Have you ever had an experience so enormous that the whole of your life—past, present, and future—seemed cast in a whole new light? For a person in a time of flux, strands of past, present, and future seem to be combining, separating, and reconfiguring all at once. Matthew Chapter 24 is like that! In this chapter, Matthew brings together a block of Jesus’ teaching about the ending of many things. All these events are twined together and alternating in this grave and apocalyptic chapter. The event horizon of all these end-time events is centered on Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. In the Pharisee’s persecution and murder-by-Rome that they orchestrated for Jesus, the wickedness of the Temple leadership was laid bare. They colluded to kill God’s Messiah. The fate and fall of Jerusalem and the Temple were sealed. In this chapter, Jesus foretold all these events, so that when they occurred, his followers were not taken by surprise.
At the beginning of Chapter 24, the disciples who had accompanied Jesus to Jerusalem point out the wonders of the Temple to Jesus as they leave after Jesus has (deservedly) criticized the Pharisees. Jesus tells them that the Temple, which has been central to Jewish worship for years, will soon be destroyed. As they go to the Mount of Olives, within sight of the walled city with the Temple at its peak, the disciples follow up with Jesus by asking when the destruction will occur. When the disciples speak to Jesus about his coming, they use the word “Parousia,” which many have taken to mean the second coming of Jesus at the end of the age to bring final judgement (though NT Wright holds that this word means the ceremonial arrival of a ruler, especially after an absence). In this chapter, “Parousia” does seem to refer to the second coming, while also having connections to the Ascension of Jesus, vindicated by God after his crucifixion and resurrection (and seen in our beloved stained-glass window). In every case, “Parousia” has the import of a ruler returning to his realm after an absence and surveying the state of his kingdom. Jesus will talk about his Parousia, but first he wants to warn his disciples, and us, about being led astray by rumors and other alarming world events.
Jesus then prepares the disciples for persecution, and their inevitable suffering and betrayal. He encourages them to endure to the end. (“Endurance” and “perseverance” are words often used in the New Testament to describe standing up under the pressure of persecution.)
Jesus describes the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple that will occur in 70 AD at the hands of Emperor Vespasian’s son, Titus. Jesus recommends running to preserve life and limb—NOT fighting with the invaders and destroyers, but running outside the city without turning back to pack for the flight.
About the “Parousia,” Jesus says that when the second coming does happen, it will be cataclysmic and there will be signs of uncreation. Then the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the tribes of the earth will see him, in his full power and glory, and he will summon his followers from all corners of the earth.
Just in case this all has you worried, Jesus then uses a common and happy image, that of a fig tree which is just beginning to put out its leaves and form its fruit. He says that’s what it will be like, when Jesus is near, at the very gates; it will be like the joy that you feel when your fruit trees are getting ready to provide abundant, sweet fruit. We are living in the time between the Ascension and the Second Coming.
Then Jesus speaks to the idea that we can somehow figure out the timing of any of these things: the end times, the second coming, any of it. We can’t, and not even he, Jesus, knows the timing of any of it. It will be sudden and unexpected, Jesus says, and he gives some examples of how abrupt it will all be. He mentions the coming of Noah’s flood, and two scenes of daily life—two men working in a field, or two women grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left behind. Jesus says to stay awake and alert, like a householder who knows that sometime in the night, a thief will come.
Since we cannot know the timing, Jesus encourages his listeners to make sure that we use the time of our life to do the things that He gave us to do.