An old common-sense proverb, quoted in Galatians 6:7, says that we will reap what we sow. Jesus often uses such farming imagery in his parables and teaching, drawing our attention to the fruitfulness (or lack thereof) of fields, vines, mustard and fig trees, and other crops. Indeed, though we rightfully think of the disciples as fishermen, they are no less servants sent into the fields by the “master of the harvest” (Mt 9), whether they arrive early in the day or in the final hour (Mt 20).
In Revelation 14, we have arrived at a final hour of sorts, that fullness of time when the earth itself is to be harvested. In the end, it will no longer be human beings but angels who will harvest the earth (Rev 14:14-19) and separate the wheat from the chaff (Mt 13). We are the harvest, and we will be harvested. What are we to make of this? What will remain?
Luke 21 gives us a hint, at least, of what will not remain. Seeing the monumental structures that people had erected at and around the temple, whether for God’s glory or their own, Jesus says, “the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Some Medieval Christians took this quite literally: they imagined that there would not be one stone left upon the other from any building in the whole world when Jesus would return to judge the world. That image may seem fairly far-fetched to us today, but it is a legitimate and quite imaginative reading of Luke 21, and is probably closer to the truth than our contemporary attempts to dull the edge of Jesus’ words. Regardless of how this comes to pass, we ought to at least consider this: all of our monuments, our buildings, our institutions mean nothing if they do not contribute to sharing the love and forgiveness that is the true life that Jesus offers us. When the earth is harvested, our scholarly research will be merely academic if it is not at the service of love, and our great institutions will have instituted nothing if they have failed to form people who give their lives for God and the creation that Jesus came to save. In short: stone will not be left on stone. Your wealth, your celebrity, your Instagram followers, your likes, your awards, your CV, your achievements, even your self-interested “charity” will all count for nothing, or even less than nothing, if they have impeded you from loving as Christ has loved you. Stone will not be left on stone. All that is worth saving for eternity is love. How much of your life will be judged to be made up of that love that is the stuff of eternal life? If it has not been much up till now, let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to give the rest of our lives over to love, so that that love, and the life that it fills, might be preserved for eternal life.