Week 5: Tuesday
Devotional
I vividly remember my first experience of working on a building site. I was a student, earning some money during the vacation. The work was physically hard — or rather, it would have been if we had kept it up all day. There was an unwritten law that you went at your tasks as slowly as you could, pausing regularly for a rest or a 'smoke break', except when the boss showed up. Then, of course, everyone would look brisk and get on as fast as they could. The play-acting would have been comic if the deceit hadn't been so distasteful.
Clearly, from Jesus' comments about the slaves doing their jobs while the master is away, this culture of working only when someone is watching is hardly a modern invention. Jesus is addressing his close followers, warning them of a coming time when they will have to get on with their work, staying faithful to him in his absence. They will have to look after his 'household' whether they think he'll be coming back the next minute or not.
The challenge to wait, and behave appropriately, during a long time of 'delay' (verse 48) was not a new one in Jesus' day. The Jews of the previous centuries had spoken of it constantly. They encouraged one another to stay faithful to their God, and to his covenant with them expressed in the Mosaic law, while they waited for God to act, to return to them in power, to rescue them from their enemies and set up his kingdom.
Jesus has taken this well-known theme and transformed it so that it applies more directly and vividly to his own followers after his approaching death. He knows that there will come a time of vindication. But nobody except God knows when that will be (verse 36). But he also knows that those who wait patiently, and get on with their tasks of looking after God's people, will be rewarded — and that those who don't will be punished.
This is a severe warning for all Christian leaders and teachers. Sometimes people seem to suppose that it doesn't really matter how you behave, that we can keep the wheels of the church turning all right without paying too much attention to the teaching of Jesus himself or the doctrine and lifestyle taught by his first followers. That attitude is then held in place by a sneering rejection of all talk of a future judgment. Such talk, it seems, fell out of fashion some time ago, and we can keep it that way (people seem to think) by telling horror- stories about old fire-and-brimstone preachers trying to scare people into good behaviour, or even into heaven. But just because people have overstated things in one direction, that doesn't mean there isn't a danger of overstatement in the other direction. If Lent is a time of reflection, penitence and discipline for all Christians, perhaps it is especially so for those who dare to think of themselves as slaves in charge of part of Jesus' household.
TODAY
Lord, as you have called us to your service, make us mindful and worthy of our calling.
Matthew 24
1 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see the desolating sacrilege, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17 the one on the housetop must not go down to take things from the house; 18 the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved, but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.
29 “Immediately after the suffering of those days
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. 42 Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45 “Who, then, is the faithful and wise slave whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. 51 He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.