What do we do with apocalyptic texts like our gospel reading for this week (Luke 21:5-19) ? How should we understand them in light of even recent world weather events? Our options among many are, firstly, we can take them as warning and start preparing for the end of which Jesus speaks, either by ordering our lives in a new way or by trying to figure out the events and calendar to which Jesus supposedly alludes. Or, secondly, we can chuck all that and hear these words as an invitation to live now by faith and hope, inviting the prospect of future tribulation and trial only to sharpen our deep appreciation for the present God has created and given to us as a gift.
I favor the second approach. Why? Well, firstly Jesus himself seems to speak against taking his words as a timetable. Here he alerts the disciples that lots of folks will come peddling warnings about the end. It’s as if he expect the doomsday evangelists of the world and so warns us about them ahead of time. At other places in the gospels, Jesus is even more explicit, saying that, “no one knows the day or hour.”
Secondly, Jesus counsels believers not only not to be alarmed but also not to plan for those days. Instead, he invites us to a living and active trust so that we may believe a) that the various trials that come are actually opportunities to witness to the resurrection and b) that Jesus himself will equip us to speak and respond when such occasions arise.
Thirdly, there is almost no question that Luke is responding to the crises of early Christian communities and addressing the words of Jesus to them in their hour of doubt and need. This isn’t a timetable — it’s a letter of comfort and courage and invitation. One that we can respond to most faithfully not by predicting the end but by seizing the present moment in which to share our faith and confidence in Christ.
[Adapted from comments made by David Lose 10.11.2013 Biblical Preaching Chair Luther Seminary St. Paul]
