MATTHEW

DISCOURSE 5
THE APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE:
Messianic Hope Placed in the Messiah, not Jerusalem
Matt 23:1-26:1

In this final discourse we will explore four components of the Discourse:

1.	Jesus' Condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees
2.	The Destruction of Jerusalem Predicted by Jesus
3.	Comments Regarding the End of the Age, or the End of the World.
4.	Warnings to Be Prepared for the Final End.

For the sake of convenience, and with some structural interests in mind, we will consider the above four components in two lessons.

1.	Jesus' Judgment on the Scribes and Pharisees, and on Jerusalem
2.	Jesus' Judgment on Jerusalem and the Temple
3.	The End of the Age (World)
	Click on each of the above to go to that lesson

THE END OF THE AGE (Matt 24:36-25:46)

We saw in the last three pericopes (Matt 24:4-35) that Jesus warned his disciples not to confuse the signs for the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple with "signs" of his eschatological parousia. there would be no signs of his eschatological parousia.

We now take up the development of Jesus' answer and note several salient warnings in this regard.

In regard to the eschatological parousia, Jesus will discuss:

The need for watchfulness (Matt 24:36-44)

Faithful and unfaithful servants (Matt 24:45-51)

The parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13)

The parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30)

The parable of the sheep and goats (Matt 25:31-46)

The Need For Watchfulness (Matt 24:36-44)
The syntax (manner in which the words fit together) of the first clause of this pericope is key to understanding the contrast or shift that takes place between this pericope and the previous pericope. Hagner picks up on this in comment on context, but does not argue from the syntax of the clause, and by nor doing so misses what is perhaps the key transitional shift of the whole discussion! Notice Hagner's pertinent comment:

In very strong contrast to the emphasis in v 33 concerning what can be known - namely, the experienced signs of the interim up to the point of nearness of the parousia of the Son of Man - the present verse clearly indicates the impossibility of knowing the time of the Son of Man's coming and the end of the age in advance of their actual occurrence (cf. the question of v 3 concerning pote, "when," these events occur). This stress on our ignorance of the actual time of the parousia continues through the next several paragraphs... italics, Hagner, yellow highlight, IAF)

In other words, Jesus shifts from the signs of that can be experienced (the desolating sacrilege and destruction of Jerusalem) to events for which there are no, and can be no signs, namely, the parousia.

However, based on the syntax of the first clause of the pericope, the case for this is strong. Peri; de; th`" hJmevra" ejkeivnh" (peri de tes emeras ekeinos - but concerning that day) is an interesting construction. Translated literally it reads "concerning but the day that...." The "but" we call a postpositive negative particle which means that it never stands first in a clause or sentence, and that basically it is negative or contrary indicating contrast with what precedes it. Arndt and Gingrich A Greek-English Lexicon describe it in this manner:

de... "one of the most commonly used Greek particles, used to connect one clause w. another when it is felt that there is some contrast (italics, IAF) betw. them, though the contrast is oft. scarcely discernible. Most common translations: but, when a contrast (italics, IAF) is clearly implied..."

There is till another syntactical matter of importance to the interpretation of this pericope and that relates to the pronoun that in the expression "but of that day".
There are two pronouns of similar nature in both Greek and English, "this" and "that".
In Greek the pronouns are, outos - houtos - this, and ekeinos - ekeinos - that. Houtos refers to whatever is nearest, ekeinos to that which is further way, or remote in time or space.
In the clause introduced by de - but (adversative particle of contrast) we find the pronoun ekeinos, that day, not this day, indicating that the day in question is not the same day or time having just been discussed, namely the destruction of Jerusalem.
Hagner is correct in pointing out that that day is not the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, but the day of "the climactic return of the Son of Man."

In summary, then, the Peri de - peri de clause of Matt 24:26 introduces discussion on a day different from the destruction of Jerusalem, namely, the day of the eschatological parousia.

What is surprising about v 36 is the fact that it introduces the thought that not even the angels of heaven or the omniscient Son of Man knows when that day will be! the point in this fascinating and remarkable statement is that the decision as to when this day, the eschatological parousia, will be lies not in the will of the Son of Man, but solely in the mind, plan, heilsgeschichte, and will of the Father. (Hagner points to LXX Zech 14:7 as background to this kind of thought, "there will be one day, and that day is known to the Lord" and 2 Apoc. Bar. 21:8.) Jesus, on a later occasion makes a similar statement (Acts 1:7) "He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority."
Hagner appropriately adds "The time of the coming of the son of man is in the keeping of 'the Father alone'..."
Since this is the case, it would be folly for the disciples and anyone else in Jesus' day to attempt to predict the time of the eschatological coming of the Son of Man. Likewise, today, it is the height of both folly and arrogance to predict the time or date of the second coming of Jesus or the end of the world!

