Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 - Tuesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 14:14-19 and Luke 21:5-11]While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stone and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not bes left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "See that you will not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them." [Luke]
The evangelist Luke composed his gospel portrait of Jesus a some years after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.. But there were plenty of people who remembered the temple, which had been renovated extensively by Herod the Great just before Jesus' time and it was still unfinished when Jesus died. For Jews, the loss of the temple seemed like the end of time. A portion of the original foundation is available even now in Jerusalem and is called "the wailing wall." That memory also included the Roman destruction as a result of an uprising - 66-70 A.D.. Luke was writing for a mixed audience of converted Jews and Gentiles, whose concern included not simply the loss of the temple but whether or not this was a sign that Jesus would return soon and restore all things.
For many different reasons, the advice of Jesus not to follow preachers proclaiming the end of time has been ignored over and over again in times of war, earthquakes, famine, plagues and eclipses or other catastrophes . Some preachers have believed that there is a secret code that can be determined from numbers in the Bible! But God does not work on our chronological time. We are called by Jesus to live as if the end of "time" as we know it will happen "any time." Waiting for all those "signs" to occur before we take Jesus' teachings seriously is not a good idea!! AMEN