Luke 21:5-19

Apocalypse! The End Times! The Day of the Lord!

These words can bring a chill to the spine. They have been used through the centuries, right down to our present day, to make claims and predictions about the end of the world. And, as I hope we will see, it is more correct to say that they have been misused to generate fear and confusion through false prophesies.

Read Luke 21:5-19.

Biblical scholars describe Luke 21 as “The Little Apocalypse” sermon by Jesus, as he borrows apocalyptic themes from the Hebrew prophets to speak about two things: the world’s impermanence and God’s abiding presence and power. See if you can locate these two themes in Luke 21:5-19.

As is well-known, Jesus was predicting the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE. However, Luke wrote this Gospel about 15 years after that event, sometime near 85 CE. How might Luke’s readers respond to Jesus’ foretelling, having known about (and perhaps experienced) the actual event?

Reflect on apocalyptic events in our day — the terrorist attack on 9/11/01; the Coronavirus pandemic; the George Floyd murder; the January 6, 2020, capitol insurrection. How have these affected you? Does the world seem scarier? Now — how have these events NOT ended the world? Where have you seen the hand of God in the midst of them, or following?