Last updated on October 29, 2024
It was challenging knowing what to write about in today’s passages. They’re all about Jesus’ last bit of teaching on the signs that were to come. They’re all very apocalyptic, and they’ve in my opinion been used as the foundation for some very warped beliefs. They’re some of the passages that I often skim over, but I guess today I get the opportunity to interact with them (yay!).
I will admit on the front end that I don’t know exactly what Jesus is talking about here. He begins by talking about the destruction of the temple, which means SO much to God’s people. It’s been destroyed before, and the one that is there now is a shadow of its former self. But still, it’s theirs. And Jesus says that one day it will be destroyed. That actually happens a little less than 40 years from this point.
Others believe that Jesus is talking about when he will come again. The disciples still aren’t at the point of accepting the fact that Jesus is about to die. They have no idea that Jesus will rise from the dead, and so therefore there’s absolutely no context for coming again at some point in the future. So I don’t know if that’s what he’s talking about or not.
The churches I grew up in believed that Jesus could come back at any moment, and if you weren’t ready, you were in trouble. What did it mean to be ready? It meant that you had confessed your sins and asked Jesus to save you. But how could you know if you were truly sincere in that moment? Fear was a tactic that was used quite often, and as a teenager who eagerly wanted to follow Jesus, and was also scared of burning in hell for eternity, there were times when I doubted if I had been sincere. Re-dedications/commitments were a big thing during those years. You had to make sure you were truly saved.
This is not something I think about too often, but it’s baggage nonetheless. And I don’t believe Jesus had all of this in mind when he said these words. I’m really glad to have moved beyond this period in my life. But the questions are still there. I don’t want to dismiss the passages completely due to the baggage and the way they’ve been used to cause more harm than good (which I absolutely believe). So I continue to wrestle with them.
At the end of the day, I believe that Jesus wanted his followers to live their lives with no regrets. He wanted them to choose faithfulness, wisdom and righteousness everyday. He knew there would be days where that wasn’t the case. They would make mistakes. They would chose themselves over others. They would choose their way over God’s. But they could choose to rethink and come back go God’s way of living. This is grace.