Matthew 24:9-13: “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
“And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Following the amazement of the disciples as they gaze at the temple and Jesus’ description of world chaos that will even cause the fall of that temple; stuff like wars, famine, natural disasters and the many other things humanity has experienced over the millennia, Jesus says that the faithful will fall away, betray each other, hate each other.
False prophets will arise and because of lawlessness the love that once bound the church will grow cold.
Lawlessness, the one law/command that Jesus gave, to love God and neighbour (including our sisters and brothers in the Christian faith) the faithful will abandon and that will cause us to fall away, betray and hate. What does that look like? What do we watch for? I believe the rest of chapter 24 and 25 help us understand.
Jesus came, ushering in the kingdom of heaven and making it visible to all people with eyes to see. The Word impacted the world bringing healing, restoration and salvation. We can call it the impact of the love of God in Christ Jesus.
If the faithful allow the chaos of the world to come in and impact the gospel it will bring division, a falling away, betrayal and hatred. Maybe we are getting a glimpse of this in our own day. Maybe… the thing that will allow us to endure to the end as the body of Christ is the same thing that made us the body of Christ in the first place – the love of God in Christ Jesus.
This love, this word, still has the power to impact our world, to bring healing, restoration and salvation. If it remains at the centre of who we are as Christians and how we approach our life situations, it will bring us to the end. I ask you to consider the possibility that the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12 offer an image of what that might look like.
May the love of God in Christ Jesus be your grounding, your guide, your endurance and the glue that holds us together.
