Waiting…watching…Luke21v34-38

‘So pray for yourselves,’ said Jesus, ‘that your hearts may not grow heavy with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life, so that that day comes upon you suddenly, like a trap.

It will come, you see, on everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Keep awake at all times, praying that you may escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the son of man.’

Jesus was teaching in the Temple by day, but at night he went out and stayed in the place called the Mount of Olives.

And from early morning all the people flocked to him in the temple, to hear him.

Waiting has got to be one of the most difficult things about being a Christian, but it is waiting that develops patience. It is waiting that allows the development of long-suffering and that is a fruit of the Spirit. It is time and our use of it that develop our character. It is to be a fruitful waiting, abiding. Time was a part of God’s original creation, it is a gift. But just like any of God’s good gifts, how we use it matters. Do we take what we are given and abuse it? Do we take what we’ve been given and do something with it to make a name for ourselves? Do we get so wrapped up in what we want from God, or what we want God to do, that we miss what God is doing and neglect to join Him in it, thus we again become like an arrow that has left its proper course?

We have this tendency, Jesus knows this, hence the warning. If we are honest with ourselves and our Family, we know this too. It’s not a big revelation that people are impatient and desire immediate gratification and that impatience is the cause of all sorts of trouble. Lack of patience is in effect a lack of trust in God. Waiting is a form of suffering that we get to share in. A cause for rejoicing.

So what should we do while we are waiting? Hasten the day says the Apostle Peter! Has Jesus not given us things to do? Has he not invested us with gifts? Hasn’t he commanded us to invest these things in Kingdom works that the Father has prepared for us in advance? Ought we not to get on with it? If you are looking for Jesus, you won’t find him in the excesses of this life, rather in the midst of the furnace (Daniel 3)! In the eyes and hearts of the suffering and the oppressed, yes, that is where he is to be found (Matthew 25v40).

‘I advise you to buy from Me, gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.’ says the Spirit to the assemblies.

Now, Jesus is still talking about things that ‘must soon take place’, so let’s look at what waiting looked like for this generation in Jerusalem…

It’s 58ad, Jesus’ disciples have been doing the Jesus thing for quite a while, they’re older, still praying, still hoping, still waiting. The world hasn’t stopped its pursuits of power and politics, its lusts of the ‘flesh’, they’ve seen a lot. Pilate is no longer calling the shots so everyone was hoping for something better, then along comes the huge crisis where Emperor Gaius sets out to place a giant statue of himself in midst of the Temple. A threat that was staved off and he died shortly after. Then Herod Agrippa came to power in 41ad, finally someone who is ‘one of us’ thought the Jews, but he died…struck down by God claimed some…apparently having learned from his Roman counterparts and took to thinking himself divine, similar to what some of his pagan masters had done. Then there was a whole string of Roman governors sent in, you can imagine the unrest and turmoil boiling under the surface. Then in 54ad Nero came to power and many heralded it to be the mark of a new age of peace, a fresh chance at the much publicized ‘peace and security’ that Rome offered. This disgusting man would come to be known by his own historians and certainly on the streets as ‘the beast’ and for good reason…

Of course in Jerusalem, revolutionary movements would rise up, and quickly…brutally get put down. Some thought the priests were secretly feeding into the revolts, some just wanted to get along with Rome, some hoped for the Messiah. Everything went on as it usually did…buying and selling, temple sacrifices, as a matter of fact the Temple rebuilding program started by Herod the Great 70 years earlier was just about complete.

In the middle of all this we have this small group of people in Jerusalem who still named Jesus as Lord, they met from house to house, breaking bread and worshiping God in Jesus' name. Paul had been through not too long ago, there was a riot, word on the street is that there’s a riot everywhere that guy goes. Anyway, he was off at Rome now for a trial, they were all a bit iffy on Paul as it was, Peter was traveling and hadn’t been seen round for a while and James was getting old…his prayers for the redemption of his people, not seeming to get answered. The price of bread was rising, when you got together to tell the stories of Jesus and his faithfulness, there was always the looming and very real fact that it had been 30 years…that’s a long time…make no mistake though, this world is reserved for fire and our Lord would soon be vindicated…so hold fast!