Futurists, Premillennialists, and Dispensationalists should pay attention to what Jesus so clearly admonishes in Matt 24:

1.	There are signs for the destruction of Jerusalem.
2.	There are no signs for the eschatological second coming and end of the world
3.	Only the Father knows when this will be, not the angels of heaven nor the Son of Man!
4.	To predict the second coming from signs is to be led astray!

Matt 24:38-41, in which Jesus introduces Noah, two men in the fields, and two women at the grinding mill, are illustrations Jesus uses to make the point that the eschatological coming of the Son of man will be suddenly, without warning.

Matt 24:42 gets to the heart of Jesus' teaching about the unexpected coming of the Son of Man. The disciples are to be ready, watchful, alert, for they do not know on what day their Lord will come. As the thief does not announce in advance his coming, so the Son of Man will not announce his coming in advance! Therefore (an important rhetorical call) the disciples must be ready!

Faithful and unfaithful servants (Matt 24:45-51)
Jesus resorts to a parabolic like teaching to drive his point home.
"Who is the faithful and wise servant?"
The faithful and wise servant is the one who, when his master comes home, is busy doing what he is supposed to be doing!
The master will punish those servants who are not busy doing their master's work!
The point Jesus makes is highlighted by the warning, the unfaithful and foolish servants are hypocrites who will be punished. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! This is a clear warning that eternal punishment awaits those disciples who are not waiting expectantly, and who are not ready!

A statement by Paul concerning the Thessalonians is apropos here:

For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Serving God involves waiting expectantly for the return of the Son of Man!

How does one wait appropriately for the return of the Son of Man?
In the following three parables, all part of Jesus final apocalyptic discourse, Jesus explains how one alertly waits his eschatological return.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13)
The RSV translates the word virgin as maiden. This is appropriate, for in the day of Jesus maidens were supposed to be virgins. The Greek word parqenos - parthenos can be translated either virgin, maiden, or young woman. In the context of Jesus parable the emphasis is that these were young unmarried women who would be similar to today's bridesmaids. Bridesmaids are supposed to be unmarried! If they are married they are called "maids of honor." Bridesmaids were and are supposed to be virgins (that is, before postmodernity introduced post Christian ethics and morality into a so-called postmodern society!)

Of the ten maidens, five were prepared and five were not! The unprepared were excluded from the marriage feast. The connection of the marriage feast with the eschatological banquet anticipated by Judaism and Christianity are obvious!
Disciples that are not prepared will be excluded from the eschatological banquet!

The question is, how should one be prepared?
Jesus will answer this in the next two parables.

Before we move on to the discussion of preparedness we comment briefly on the wise maidens who would not lend oil to the foolish maidens. That raises some ethical questions!
Why not help those in desperate need?
There are some things that one cannot borrow!

Personal faith cannot be borrowed!

Repentance cannot be borrowed!

Contrary to Mormon faith, baptism cannot be borrowed!

Personal holiness cannot be borrowed!
(We question the Calvinistic concept of imputed righteousness!
In Paul; righteousness is a gracious gift from a righteous God who grants righteousness on the basis of personal faith!)

Personal service cannot be borrowed!

Personal preparedness cannot be borrowed!

The Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30)
In this parable the talent is an amount of money (originally a talent was a measure of weight, but when applied to silver coinage it became an amount of money. One talent was equal to 6,000 denarii or 6000 days wages! Thus one talent was a considerable amount of money).

In the parable a master about to leave on a journey entrusts (a matter of trust) to three servants each an amount of money, to one 5 talents of silver, to another 2 talents of silver, to another 1 talent of silver (even 1 talent of silver was a considerable amount of money). the first two servants traded and doubled their talents of silver. The third one, for fear of his master, buried his talent of silver and returned it to his master when he returned from his journey. The master refers to him as a wicked and slothful servant, and casts the wicked and slothful servant into outer darkness (again we see indications of the eschatological judgment evident in this parable). The other two servants are rewarded for their diligence!

The point of the parable is that disciples must use the giftedness that they have, whatever that giftedness (faith) may be. Disciples do not all have the same giftedness, but all disciples must use what they have in service of the master.

Jesus illustrates this by reference to the proverbial saying that to those who have will be given more (because they use what they have), and to those who have not (or have little) and who do not use it, what they have will be taken away!

The point of this parable is that disciples must be involved in the work of the master, using whatever giftedness they have. No two disciples are alike, and Jesus does not expect the same from everyone. What he does expect is that disciples use what they have.

Being prepared results in being involved!

