Be Prepared: Our Time Is Short

Now that November is here, time is short before the end of the year. Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Years’ will come and go in quick succession. Time does fly.

The smart ones among us have already started their Christmas shopping. Advent will appear suddenly, and then Christmas will come as a cresting wave. It brings joy, stress, remembrance of loss, and (I hope) a reminder of what is truly important in life.

The events leading up to Our Lord’s crucifixion also happened in a somewhat frenzied way.  It was, though, vastly different than the frenzied end of our calendar year.

Before entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Our Lord took the twelve apostles aside (Matthew 20:17-19) to warn them of His impending Passion. As He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, Jesus knew His time was short. He tried to make the most of it with the apostles, teaching them in parables, fulfilling prophecies, and giving new prophecies.

Chapters 21-25 in St. Matthew’s gospel are jammed with a flurry of activity.  Perhaps not surprisingly they have the most volume out of all three synoptic gospels (i.e. Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

Jesus has much to teach us and Christians have plumbed the depths of His teachings for two millennia. The two areas I focus on here are the identity of Jesus and the ‘taking away of the kingdom.’ Our Lord’s actions, parables, and lessons are just as applicable to us in our preparation to receive Him as they were in the first century.

Who He Is

We should not gloss over the fact that Jesus deliberately fulfilled the prophecy of the messiah’s entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps we focus on the crowd, the chants of Hosanna, and the waving of palms. Yet the actions of Jesus would have been obvious claims to kingship to a first century Jew – stopping on the Mount of Olives (prophesied in Zechariah 14:4) and riding on a previously unridden colt (prophesied in Zechariah 9:9).

In St. Matthew’s account, Jesus cleanses the Temple after entering the city (21:12-17). The Pharisees, already indignant at the shouts of ‘hosanna’, reproached Jesus for not correcting the crowds. “Do you hear what they are saying?” (21:16) Jesus responds to them by quoting scripture (Psalm 8:2-3). The following day, the chief priests and elders again confront Jesus, this time about His authority. Jesus then gives them a taste of their own medicine.  He asks them a question about John the Baptist they would not answer.

The modern ear would likely prefer a shorter prelude. “I am the long-awaited messiah and I will reign forever because I am God” might work.  Or even “I am the king, of David’s house, that will reign forever. I can do that because I am the divine Second Person of the Trinity.” This, too, sounds more direct.

In the eyes of a first century Jew, however, Jesus’ actions were direct. The chief priests’ objections could be restated: ‘tell your disciples now that you are not the messiah, even after doing all that!’

But Jesus did not backtrack or apologize.

The Lesson to Us: Adhering to the Identity of Jesus

The secular culture approaches us just as the Pharisees approached Jesus. The Pharisees and the surrounding Greco-Roman culture thought He was crazy. Fast forward two millennia.  Western, secular culture says the same thing. Whoever Jesus was, how can a teacher from that era be of any use now?

Being able to keep our Catholic faith intact in the modern era requires a number of things. First and foremost on the list is an answer to the question: who is Jesus? If He is no more than a teacher or guru, having a faith is pointless. He would have no more weight of authority than my high school religion teacher, a social media influencer, or a celebrity. But who conforms his or her life, morals, and priorities around (insert popular celebrity name here)?

On the flip side, if Jesus is truly the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and the Only Begotten Son of God, the question of authority takes on new meaning. If He used words and deeds to call us into His kingdom and proved His divinity in the Resurrection, we can follow Jesus with confidence.

The Coming of and Taking Away of the Kingdom

Jesus often instructed with parables. Earlier in St. Matthew’s gospel (chapter 13, for instance), Jesus used parables to teach about the kingdom of God. Sometimes He even explained the meaning.  But sometimes He left it up to the audience to interpret.

After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the Temple, the tone of the parables changes, however.  Jesus takes time to explain some of His parables – much to the chagrin of the chief priests and Pharisees.

The parables of the two sons working in the vineyard (21:28-32), the wicked tenants (21:33-44), and the marriage feast (22:1-14) each have some harsh words for those from whom the kingdom is taken away.

First, after the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells the chief priests and elders, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you” (21:31). Second, in the parable of the wicked tenants, Jesus bluntly tells the religious leaders that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (21:43). Finally, the conclusion of the parable of the marriage feast features a gritty end. To those that could not be bothered to attend the feast and those that killed the servants of the king, he “sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (22:7).

The Lesson to Us: Our Lampstand Can Be Taken Away   

Jesus deliberately included these teachings in His limited time in Jerusalem before His death. That should grab our attention! Nor did He stop with those parables. He continued to confront the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees in chapters 22 and 23. It came to a crescendo with the woes He pronounced on them in chapter 23. And after including the destruction of a city in the parable of the marriage feast, Jesus prophesies the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (23:37 – 24:28).

We should never be so quick to condemn the Pharisees without examining ourselves for the same sins. The failure of many of the Jewish people to embrace their messiah resulted in the destruction of the Temple – and no temple has been rebuilt on Mount Zion since that time! This pattern is not confined to Judaism, however.

The Middle East used to be thoroughly Christian, despite the heresy du jour. It continued that way for nearly a millennium. Now its overwhelmingly dominant religion is Islam.

In Europe and in North America, Christianity has also been predominant. In the present time, however, those who practice no religion at all are fast eclipsing the number of Christians.

Heed the prophetic words to the Church at Ephesus, as recorded in the Book of Revelation: “Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (2:5). It is very possible that we are witnessing the waning days of Christianity in Europe and North America.  Will our lampstand be taken away?

The High Note

In all His teachings, Jesus calls us to Himself because we have no life apart from Him. Yes, a faith based on a secular view of the “guru Jesus” is destined to wilt away in the sun. And yes, countries and cultures unfaithful to the gospel can expect to be called back to God by more drastic ways like tribulation.

But we should remember all the times He promised grace to us. When Jesus knew His time was brief before the crucifixion, He taught both sides. The warning and the message of love go hand in hand. Alongside the warning in the parable of the talents was the master’s praise of the two faithful servants (Matthew 25:14-30). The five wise virgins entered the wedding feast of the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13).

No matter what happens in the world outside, our time is short, and it is up to each of us to be prepared.