I would not have believed it if I had not seen this with my own eyes.
It was just a couple of days ago that I said we disciples should go with him to Jerusalem, even if that meant we would die here with him. But the tables seem to have turned. He was warmly greeted, and has done miracles that were seen and welcomed by all the people… well, most anyway.
We had them right where we wanted them!
“By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” the teachers of the law asked him.
In the three years that I have followed him, I have seen so much. And often some of them were there too. How often has he been teaching in the temple courts while they listen? He teaches with an authority that they do not have, so it is no surprise that they ponder the source of his authority. Yet how could they not know the answer? They know he has healed a great number of people, cast out demons, even raised the dead. He has walked on water and calmed the stormy sea with his words. Crowds have intended to kill him, yet he just walks away. By what authority?! Could it be any more obvious?
Earlier this week, while he ascended the road into Jerusalem, they heard the people as they shouted:
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
By what authority?
With just a few quick miracles he could have established his kingdom! Even the High Priest could not oppose him then!
But No! He let the opportunity slip through his fingers! Instead he said:
“I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
I was on the periphery of the crowd at that moment, so while they thought he could not hear them, I heard every word of their discussion:
“If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered, like their own new students:
“We don’t know.”
They showed weakness! It was time to pounce! But no. Instead the Teacher said:
“Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard’. ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
They were starting to recover their bravado now, and answered:
“The first.”
Without acknowledging their answer, the teacher then said:
“Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.
“When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
It did not take the chief priest and the elders very long to answer that question!
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied,“and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Then the Teacher said to them,
“Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone, the Lord has done this,and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Their reaction to his words made it obvious that they knew he was talking about them. They grew agitated. For a moment it appeared that they wanted to attack him, but then they looked around at the crowd that had gathered to hear him teach. In an instant their eyes showed fear, then they slipped quietly away. Clearly they were not yet finished. I am sure that this is not the last time we will see them. They will be back, but stronger, and at a time of their choosing.
For those that stayed, the teacher went on:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
He went on to outline a list of woes for teachers of the law and Pharisees. He even called them ‘snakes’ and a ‘brood of vipers’. Cleary those words were not meant to console them. Those were words of alarm! But then he said:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
So which is it?! Judgement or loving mercy?
Hey, wait a minute! That is exactly what the people shouted as the Teacher entered Jerusalem earlier this week. ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!But the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law did not participate in their cheers. Is the Teacher saying that a day is coming when they will say the same thing?
When we left the temple, no one opposed us. Then he stopped at the temple wall:
“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
I wondered what he meant, but it would not do to ask and reveal any weakness. When the time is right, he will explain, if he chooses to.
It was good to leave the city, and return to the peace back here on the Mount of Olives, one of our favorite places. The Teacher just sat down. Perhaps this is that time when he will explain what he meant. His chosen disciples, those of us who are faithful, gather around him now.
“Tell us,” we ask, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
There was a pause as he looked us in the eye, and then he said:
“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
What do I know of birth pains! Yet the rest is exceedingly woeful. How could people not be alarmed at such reports? How does this relate to the ‘peace’ we are to proclaim?
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
That description does not sound all that different from today, but there are still some that care for each other, whose hearts have not grown cold. Still, this is not the future that I hoped to hear about.
“So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.”
Shortened is nice, but I would rather miss those days all together. Why is he talking about such things? Where will he be during this time? Will I be with him, or somewhere else?
“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”
Carcass! What does that mean?
“Immediately after the distress of those days:
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Why would they mourn? And why will the elect be in the heavens?
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
What generation is this? My generation, or a future generation?
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Taken where? And why?
“Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
“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? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 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. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
That was not quite the encouragement that I was looking for. But since I will stay with the Teacher, no matter what, he will be able to tell me what I need to know at the right time. I can’t imagine how all of this will come about. But after all, I won’t be going through this alone. The Teacher will be keeping watch. And if he ever needed to take a journey for any reason, then I would be vigilant! And as soon as word came that he had returned, I would rally immediately to his side. These are exciting days indeed! Who knows what will happen next?
(c) 2018 Chuck Curtiss
To read other similar stories in this series see The Witness List.
Based on Matthew 22:23 – Matthew 24:51
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.zondervan.com.
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Percipient Witnesses 