Is it possible that the Scribes and Pharisees, who were so busy with "religion'" had not prepared themselves properly for the works of the Messiah, and were relying on the faith of Abraham and Moses rather than developing true faith for themselves?

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matt 25:31-46)
In this parable the warnings of Jesus regarding watching, being alert, and ready reach a climax, perhaps a disturbing climax!
The reference to the eschatological judgment is obvious and clear!

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels are with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them from one another..."

Here the King is obviously the Son of Man who has come in judgment.
Note Acts 17:30, 31:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead."

Note also Rev 2:26, 27 and 3:21:

2:26, 27 He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, ²⁷and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father...
3:21 He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne....

The allusions to the final judgment in which Jesus judges the world are strong in the New Testament.

The sheep, those on his right hand, are blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world (note the heilsgeschichtlichen implications). The goats, on the other hand (no pun intended, but it sounds good! IAF) are cursed and cast into eternal fire.

But what were the criteria in this radical judgment? What had the one group done that the other group had not?

The Goats were so busy with their religion and hypocritical worship of God that they did not take time for the poor and helpless.

The Sheep recognized that true worship of God involved taking care of the poor and helpless!

Note these significant Scriptures from both the Old and new Testaments:

Micah 6:6-8	^{"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" ⁸He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?}
Ps 51:17	The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken spirit and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
James 1:27	Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

The service and worship desired by God, and necessary preparation for the eschatological coming of the Son of Man is:

A broken spirit and contrite heart

Loving kindness and humility

Taking care of the poor and needy

It is obvious that these qualities were absent or lacking in the Scribes and Pharisees who were so busy with "religion" that they missed what their charge really was, to be shepherds to the lost and disenfranchised. This was the work of the Messiah that they did not understand, and for this they were judged and condemned by Jesus.

SUMMARY OF "WATCHING"
Rather than predicting the day of the coming of the Messiah the disciples must be busy doing the work of the Messiah.
Disciples must be prepared for the coming of the Messiah by living alertly and watchfully, involved with the more important aspects of their faith such as serving the lost, poor, and needy.

SUMMARY OF THE APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE

The Apocalyptic Discourse, the Fifth and final Discourse in Matthew's structure of the Gospel, comes at a time when Jesus entered Jerusalem and faced the rejection, first of the Jewish leaders, then of the crowds.

At the root of the rejection was the nature of Jesus' Messiahship.
He was not the kind of Messiah the crowds were looking for, namely, a political Messiah.

Furthermore, his interpretation of the Torah challenged that of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Frustrated with the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus soundly and severely condemned them (Matt 23).

His condemnation of Jerusalem and the Temple (personified) led to the disciples concern and sense of insecurity (Matt 24).

Jesus warned the disciples to be prepared for the destruction of Jerusalem, but not to confuse this with the eschatological parousia of the Messiah, or Son of Man. (Matt 24).

Before the final end, the eschatological parousia, the Gospel had to be preached throughout the world (Matt 24).

However, the eschatological coming of the Son of Man was certain to take place, but without warning signs.

No one other than the Father knows when the Son of man will return.

The Son of Man will come suddenly without warning, therefore, the disciples must be watchful, alert, and ready.

Being alert and ready necessitates being prepared for the coming of the Son of Man, being involved in messianic ministry, and being concerned for the lost.

The real issue for the disciples was that their Messianic hope should not be fixed in the Temple and Jerusalem, nor in the Scribes and Pharisees example of no faith in Jesus, but in the Messiah himself, in faith in what God was doing through and in the Messiah.

The point for disciples today is that Christian hope must not be in human effort, in the church, in persons, but in Jesus himself and what God is doing through Jesus.

Christian hope is not fixed in our ability to get doctrine all sorted out and correct, for that we will never do. This does not mean that we should not make every effort to understand scripture correctly and follow sound doctrine. It simply means that our Christian hope is fixed in our faith in Jesus and what God is doing through Jesus.

The Formulae: Matt 26:1
Again, as is the case with each block of discourse material in Matthew, we find the formulae that brings finality to the discourse. In this case, the final discourse, Matthew adds a sense of finality to the formula.

We read: "When Jesus had finishes all these teachings..." indicating the completion to the discourse material, not only of this discourse, but of all the discourses of the Gospel.

The Fifth and final Discourse completes Jesus' instruction on the nature of discipleship. Discipleship is focused on Jesus, the Messiah, not the Scribes and Pharisees, not the Temple, but on Jesus.

This would be particularly significant to Matthew's community who had just recently experienced the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and who were now struggling to understand the true nature of discipleship apart from the Temple.

Matthew now moves on to the final days of Jesus' life, but also into the climax of the Gospel, the passion or death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.