Matthew 24: An amateur's foray into eschatology

Colombian Orchid - courtesy Agnes Epp

Rev. J.C. had charts on paper beside the pulpit. So many years from creation to the flood, so many years from the flood to Moses, so many years from . . . and so on. As a kid, it was just scary; we were nearing the end of time—the last event on the chart—when the saved would be caught up and I, probably, would be left behind with my impure thoughts!

I learned later that this was only one interpretation of how the end times would unfold—dispensationalism—and that the whole subject of interpreting scriptures as regards the end of things is called eschatology.

The disciples, of course, were eschatologists of a sort; they'd have to have been, given their raising in the synagogue, their knowledge of the prophets and the existence of the Book of Daniel. In Matthew 24, Jesus appears to be placing himself in the centre of the apocalyptic expectations already existing. It was an age of occupation, extreme violence and bloodshed, rebellions begun and brutally suppressed, Roman soldiers patrolling the streets and the temple square: things had to come to some kind of conclusion sometime, that it would not be pretty was a logical assumption.

Matthew 24 has it all: the signs of the end (earthquakes, wars, rumours of wars); the warning to be ready (the buds on the fig tree); the violence and desecration (the flight of the righteous into the Judean hills); the judgement (one will be left and one taken); the final victory (the angels' trumpet and Christ coming down from the clouds to gather the elect to himself).

When it comes to predictions of the future, count me among the skeptics. Through the centuries, Christians have lived in expectation of an apocalyptic end, including the followers of one Claas Epp, who led a band of Mennonites Eastward from Southern Ukraine toward where the rapture would take place imminently. It was a disaster.

I am never tempted to claim this Epp as even a distant relative.

Did the disciples expect all this to happen within their lifetimes? Did Matthew expect to see it when he wrote these words some decades later? Do Christians today live as though an apocalypse is imminent? 

Seems to me that Matthew's version of these end-times discussions makes it clear that this is more about being ready than about being raptured. For each of us mortals, an end-time must be assumed. We don't know when that will be—generally—we expect there to be suffering—generally—how we lived our lives will be judged (call it a eulogy or obituary when its written down) and so the wise among us live their lives with that knowledge in mind. The foolish live as if there were no “apocalypse” to be faced.

So is Matthew 24 really a metaphor for the progress of the individual human life? Does it help us to accept and include the fact of our mortality in our thoughts and actions? Is that what it was meant to do? And for those who experience real fear and suffering—Christians in Iraq and Syria, for instance—does it help them to survive spiritually when physical survival seems improbable?

I also am an Epp, but not likely to lead a band of any kind, anywhere. I know enough about astronomy to believe that the sun will cease to shine, the moon will withhold its light (best estimates of that time measure in millions of years) but that knowledge doesn't figure in any of my decisions.

But the urging to watch the fig tree for signs of the spring, then the summer, then autumn and winter, are not entirely lost on me either. “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.”

And closely related to sign-watching is preparedness . . . throughout the chapter this theme predominates: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” “ . . . but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

When I read these passages, I read them in the context of my life, not with the conviction that they were written about you or someone else or some future time or as a warning to the entire world. Indeed, it's allegorical nature must have become clear to anyone reading with insight where Jesus is quoted by Matthew as saying: “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Every person who has lived/will live must needs accept in his own way the eschatology of Matthew 24, including every person in Jesus' presence when he said these words.

And to quote Hamlet: “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.” (Hamlet, V, ii, 234-237)

Rev. J.C.'s charts don't scare me anymore.