Conforming (phase 2), - Jesus enters Jerusalem and the Temple- Concluding the Second Phase (step 21) - session 4b

Mt 24-25

When Jesus speaks apocalyptically, we can get in trouble trying to be too literal. Mt 24:2 was fulfilled, they say, when Jerusalem was destroyed around 70 AD. So rather than trying to read the tea leaves and figure out if the end might be near based on 24:2 through all of chapter 25, I tend to interpret all of verses to mean simply: don't be put off track; whatever happens, stay the course.

Of course, that depends on being on the right course to begin with, and that is largely what the warnings are all about. I try not to chase after the prophecy du jour. It seems as if many of my friends put their faith in reading the signs correctly and divining when some sort of catastrophe may be coming. The answer to that is easy: catastrophe comes daily to this broken world. That may seem defeatist and discouraging, except that the greater truth is that deliverance and love and healing come daily to this broken world, too, and the God I strive to serve is greater than whatever hatred this world hurls against him and his followers.

So yes, many come in his name, though very few today have the audacity to declare themselves the Christ (24:5). There are continual wars and rumors of wars (24:6), and nations and kingdoms continually at odds against each other (24:7), especially in the part of the world which Jesus trod, and there are famines and earthquakes. Many followers have been handed up to tribulation and put to death (24:9), and many have fallen away and hate each other (24:10). With teachers contradicting each other with regularity, each claiming to speak in God's authority, we are indeed beset by false prophets (24:11). Wickedness indeed seems multiplied, and men's love grows cold (24:12). The gospel has been preached throughout the whole world (24:14). I am certain that these predictions of Jesus have all been fulfilled for a very long time now. Perhaps most of these were addressed by the time of the fall of Jerusalem, though surely the gospel had not spread throughout the whole world by then. We fail to tend to his sheep when we focus too much on his return.

And so Jesus directs his disciples through a series of images (24:27-34; 24:46-51; 25:1-13; 25:14-30) to remain steadfast and wise in continuing to serve the master as we are called to do. The last lesson of these chapters (25:31-46) is the one by which reminds us to look for him in all those whom we encounter along the way.

I think of Fr. Neuhaus' insistence on referring to Jesus as "the derelict." We think it is an insult, because we fail to see our own potential for utter dereliction. When we see a bum, an addict, or even a thief or a murderer, we can't relate, and so we fail to recognize our brother or our sister, we don't see Jesus himself in them, wailing the lamentation that they lack the sense to cry for themselves. Fr. Neuhaus also wrote of "coming to our senses." It is as important for us as for the modern day derelict for whom we pray at a safe distance. When will Jesus return to us? Every day.