The Gospel of Matthew: Endgame
Matthew 24:1-14, CEB - Now Jesus left the temple
and was going away. His disciples came to point out to him the temple
buildings. He responded, “Do you see all
these things? I assure that no stone will be left on another. Everything will
be demolished.”
Now while Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the
disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things
happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”
Jesus replied, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the
Christ.’ They will deceive many people. You will hear about wars and reports of wars.
Don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other,
and there will be famines and earthquakes in all sorts of places. But all these things are just the beginning of
the sufferings associated with the end. They will arrest you, abuse you, and they will
kill you. All nations will hate you on account of my name. At that time many will fall away. They will
betray each other and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and deceive
many people. Because disobedience will
expand, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be
delivered. This gospel of the kingdom
will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations. Then
the end will come.
Following
Jesus’s last public address in the Temple, Jesus and His disciples leave. As they are walking out of the Temple, the
disciples make comments about the beauty of the Temple. Jesus shocks them by announcing that the
Temple will be reduced to rubble. As
Jesus predicted, the Temple was destroyed in AD 70, a few decades after Jesus’s
crucifixion. It would never be rebuilt again.
All that remains of that Temple is a portion of the western wall, now
called the Wailing Wall, where millions of people from multiple faiths go to
pray every year. People stuff small pieces
of paper with their prayer concerns written on them in the cracks of the
wall. I did this myself when I was in
the Holy Land some years ago.
The
disciples were thrown by the news that the Temple would be destroyed. It must have consumed their thoughts until
they reached the Mount of Olives. As
Jesus sat down there, his disciples ask Him three questions: (1) when will these things happen? (2) what will be the sign of [Jesus’s]
coming? (3) What will be the sign of the
end of the age? Jesus’s answers to these
questions make up the remainder of chapter 24 and constitute one of the passages
in the New Testament that have most difficult to interpret. There is great disagreement in the scholarly community
to this day over the precise meanings of Jesus’s words here. While we will carefully work through this confusing
chapter in the next couple of reflections, the goal is to gain some general
insight into what Jesus is trying to convey and not to try an arrive at the
perfect interpretation.
In the
passage above, Jesus begins to address question 1, the question of when. The frustration is that what he offers here
is not a precise “when,” but a definite “not when.” There will be people claiming to be the
Messiah; when that happens, you will know
that they are surely lying. Terrible
things that feel like the end will happen.
The end is not then either. The
disciples themselves will be persecuted and killed – not then either. People will lose faith and fall into
hate. Betrayal will abound. False prophets will be numerous. Wars, earthquakes, and famines will be common. Disobedience will expand to an epidemic
level. Still not the time.
It must
be said that in every time period since Jesus uttered these words, the idea has
been floated that the time period Jesus described is the present time. When we look at the conditions of the world
today, we could make the case that Jesus was talking about the 21st
century. While that cannot be ruled out,
Jesus’s message in this description above was not that we try to read the
descriptions of world events and try to match them up to what we see in the news. The point is essentially is this approach won’t
work. When you think it might be the
end, it’s not the end. Focus on
proclaiming the Kingdom to the whole world, not on trying to predict the
end. Persevere through the catastrophes.
No matter what happens or how bad it
gets, those who do this will be delivered.
Let the end be God’s concern. Keep the faith. That’s our job.
As I
already stated, we have just begun to explore Jesus’s response to the disciples
three questions. But for today, let’s focus
on what Jesus says should be the focus – perseverance and proclaiming the
Kingdom.
Questions: What does persevering
in the faith men for your circumstances right now? What is your role in “proclaiming the
kingdom?”
Prayer: Lord, we know
that the advancement of your kingdom is the real news we should be paying attention
to in the midst of all we see today.
Help us to see how You are moving in our circumstances, our community,
and the larger world. Give us strength
to persevere and be faithful. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for those who have left the faith in
recent years
Song: Won’t Back Down
– Tom Petty
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