Apocalypse 20:1-4, 11 - 21:2 / Luke 21:29-33
If we had lived or spent time in a place or a country where there is a winter season, we will know how dreary it is.
It can be wet, cold, gloomy, and life comes to almost like a standstill.
But winter will slowly give way to spring, and spring is beautiful.
The sun would be shining but yet it is cool. Everything has a bright tinge to it, from the colour of the grass to the colour of the sky.
So winter does not have the last say in the cycle of the seasons and in the cycle of life.
Out of an apparent lifelessness comes about new life.
Jesus had been talking about the disturbing signs of the end times, signs of violence and distress.
But in today's gospel, He talks about yet another sign, the sign of the kingdom of God.
Hence the disturbing signs are inevitable, but they do not have the last say.
Because the last say belongs to the kingdom of God and to the glorious coming of Jesus.
So when we face a turmoil in life, let us know that the turmoil or distress do not have the last say and neither is it the deciding factor.
The deciding factor rests on our hope in Jesus, who will come and reveal Himself to us in the calm after the storm.
It is in that calm that we know the final word belongs to Jesus.