Third-Last Sunday in the Church Year

Today’s text from Matthew is not a text we readily gravitate towards. We would rather hear Jesus tell us a nice parable or something like “Love your neighbor” than hear about the “Abomination of Desolation.” And yet this text and others like it are important for us to look at if we want to know how to live in the End Times. And I am not talking about something that will happen in the future; we are in the End Times now!

Matthew 24 and 25 is Jesus “sermon” to his disciples to prepare them for the mission ahead of them. Jesus would soon die and rise again and ascend into heaven and the disciples would be sent out to the world. So Jesus prepares them with this message. Not exactly a pep talk but a realistic view of life in the End Times as a Christian. The Devil will try to deceive and trick many to fall away from the simple message of God’s love and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Yes, we are in the End Times right now. Often when we think about the End Times we think of something in the future, something that will happen later. But that is not the view Jesus lays out for us here. He makes it clear that the disciple, 2000 years ago, were in the End Times and we are today as well. When it comes to prophecy, and this section is that, there are a multiple of views going on in the same section. This text speaks not only of that Last Day when Christ comes again but also of a real event that took place in 70 AD.

Jesus was preparing his disciples for a specific event that they would witness, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. That would be a tribulation or abomination of desolation that the disciple would face in reality. Roman had gotten fed up with the various Jewish groups who continued to rebel against their authority. Finally Rome decided enough was enough (and the insanity of the Leaders) and they came in surrounded Jerusalem and eventually leveled it to the ground. In fact the Jerusalem you see today is mostly built on top of the Jerusalem of Jesus day.

Interestingly this text speaks of this event as being unequalled in previous and future history. I thought this was strange since we have seen many atrocities in our age that seem to be unequaled. The murder of 6 million Jews under Hitler. Countless “ethnic” cleansing events in Europe and Africa. And even the destruction of the World Trade Center last year. Don’t these compare or are even greater? So I looked into the history behind 70 AD and the prime source for that is by a man named Josephus who wrote an account of the history of the Jews around the time of Jesus. In this account, and there are many details, he talks about the siege Rome had against Jerusalem. Rome surrounded the city for a long period of time not allowing anything in our out. The people in the city ran out of food and Josephus records that they even turned to cannibalism to survive. Whether this report is true or not we see that this was a horrific even that would have had a major impact on the disciples and other Christians. Is the Devil winning? Has God given up? Jesus answers these questions in our text today.

The beginning of the end. Jesus disciples were experience it, we experience. The devil is trying his best to lead us away from Christ. And often he does this by distraction. We get caught up in the things going on around us that we soon forget that Christ is in control.

One distraction for us as Christians is to get consumed by the thought of the End Times and the Last Day. Jesus warns against this as he talks about false prophets and christs and tells how they will know when Christ comes again. Jesus said, "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there

the vultures will gather. " (Matthew 24:27-28, ESV) [1] In these proverbs is the basic idea that when something happens it will be known, no questions asked. When Christ comes again all will know it. There will be no need to guess, you will know! If you think it might be Christ, but have questions, then it is not Him. The Last Day is out of our hands, so we need not be consumed by it. We are to be prepared, which simple put is to trust in Christ and focus on Him only, but we need not worry about dates or times.

Another distraction is becoming too little concerned about the End Times. Yes it has been two thousand years since Christ spoke these words but each day they should speak to us of the urgency of our time. Christ could come this next minute, or hour or day and we must be prepared. Trust in Christ, not get distracted is part of that preparation. That is the point of the Parable of the Ten Virgins waiting for the Bridegroom that follows this text. Five were prepared; five were not. But we are also prepared for Christ’s Second Coming by being messengers to the world. The message of Christ is meant to be shared. We have an urgent mission to share Christ with the world. That is the subject of another parable in this section about the talents given to be used.

Jesus is painting a realistic picture of life here on earth after His resurrection. Our mission is urgent for we don’t know, and don’t need to know, when Christ will come again. We are to be prepared by trusting in Jesus. And we are to not allow the Devil to distract us from Christ.

This reminds me of a story I found in a magazine many years ago. It is about two brothers born on the same day and who died on the same day. But their stories differ from this point on. On brother remained faithful to the Christian faith he was brought up in. He followed God and tried to lead a Godly life. The other brother decided that the world looked more appealing and so he would come back to God later. He eventually got caught up in the web of power, greed and lust and was soon a hardened criminal. Both brothers died on the same day, one by natural causes, and the other by the hands of the government for the many crimes he had committed.

Both were on the stairs to heaven to receive their eternal placements. The “good” brother had something in his hand that the “bad” brother noticed. “What is that?” he asked.

“My ticket to heaven,” said the brother. Not wanting to be upstaged by his brother the “bad” brother makes all kinds of excuses that he didn’t get around to God and since he died before he should have he said, “Could you share some of your ticket with me?”

The “good” brother thought about it and said, “Ok,” and he cut off a piece for him. They continued on their way up to heaven. Along the way the “bad” brother noticed that his piece was smaller than the other half and so he asked for more, appealing to his brother’s sense of fairness. The “good” brother then cut off another piece for his brother. Feeling confident the “bad” brother sprints the rest of the way to the gates of heaven and yells, “I have my ticket!”

St. Peter is standing at the gate and saw all that happened between the two brothers. He says, “Well open up your ticket and it will reveal your eternal home.” The “bad” brother scrambles to get the pieces of his ticket together and to his horror the ticket reveals the place he was trying to avoid, HELL. The “bad” brother was furious and said; “I got this ticket from my brother. If I am going to HELL then so is he!”

St. Peter says, “Well I need to see your ticket too. Please open it to reveal your eternal home.” The “good” brother opens his ticket and it reveals his destination. When opened the ticket takes on the shape of a Cross.

The cross of Christ is the answer. It is only through Christ that we can have eternal life. And we are to urgently share this message with a world that is living in the End Times. Now there is a flaw in this story. The “good” brother did share his ticket but the “bad” brother ends up going to Hell. Aren’t we supposed to share the message? Yes, but we share it this side of death. There is no second chance after we die. So what are you waiting for? Get the message out now! Don’t be distracted by the world but focus on Jesus who has promised to "And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short." (Matthew 24:22, ESV) [2] We live in the End Times, we are called to share the light in the midst of the darkness, and we need not be afraid because Jesus is in control.

Amen.

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[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.

[2] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.