Stand Before The Son Of Man (Luke 21:36)

 


Saturday, April 12, 2025


Psalms 99; 100

Exodus 10:21-11:10

Luke 21:29-22:6


Stand Before The Son Of Man (Luke 21:36)


Today is the last day before the last week of Lent. We have travelled with Jesus through the writings of St Luke, and learned a lot about what we ought to do and where we ought to direct our thoughts. Tomorrow is Passion Sunday, when we must pass through the tragedy of the cross in order to reach the joy of the resurrection. So let us prepare our hearts in quiet reverence, and hear Jesus’ final public words, before he draws into the privacy of the upper room with the Twelve.


Jesus speaks into the tension between the “now and not yet”. He talks of the second coming, of the great and terrible Day of the Lord which filled the minds of the Old Testament prophets. Yet he is also preparing us for what is to come at the end of his first coming. That is to say, the same attitude is appropriate for both situations.


All the things we see in the world around us is nothing less than the leaves on the fig tree; it all points to the fact that the kingdom of God has come near. God is shaking things up, so that what is permanent will remain (Haggai 2:6; Hebrews 12:27).


Just as when Jesus taught us that, when suffering for his sake, we ought not to plan our defence ahead of time but instead prepare ourselves in prayer so as to let the Holy Spirit speak through us, he says to spend our time before his second coming in the same way.


Our forefathers in the Church have blessed us by handing down this annual tradition of Lent, of re-aligning our souls to Jesus in order to increase our joy every year at Easter. Next week is Holy Week, the final week of Lent, and it culminates in the Great Triduum, the “Three Days” leading up to Easter Day. Jesus prepared his disciples by commending to them a spirit of ready preparedness. So let us too “be grateful for a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).


Where did Jesus take you this Lent? Where will he take you this Easter?


God, our God, a consuming fire who is drawing all things to Christ: bless us your Church, that our hearts may be ready for his coming, and offer you acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

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