Today's Reading: Matthew 24: 36-44
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Please click this link to read Matthew 24: 36-44
Bible Study
For so many Christians, yesterday passage always points to the second coming of Jesus. But N.T. Wright has his own point of view. It's OK you do not agree, but at least think about what he says here about today's passage as well as the one yesterday:
Once again it has been applied to two different kinds of event, neither of which was what Jesus himself had in mind(though some think Matthew was already looking further ahead). We had better look at them first.
On the one hand, a great many readers have seen here a warning to Christians to be ready for the second coming of Jesus...
On the other hand, many other readers have seen here a warning to Christians to be ready for their own death...
You can read the passage in either of these ways, or both. Often the voice of God can be heard in scripture even in ways the original writers hadn't imagined - though you need to retain, as the control, a clear sense of what they did mean, in case you make scripture 'prove' all kinds of things which it certainly doesn't. It is vital, therefore, to read the passage as it would have been heard by Matthew's first audience. And there, it seems, we are back to the great crisis that was going to sweep over Jerusalem and its surrounding countryside at a date that was, to them, in the unknown future - though we now know it happened in AD 70, at the climax of the war between Rome and Judaea. Something was going to happen which would devastate lives, families, whole communities: something that was both a terrible, frightening event and also, at the same time, the event that was to be seen as 'the coming of the son of man' or the parousia, the 'royal appearing' of Jesus himself. And the whole passage indicates what this will be. It will be the swift and sudden sequence of events that will end with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
The point this passage makes comes in three stages:
First, nobody knows exactly when this will be; only that it will be within a generation (verse 34).
Second, life will go on as normal right up to the last minute. That's the point of the parallel with the time of Noah. Until the flood came to sweep everything away, ordinary life was carrying on with nothing unusual.
Third, it will divide families and work colleagues down the middle. 'One will be taken and one left'; this doesn't mean(as some have suggested) that one person will be 'taken' away by God in some kind of supernatural salvation, while the other is 'left' to face destruction. If anything, it's the opposite: when invading forces sweep through a town or village, they will 'take' some off to their deaths, and 'leave' others untouched.
The result - and this is the point Jesus is most anxious to get across to his disciples, who by this stage must have been quite puzzled as to where it was all going - is that his followers must stay awake because they don't know exactly when.
We too live in turbulent and dangerous times. Who knows what will happen next week, next year? It's up to each church, and each individual Christian, to answer the question: Are you ready? Are you awake?
So, let's don't waste time to argue whether you agree with Bishop Wright's point of view of not. The point is: Are you ready? Are you awake?
Once again it has been applied to two different kinds of event, neither of which was what Jesus himself had in mind(though some think Matthew was already looking further ahead). We had better look at them first.
On the one hand, a great many readers have seen here a warning to Christians to be ready for the second coming of Jesus...
On the other hand, many other readers have seen here a warning to Christians to be ready for their own death...
You can read the passage in either of these ways, or both. Often the voice of God can be heard in scripture even in ways the original writers hadn't imagined - though you need to retain, as the control, a clear sense of what they did mean, in case you make scripture 'prove' all kinds of things which it certainly doesn't. It is vital, therefore, to read the passage as it would have been heard by Matthew's first audience. And there, it seems, we are back to the great crisis that was going to sweep over Jerusalem and its surrounding countryside at a date that was, to them, in the unknown future - though we now know it happened in AD 70, at the climax of the war between Rome and Judaea. Something was going to happen which would devastate lives, families, whole communities: something that was both a terrible, frightening event and also, at the same time, the event that was to be seen as 'the coming of the son of man' or the parousia, the 'royal appearing' of Jesus himself. And the whole passage indicates what this will be. It will be the swift and sudden sequence of events that will end with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
The point this passage makes comes in three stages:
First, nobody knows exactly when this will be; only that it will be within a generation (verse 34).
Second, life will go on as normal right up to the last minute. That's the point of the parallel with the time of Noah. Until the flood came to sweep everything away, ordinary life was carrying on with nothing unusual.
Third, it will divide families and work colleagues down the middle. 'One will be taken and one left'; this doesn't mean(as some have suggested) that one person will be 'taken' away by God in some kind of supernatural salvation, while the other is 'left' to face destruction. If anything, it's the opposite: when invading forces sweep through a town or village, they will 'take' some off to their deaths, and 'leave' others untouched.
The result - and this is the point Jesus is most anxious to get across to his disciples, who by this stage must have been quite puzzled as to where it was all going - is that his followers must stay awake because they don't know exactly when.
We too live in turbulent and dangerous times. Who knows what will happen next week, next year? It's up to each church, and each individual Christian, to answer the question: Are you ready? Are you awake?
So, let's don't waste time to argue whether you agree with Bishop Wright's point of view of not. The point is: Are you ready? Are you awake?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: Are you ready? Are you awake?
What I got from Jesus today is a warning to all of us. A warning about what? It's about what are we doing each day. If we are not ready and not awake, we would just like those soldiers who are on duty to keep watch but sleep. The enemy would come in suddenly, killing them and wiping out the whole unit.
I am talking about your readiness to accept bad news of your health or any kind of unexpected crisis. Do you still trust Jesus at that time and are you still able to have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus each day.
On the other hand, I am talking about your readiness to confront the enemy's sudden attack to pull trust away from your pastors and leaders having doubt, anger and opposition to them and so creating hatred, discord, dissensions and disunity. I have seen too much of these cunning and deadly spiritual attack. What's the big deal to argue with small matters thinking that it is a life or death issue for the church but instead pouring down misunderstanding, mistrust, anger, hatred and at last dividing the whole church or even a denomination. Who wins? Satan wins and Jesus will be deeply hurt!
I do hope and pray that you are ready and awake that you will be able to stand when those unexpected crisis and disaster come right at you.
Remember, Jesus is Lord!
I am talking about your readiness to accept bad news of your health or any kind of unexpected crisis. Do you still trust Jesus at that time and are you still able to have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus each day.
On the other hand, I am talking about your readiness to confront the enemy's sudden attack to pull trust away from your pastors and leaders having doubt, anger and opposition to them and so creating hatred, discord, dissensions and disunity. I have seen too much of these cunning and deadly spiritual attack. What's the big deal to argue with small matters thinking that it is a life or death issue for the church but instead pouring down misunderstanding, mistrust, anger, hatred and at last dividing the whole church or even a denomination. Who wins? Satan wins and Jesus will be deeply hurt!
I do hope and pray that you are ready and awake that you will be able to stand when those unexpected crisis and disaster come right at you.
Remember, Jesus is Lord!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Prepare our hearts that we are ready and awake always. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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