Luke 21:29-38
Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.
I always find it interesting to wonder about how Luke’s original audience might have heard these words. If historians have reconstructed the past accurately, the Christian community for whom Luke wrote his Gospel would be reading this about ten years after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans (and about fifty years after Jesus’ ministry). Which means that much of what Jesus spoke about in this chapter – Jerusalem surrounded by armies, great distress, Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles – would have come already to pass in their experience. They had seen – or at least heard about – all that Jesus described and were now making sense of their lives as Christians against the backdrop of the Roman conquest and the upheaval this caused.
Which again points to the purpose of apocalyptic literature: Luke shaped this part of Jesus’ story to make sense of the lives of his people. But if the “future” this passage describes already took place, then what did it mean for Luke’s community? And for ours?
Two things come to mind. First, we also are invited to wait and watch, taking care for how we live and what kind of example we set. We also do not know when the “day” – whether of ultimate judgment or of the end our personal lives – will be coming. What we do matters, in times of crisis and times of peace.
Second, it’s important to notice that Jesus says all this just before he is about to enter his own period of great distress; a time when he will be surrounded by, if not armies, at least the soldiers of the most powerful army on earth; and when he will be trampled and abused in his trial, march to the cross, and death of agony there. The one who talks about coming in judgment, in other words, was himself judged on our behalf.
Perhaps, then, the “day” Jesus talks about is not only the day the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed, and not only the final “day” that awaits us, but perhaps it was also the day when he was crucified and offered words not of condemnation but forgiveness. Knowing the character of his first coming – to set the captive free, to heal the sick, to elevate and care for the poor, and to forgive even those who put him to death – greatly shapes how we hear – and look forward to – his second coming.
And knowing that the one who will come again is the same one who already came for us in love and mercy, we can join Christians of all generations and pray, Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus.
Prayer: Dear God, remind us that you come to judge the world by grace and mercy, and give us courage to share news of your goodness with all we meet. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Note: Because we treated chaps. 22, 23, and 24 last Lent and Easter, this brings us to the end of our daily devotions on Luke’s Gospel. This year, and starting with our Advent and Christmas devotions, we’ll listen to Matthew’s story of Jesus.
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