Amen

When in doubt pull out the commentary. Last Sunday's readings were pretty dramatic and I seldom end a sermon with "amen" but with this one it felt like the thing to do :).

As is the case with every sermon this is just one way of responding to the readings but I do hope and pray it's content wasn't annoyingly obvious. I myself ended up enjoying studying the subject very much :).

“D.A. Carson, a New Testament scholar, begins his commentary on Matthew 24 with the following words: "Few chapters of the Bible have called forth more disagreement among interpreters than Matthew 24 and its parallels in Mark 13 and Luke 21.”

No wonder why; earthquakes, wars, starvation, running to the hills for safety and so on. Those of us who have seen our fair share of movies can vividly imagine what Jesus is describing and all of it is extremely frightening.

Then thing is, though, that if you look at the history of humankind - our own time included - what Jesus describes has happened time and time again and things far worse than them. There hasn’t been any shortage of people who claim to have secret knowledge. False prophets of all kinds have always been around. Not perhaps that many claiming to be Messiah but others, yes.

Now, the temple Jesus was talking about - the one He loved and the one which was at the same time the ultimate symbol of religious power - was destroyed the year 70. It was renowned for its beauty even throughout the Roman world; Israel had traditionally viewed the temple as invincible. Jesus, however, here tells it isn’t and it wasn’t.

Jesus prophecy of the destruction of the temple is the background for the rest of the chapter. For the first it must have come as a shock to the disciples that what they thought to be invincible and what was extremely important for the Jewish nation would be destroyed. For the second they were waiting for Jesus to make His move and declare Himself as the Messiah. They were yet to grasp the kind of kingship Jesus was headed to and they were expecting Him to become a great ruler who will free the land from the oppression of Rome.

As a result, two things get mixed up here: the answer to the question of what will happen when the day comes and the temple will be destroyed and then the answer to the second question of Jesus’ coming. The problem and source of confusion was that the disciples thought that these were going to follow each other They were hoping to be given information, a sign, only they would know so that when Jesus would make His move they’d be ready. They probably thought that Jesus would then and there take the mantle of messiahship and inaugurate the kingdom of God in all its power. For them the destruction of the Temple would have been the same as the end of the world.

It’s good to remember that Jesus is responding to the questions of the disciples rather than instigating a discussion about the days to come. He had started to tell them about what was about to happen to Him and the questions of the disciples are follow-up to this; except that they go in a way too far ahead. Because the disciples do not understand that Jesus’s kingship is not the kind they are expecting they do not really understand what they are discussing. And yet Jesus tries to explain and to warn.

In case you noticed and wondered about why Sabbath was mentioned it has to do with the fact that Jews were not allowed to take long walks during Sabbath and even at a time of war or when attacked they would not run to the hills for safety for fear of being condemned by religious authorities.

Much of the reading today has to do with the destruction of the temple and does not in other words refer to the entire world or Jesus’ second coming. I made that mistake when I first read today’s passage (out of context). The result boarderlined the absurd. I could not help but wonder just how it would help anyone if the entire world started running to the hills on the day Jesus comes back. I have read my Bible through and I ought to have known better but alas, I wasn’t thinking.

In actual fact, people probably did run to the hills when Jerusalem was invaded the year 70. People ran for safety like all people of all ages have when faced with danger. Like we will if there ever is a similar situation in our lives – and I do pray there won’t be one.

But the second coming part then. If you continue reading chapter 24 you will come to this verse: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Accepting this point clears up a lot of confusion about chapter 24. It tells us that Jesus was not meaning to prophesy about the specific time of "the end" or of his return, since he himself did not know when it would be. Matthew 24 was to be a lesson in spiritual awareness, not awareness of world events nor a "when" prophecy. To repeat, Jesus could not have been prophesying about when "the end" would happen. He didn’t know when it would occur.

This seems to be a difficult lesson to learn. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples still pressed Him on the matter. They asked: "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Again, Jesus told them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority".

Despite Jesus' clear teaching, many throughout the centuries have repeated the mistake of the apostles. Many have made calculations of all sorts about when "the end" comes, and have almost always said it would be "very soon" with the unfortunate end result of people panicking and making sometimes just plain absurd and sadly, on occasion, tragic decisions.

Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Future times were characterized by violent persecution of Christ’s followers and terrible tribulation in Judea but what we cannot and should not forget is that it is from this the church – the now worldwide Christian church we belong to - was born. It is incredibly sad that the response of human kind to God’s love has been filled with so much violence. Weather there will be more of it we cannot know but with the words of the same D.A. Carson I mentioned in the beginning our calling is to: “Live responsibly, faithfully, compassionately, and courageously while the Master is away." That’s all we can do, but in itself it is plenty. And, remember that you, each and every one, are first and foremost beloved by God. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Amen.