Stand Firm

I find it impossible even to watch the news of the world these days.  Wars and rumors of wars, famines, death and disease.  Not only earthquakes, but all sorts of natural disasters - flood, hurricane, wildfire, hail and tornado, melting icecaps and rising seas.  And the love of so many in His Church has grown cold.  So much judgment and bigotry among the faithful.  Does all this sound like Matthew 24 and Jesus’ description of the End of Days?  It is meant to.  I understand fully that no one knows the hour, not even the Son.  And I appreciate that every generation thinks it is approaching or even in the End Times.  I just have to wonder, is this it?

What is a follower of Jesus to do?  Matthew 24:13 tells us, “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  He finishes with this advice: “keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”  Stand firm.  Keep watch.  These are passive.  But he follows this last advice with a parable of warning.  

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

Chapter 25 continues with three more similar parables: the ten virgins, five who keep their lamps trimmed and burning and five who fall asleep; three servants who were each entrusted with gold to put to work on the Master’s behalf until He returned; and the parable of the sheep and the goats.  That is the last parable Matthew records.  From there, he goes to the Last Supper and his death on the Cross.

Whether we are approaching the End and the Second Coming or it is still many years away, as I see it, Jesus is telling us we need to live out our faith with some urgency. "Stand firm" is not the end of his directive by any means. I would paraphrase him this way: "get busy loving one another. Forgive one another as I have forgiven you. Don't judge each other (but do judge right from wrong). And remember, I am with you always, but I am also coming back in person - and that may be soon!"