Passion Week: Wednesday

"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap....But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:34, 36

We now reach the point in Passion Week where Jesus takes some time to prophesy about the end times. Why does he do this? You might ask. Let's observe the story: Jesus knows that he is about to be betrayed and put to death on a cross. He also knows that he will then soon rise again and ascend into heaven. What a better time, then, to give his disciples (and us!) great advice on how to live our lives once he is gone? What better time to warn and encourage his people amidst the end times? And so he does. But what can we learn from Jesus' prophesy here? Let us find out.

In Luke 21:5-33, Jesus teaches on the destruction of the temple in Jerusalen and the end times. In short, many crazy things are going to happen in the end times, but the Son of Man (that is, an Old Testament name referring to Jesus) will come again. Although it will seem as if there is no hope because there will be great wars, earthquakes, famines, signs, persecutions, and many other awful things, there is hope because Jesus is coming back. However, what are we supposed to do with this? Jesus is prophesying about all of these horrible things that are going to happen in the world, but why does it matter to us? Our answer to that question is found in verses 34-36, quoted above. Jesus tells us these things in order that we might watch ourselves and stay awake.

These two practical commands of watching ourselves and staying awake are the two instructions Jesus gives us to follow from now until he comes again. But what do these commands mean? In short, I believe that both of these commands are commanding us to be careful to not fall into sin. Jesus' point here is that the going is going to get tough, and therefore the tough need to get going. That is, the world is only going to get more evil, and we as Christians must not cave into its corruption but rather hold on to the hope we have in Christ and not give way to tempation. We ought to watch ourselves lest we fall into the evil things that will be occuring in this world before Jesus comes again, and we must stay awake lest we be unalert and fall to evil temptation. We must persevere as we hold to our hope in Jesus, even in the end times when things get extremely difficult.

So how are you doing at watching yourself and staying awake? Are you doing a good job at keeping an eye on yourself, lest you fall into sin? Or have you fallen asleep and fell deep to the temptations of the devil? Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you! (Ephesians 5:14). Don't live in sin, live in righteousness. Jesus is coming again! Persevere, as you hold His second coming as your hope to keep going, even when life seems unbearably hard.