Matthew 24-25 is one of the most difficult sections of Matthew to interpret, as Jesus uses a great deal of imagery and apocalyptic language to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and “the end of the age”. What I’m going to do is lay out a few simple boundaries for interpretation that will help us make sense of this section.
Boundary 1:
The whole discussion begins with Jesus’ prophecy that Jerusalem will be destroyed. It is critical to recognize that this is not “the end of the world”, but a historical event that Jesus is saying will happen in the lifetime of his disciples. The MOST important piece of this discussion for the disciples is Jerusalem’s fate.
Boundary 2:
The disciples ask Jesus two questions in 24:3: “when will this be?” (when will Jerusalem fall?), and “what will be the sign of the end of the age?” (when is this final judgment?).
Based on those two boundaries, the key to interpreting the passage is in deciding when Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and when he is talking about the “end of the age”.
Boundary 3:
In 24:34 Jesus claims that “this generation will not pass away until all these things (everything preceding in the scripture) have taken place”. Therefore, he cannot have been talking about the final judgment up through this point, unless we think Jesus was wrong (which is certainly possible, but might make us uncomfortable). All of this section then must be dealing with the disciples first question regarding the fall of Jerusalem.
Boundary 4:
Based on that assessment, it is only in 24:36 when Jesus changes his focus and deals with the question about the end of the age. This is signaled by his words, “But about that day and hour”. This interpretation is further strengthened by Jesus saying that he has no clue when it will happen, as opposed to his relative certainty about the fall of Jerusalem.
Boundary 5:
All of the following parables and stories from 24:36-25:46 then deal with the final judgment at the end of the age.
No comments:
Post a Comment