Thursday 27 August 2009

Gospel Matthew 24: 42 – end

The Day and Hour Unknown

⁴²"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Sermon

Early followers of Christ expected end of world at any time. Some early churches acted as if it did not matter how they behaved in family and business life. Did not write any accounts of life of Christ until 40 years after crucifixion.

Majority opinion is Matthew written last qr of 1^st century.

This passage in chapter 24 intended to warn against spiritual lethargy. Jesus says end of time will come like thief in the night. He illustrates this with 3 parables:

Faithful and wise servant
Wise and foolish virgins
Parable of talents

All 3 talk of the delay to the end of time: we should be prepared, for at the end comes the great assize. Parousia compared to familiar everyday situations: dishonest and lazy servants; weddings; saving and wasting money, eating and drinking etc.

Note contrast to other events described elsewhere: wars, famines, earthquakes, signs in the firmament etc. Jesus mentions no terrors to feed imagination: just everyday familiar events.

2,000 years is a tiny moment in earth time, let alone God’s time. Humans have existed for only a few seconds if you measure world time on a 24 hour clock. There are signs of the end of this world: fuel running low; changes in our climate; nuclear proliferation and so on.

But the point is not that we should speculate as to when the parousia might occur. We should not focus our minds on a particular event, but act as though it is just round the corner. It’s an attitude of mind; vigilance; preparedness.

The more your knowledge and responsibility as a leader, the more is expected of you. The owner of the house must be extra vigilant. So must the head servant.

Matthew advocates moral preparation. Jesus wants us to avoid spiritual lethargy.

Remember Parable of Rich Fool. He feathered his own nest, and gave no thought to spiritual matters.

²⁰ "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

²¹ "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."