The Jerusalem temple took years to build. By the time Luke’s gospel was written it had been destroyed. This did not bring the end times, which many were expecting. Some had stopped working and were just waiting! Maybe that’s why Paul advises: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” The much-awaited day had not come.
Life goes on. Sometimes, perhaps, we’d rather it didn’t. Overwhelmed by wars and disasters, misery and suffering, we may long, like the prophet Malachi, for that day when “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its rays.”
Some have always seen wars and disasters as signs of the end, but as the centuries have passed, perhaps our sense of urgency has lessened. Do we still believe that “the Lord is coming,” as we sing in today’s psalm?
The readings at this time in the church year ask us to focus on the Lord’s return. They call us to be on fire against injustice and to thirst for peace, to long for the future that the Lord will bring. We don’t know when that day will come. We have been told to work, not to sit and wait. We do so knowing that the Lord comes even now into lives. Strengthened by his presence, we long for and work for righteousness and healing.
We see with the eyes of hope that the Lord is, indeed, coming…