11302022 – Matthew 24. 36-44
The situation was “MORE THAN DIRE.”
The whole “Jesus movement” was “very SMALL” and “FRAGILE.”
The followers of Jesus feared being “OUTED.” Being OUTED – many times meant being IMPRISONED or DEAD.
When the gospel of Matthew was written there may have been A FEW THOUSAND people who “IDENTIFIED” as followers of Jesus.
These few followers were SCATTERED throughout the near Middle East.
They talked about themselves as being followers of “the WAY.”
These followers of “the WAY” were beset on one side, by an OPPRESSIVE Roman Government, and on the other side, by an exceptionally large JEWISH MAJORITY that no longer wanted anything to do with any of them, whatsoever!
The ROMANS blamed the JEWS for the fall of the Temple and the Jews blamed the FOLLOWERS OF JESUS for its downfall.
PERSECUTIONS were frequent and ongoing, never-ending.
Everyone feared the KNOCK at the door.
Blame was everywhere. Finger-pointing went on daily. ARGUMENTS ensued frequently.
These would have been the earliest possible days of the rise of the ICHTHUS.
It was a “SECRET SYMBOL” that only some would recognize, whether scratched on walls, rocks, or in the sand. Ichthus was the Greek word for FISH.
Five Greek letters: Iota, Chi (Kai), Theta, Upsilon, Sigma…and no, it is not a Fraternity or a Sorority!
The Five Greek letters were used as an ACRONYM for Jesus, the Anointed (or Christ), God’s, Son, and our Savior.
The SIMPLE SYMBOL of the fish is made of two intersecting arcs, the ends extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish.
The symbol may have also been used by early followers of Jesus to mark doorposts, tombs, or even marking meeting places when it came into its HEYDAY in the middle to the late second century.
The vast majority of people continued to live in ABJECT POVERTY under the domination of Roman rule.
The Roman-Jewish war ensued from 66-70 of the Common Era and even beyond.
We remember the final holdout battle at MASADA in the year 73.
Jerusalem and its Temple lay in ruins. Blood ran in the streets. People quite naturally fled for the hillsides.
Everything seemed to be GRIM and DISMAL, TERRIBLE, and DREADFUL. These were APOCALYPTIC days and times.
The people knew all about “cataclysmic events,” they knew about GLOOM.
These were the DARK DAYS…the dark times…times of DREAD…to many, it felt like the end of the world.
The end of everything.
They had SURVIVED the worst of it, or so they had thought, not knowing what lay ahead.
The CONJECTURE was frequent. Would Jesus RETURN, as he said? Would he RETURN now? And, if not now, WHEN?
The devastating language of NOAH and the flood took on a NEW and FRESH meaning…
Now a decade after all these things had happened and occurred:
Life was better, or so people thought.
Life was returning to a new kind of normalcy. (It usually does.)
Of course, they were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage.
People tended to continue even after “THE GREAT DELUGE.” (Of course, they did.)
We are RESILIENT that way.
You DO what you have TO DO.
You had to EAT. You had to find SHELTER. You had to MAKE DO. Life had to go on. And yes, some even married.
Children were born. Signs of new life.
Signs of hope and signs of renewal.
Winters turned into spring…
They could relate to two being in the field, one was taken, and one was left. One had survived, the other had not.
Same with the women grinding their MEALS. One day there were two of them, and the next day there was one.
These were scary times.
Surely, the Son of Man would come back at an unexpected hour.
Was THIS the hour?
Was this THE TIME?
Surely, it was a day and a time for VIGILANCE. You never knew what was going to happen or what was going to occur from moment to moment.
You had to BE READY for anything and everything.
The Jewish/Roman War should have been a wake-up call. But it was NOT.
We easily slide back into the OLD, the KNOWN, the COMFORTABLE, and the ACCEPTABLE.
We become LAX.
The tendency is to MOVE ON with your life as quickly as you can.
There usually are signs that tell us to be ALERT, to look out, to WATCH our backs, and to be CAREFUL.
But we LONG for “the old days,” we long for SECURITY. We long for the way things WERE…
As Matthew finished his gospel, people were already FALLING INTO COMPLACENCY.
The “JESUS STORY” needed to be TOLD and RETOLD. No matter what happens in this life, JESUS SAID, he is with you ALWAYS, even to the end of the age.
But as for you, be READY, like a thief in the night, he will come UPON YOU.
AMEN.