LENT: Apr 15 - Matthew 24:38

In those days before the Flood,

the people were enjoying

banquets and parties and weddings

right up to the time Noah

entered his boat.

Matthew 24:38

 

This is a season of transition for all three of our boys. And since my church and devotional family is family, let me update you on the Thomas family news.

 

·         After finishing graduate school in Connecticut, Paul and his wife, Meredith, are moving to Charleston, SC in June! Paul is becoming the organist at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul (Anglican).

 

·         Graduating in May, Jay will be commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. After two months of training in Norfolk, he’ll be assigned to the cruiser U.S.S. Vicksburg out of Mayport, FL (Jacksonville).

 

·         And Robbie … Robbie just chose his college: N.C. State. (Made his old Wolfpack mother and father proud!) And the whole church is invited to his homeschool graduation. It’ll be a service of worship at church on Friday, May 9, 7pm!!!

 

Wow! By the end of May, we’ll be just like the people “right up to the time of Noah” … enjoying banquets and parties and [graduations].”

 

But … wow! Those ought to be scary words, rather than celebratory words.

 

We know of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) and we know a few key events before the next Sunday (the Last Supper and Good Friday came between Palm Sunday and Easter) … BUT do you know what Jesus spent most of that holy week doing? Jesus spent his final week, according to scripture, doing four main things.

 

1.    A little healing.

 

2.    A lot of prayer.

 

3.    There were significant warnings to the Jews that many of them were about to reject their own Messiah. And therefore, what they thought of as their “inheritance” would be spread wider – now on the basis of faith rather than ethnicity. (Though some Jews would believe – they weren’t rejected – Jesus was saying that the Kingdom would now spread on the basis of faith … and among the Gentiles. See for example, “The Lesson of the Fig Tree” and “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants” as an example – Mt 24:32ff, 21:33ff).

 

4.    But perhaps the most significant thing Jesus did during that final week was point to his Second Coming. (Some of the headings in Matthew include, “The Coming of the Son of Man,” “The Necessity for Watchfulness,” “The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids” – see Matthew chapters 21-26.)

 

Therefore …

·         because it’s Holy Week (the week in which all of these prophetic sayings about Jesus took place) …

·         and because today is the occurrence of the first of “four blood moons” (Wait, don’t get too excited. Even if something truly major were to happen, it’s more likely to happen by the fourth moon, not the first. Therefore, don’t expect the world to end this afternoon … unless you’ve waited too long to do your taxes!) …

·         therefore, in the midst of this prophetically charged season, I want to point you back to our scripture for today.

 

Are you more focused on heaven and scripture and God’s daily kingdom … or on banquets and parties and graduations … on jobs and finances and hobbies … on baseball and school and senior proms … on shopping and errands and yard work? We don’t know when Jesus will come. (It could be today.) And we don’t know what day we’ll die. (It could be today.) Are you ready? Are you focusing on heaven and scripture and God’s daily kingdom daily?

 

In Christ’s Love,

even in a busy season,

a guy who wants to focus