22 November 2022

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, ‘Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.’ So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Apocalypse 14:14-19, NRSV

In today’s reading we hear about a vision of two harvests. The first, presided over by the Son of Man, is a harvest of wheat and is satisfactorily completed. In yesterday’s reading, we heard about those who had been faithful followers of Christ being describes as the “first fruits”. It would then seem likely that these are the people who are harvested into God’s care. The second harvest is that of the grapes. This time the Son of Man does not preside and the grapes are thrown into “the winepress of God’s wrath”. Unlike the wheat harvest, the grape harvest can be seen to symbolise retribution for evil.

• • How are we to make sense of this image of the Son of Man?
  • How do we expect God to judge us?

Pray for the grace to discern and repent of any sin that marks your own life.