual session or the entire case, the case is determined by the content of the proceedings, not by when they take place or how long they last. An individual session starts when the judge enters and declares that it is open or resumed, and the same session is adjourned when the judge says so. The time elapsed between sessions can be a couple of hours, days, or even weeks or months. A given court case can go on for years, and yet it does not mean that the discussion lasted years; in fact, the actual time spent in court may amount to a limited number of hours. What this means is that time is not a factor in the definition of a court case. Even more: it is the case itself that becomes a factor in understanding the length or shortness of the "elapsed" time. It is the difficulty of the case that sometimes makes it require more "elapsed" time, i.e., time outside the sessions. A more complex case can take a much longer "elapsed" time than an easier one, but not necessarily more time in court sessions. And, ultimately, "down the road" of history, it is the content itself of the case sessions that gives value to the time linked with them.

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The corollary of the preceding is that whenever the Bible speaks of God’s coming, it is referring to his coming to sit on his throne of justice. To understand the matter, one is to compare it with the coming of the judge in a court of law. Although it happens at a certain time, it does not happen "in time," i.e., one cannot calculate the time when it will happen. The court is in session whenever the judge has come; the judge does not come at the time of the session. It is his coming that defines the time, not vice-versa. But if so, then one will never know when God is coming; it is only when he has come that one realizes that he has come. But then it is too late; hence, the parable of the Lord’s coming as the thief’s.

What about the signs? These are accompanying, not preceding, signs. Were they indeed preceding, then they would not be signs. Even more: one could be fooled. Hence again the Lord’s cautionary statements that we not be "led astray." The signs function as the clerk of the court who heralds the entrance of the judge into the courtroom. There is no functional time between the announcement and the procession of the judge. The attendees’ standing up is also a sign of the judge’s entrance, but their rising can hardly be considered as a sign that would allow anyone to take action or prepare oneself. A sign is not a countdown; a countdown can stop at the last second as often happens at the launching of a rocket or a space shuttle. Notice how, throughout the 20th century, people who have considered the signs as the beginning of a countdown have been fooled time and again. A sign is rather the assurance that what has all along been expected has come. The sign is (end) news: good news for those who believed the one who had forewarned that a certain event would pass and readied themselves for it, and bad news for those who did not believe, or believed and did not heed. When the sign is there, it is already too late for anyone or anything.

But if it is so, then why mention signs at all? Simply because the signs point backward, not forward. They trigger in our minds the words of the one who had foretold the coming event and thus invites us to realize, not that the event is taking place -- this is pure tautology: something is happening because it is happening -- but rather that the prophet who uttered those words is indeed truthful:

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Mk 13:28-31).

And if he is truthful, then the judgment about to hit us, for good or for bad, is not only just, but also well deserved. Therefore, we are to watch, not with the intent of computing the time of the end, but rather that we not fall under condemnation for having fallen asleep and thus for not having watched:

But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore -- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning -- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch (Mk 13:32-37).

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