“False alarms”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, December 11, 2021
Matthew 24:1-14 (Forward, p. 43) CEV p. 1015
The end times have provided no end of raw material for speculation and debate over the centuries of the Christian church. The early church was quite sure that Jesus was set to return at any moment, and likewise other believers have seen this as being ‘just around the corner’ every time there has been sustained calamities impinging upon our earth. This has especially been the case when various of these ‘signs’ show up and begin to show up with some regularity. Just note the ones that Jesus mentions here (and this is only the start):
False Messiahs and false prophets (these have been pretty
widespread all through Christian history, but more so at times).
Wars and rumours of war (when has this not been part of our world
Scene? Just think of all the wars have graced planet Earth just since
1900.)
Famines and earthquakes: do the latter only seem to be more
prevalent or is this for real?
Persecutions, betrayals and hatreds: have these ever stopped, even
for once?
The spread of evil and the loss of faith on the part of many people.
After the Gospel has been preached to the entire world, then the end will come.
It is incredibly easy to be led astray by most of these ‘signs’ and count them as being it. Most of these have happened repeatedly over history and continue to happen even today. Only the preaching of Gospel has any forward motion, any sense of completion or fulfilment, and certainly this continues apace even to this day. More and more language groups are receiving the Scriptures in their own languages and hearing the Gospel on the own terms for the first time. This is excellent and exceedingly great, but what about our own people? Have the people of the Western world heard the unmitigated, unvarnished Gospel? I suspect not. I suspect that, if anything, they have heard partial or corrupted versions of it. And so, it is incumbent upon us to share it with them.
What seems to be evident here is that these signs are meant to be ‘way markers’, but not signs of our definite arrival at the end—or of Christ’s definitive arrival either. They are meant to be encouragements to remain faithful, to remain faithful and loving towards Christ and each other, and to remain vigilant and diligent in our various divinely appointed tasks. So, then, let us not be misled or sidetracked by false alarms, by what are only interim signs of the end.
Preaching the Gospel in spoken and printed word is certainly part of this divinely appointed task, but so too is the way that we live it out, embody it, in our daily lives, for this lived witness is often far more effective, and far more visible, than anything that we say. May God help us in all this. Amen.
Forward notes: “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?’” (verse 3)
“Though I wasn’t labeled ‘Biggest Gossip’ in high school, I did a fair amount of talking about others behind their backs, mostly because I thought it would help my social standing.
“I imagine the scene in Matthew similarly: here’s Jesus, sitting on the Mount of Olives—the place he goes to be alone with the Father—and the disciples cozy up to him. Rumors have been circulating around Jerusalem, so much so that his handpicked chosen twelve don’t know who to believe. Should they believe the traveling itinerant preacher, the charismatic one who tells crowds of people that the kingdom of God belongs to the children among them, or should they believe the powerful leaders in positions of temple and governmental authority? Perhaps unsure, they go straight to the source and ask him to make clear future truths.
“Jesus answers quite straightforwardly, and it makes me wonder: should we not do the same, when caught up in our own gossip-mongering tendencies?
Moving Forward: “How can you resist the urge to gossip today?
