While we note the basic message of Jesus offered here by Luke is mostly a summary of the Olivet Discourse, we must keep an eye on Luke's emphasis for his primary audience, Theophilus. The educated Roman reader needed to understand the very signal importance of the spiritual against the worldly. The scholars who divided Luke into chapters were not fools. The tone for Jesus' message here is founded on the other-worldly mindset.
The disciples were still expecting Jesus to somehow remove the current leadership of the Jewish nation and inaugurate a revival of the more pure Davidic Kingdom. To grab their attention and orient it to the Spirit Realm, Jesus points out among those bringing their offerings to the Temple a widow. The scandal of Jewish society in ancient times was the complete disregard for widows. We left the previous lesson with Jesus criticizing the Scribes as they purchased widows' properties out from under them by paying off liens, sometimes filing the liens themselves. So most widows were destitute. In the offering line was one who dropped in the lowest acceptable amount, two leptons. The smallest coins known at that time, they added up to what we would consider about a quarter-hour's wage or less. She gave out of conviction all the acceptable offering she could scrape together. Of all the people dropping money in the box that day, she alone understood sacrificial giving, and a disregard of worldly value.
Those others who gave pocket change from their abundant resources helped to fund a lavish decoration to Herod's Temple, already quite extravagant in its time. The disciples were impressed, and perhaps a bit proud of what the nation could do for God's glory. Quite likely, in the backs of their minds, they were thinking how they would soon be in control of such a magnificent structure, just as soon as Jesus got the oppressive Jewish government out of the way. Jesus pointed out how utterly unimportant the Temple was in His Kingdom, by telling how He knew the whole thing would be reduced to a field of rubble.
They obviously assumed such a thing would be the Second Coming, and the destruction of all things in favor of the New Heaven and New Earth. Jesus immediately addresses that question, and leads them gently to the realization He refers to something they would live to see, which would be far, far from the end of Time. Luke records their question as having two parts: (1) When will it happen, and (2) what should they look for as signs to indicate it was near? Jesus begins by establishing what is not a sign of the End. Should He come back during their lifetimes, it won't be necessary for anyone to tell them. They'll know. Nor is a bunch of chaos and strife. That does not signal the End, but is merely the standard human condition.
Indeed, nations and kingdoms go to war all the time. Periodically, there are natural calamities: earthquakes, famines, and things commonly interpreted as signs in the heavens. Pay them no mind. You'll have a bigger issue on your hands when the authorities start arresting you for your faith in Christ. You can't predict that sort of thing easily, and rehearsing your legal defense will only get in the way of what really matters. Human laws simply don't matter in the Kingdom. What matters is the ability to hear the Spirit of God speak, giving you the message they need to hear. Give no thought to legal consequences, but focus all your attention on the message of the gospel.
Don't be surprised when the closest human bonds fail. Don't be surprised when governments decree your execution. We should always expect people to be offended at the other-worldly focus of those who follow Jesus. Jesus uses a phrase which sounds in English like a promise the disciples would not suffer physically, but He has just said they might die. Rather, the phrase means it's not as if God isn't watching, because He knows so intimately the details of your life, He keeps track of how many hairs are rooted in your scalp. Your scalp is not your concern, but your soul. Seize your souls back from the worldly fears, and commit yourself to a spiritual focus regardless of what happens to your flesh.
That's not the same as committing suicide. When the surviving disciples see the siege lines around Jerusalem, it's time to go. This particular city is not eternal. It's destruction is the signal to take that faith and message out into the wider world. When troops come marching into the area of Jerusalem, get away as quickly as possible. Nothing in this world is worth risking your life if you can escape. God has appointed days of wrath on those who reject Him, including the leadership of the Jews. Times will be incredibly tough, and it will probably be hardest on pregnant women and new mothers. The invading troops will not be kind. Anyone who survives the siege will become slaves of Rome. The city is doomed. It will never return to Jewish control under the Law of Moses. The Gentiles will own it until His Return.
Rightly did the disciples see such a disaster as a dark vision. However, the end of the Nation of Israel is not the end of the earth. That's a separate event. Indeed, the prophets had already spoken about it. The End would be the sort of thing which is more than just a slaughter of Jews or other nations. That sort of thing comes with war and destruction in the heavens, not just on the earth. It means all humanity will be in turmoil all at once, not just there in Jerusalem. That business of riding into the city on a donkey was merely symbolic. The End will see Jesus riding on the clouds, coming down to possess all the earth. The end of Jerusalem and Israel is bad news, but the Return of Christ in power is good news.
The End of the World would be too obvious to miss. You won't need signs for that. However, the end of Jerusalem was very near to the disciples that day, and they needed to pay attention to the signs Jesus described -- the siege by Roman troops. If they were smart enough to recognize the fig tree was the first to bud in that land when spring was coming, surely they could figure out when to abandon the city once and for all. Most of them would live to see it. Jesus was dead serious about this. They were to quit worrying about the End Times, and worry about carrying His Word until their lives ended by events beyond their control.
Jesus didn't tell them this to depress, but to impress. Folks who let worries of this life take over them are distracted. They spend a lot of time medicating their sorrow, or partying like there is no tomorrow. Let yourselves be eaten with worry over the end of the nation and you'll go down with it. There are already far too many humans who are so focussed on this world and what they can know and do by their human capacities. They are completely wedded to this life. Jesus told His disciples to stay in the Spirit. They needed to spend time in praying, seeking to shed their worldly orientation, to adopt the Heavenly frame of reference in anticipation of Heaven adopting them. Only those who break from the cares of this world will stand before Jesus in the Day of Judgment.
To demonstrate what He meant, Jesus stayed focussed on His message. For the next few days, He kept up a routine. At night, He and His disciples stayed somewhere on the Mount of Olives, probably at the invitation of some wealthy supporters. At dawn, they trooped down across the Kiddron Valley into the Temple grounds. People would gather around Jesus and spend the day listening to His teaching. By this, He showed His willingness to face the Jewish leaders on their own turf, but He was not foolish enough to sleep inside the city where they could kidnap Him and call it an arrest for some imaginary crime. When the time came, this is how it would happen, but not until He finished His other work.
Return to Luke Index
[<-- Previous]
[Next -->]
By Ed Hurst
25 October 2008
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)