Devotional Thoughts: 2nd Coming - sooner than we expect?

Its been too long since revisiting my blog journey through Matthew.

This morning am looking at Matthew 24:43-51.

The first metaphor (verse 43-44) Jesus uses is a homeowner who get burglarized. The point is simple: you don't know when a burglar is coming. If you did you would have the police waiting!

The second metaphor is a master who leaves his estate in the care of his servants (verse 45). The servant in charge could do a good job (verse 46) and he would be rewarded (verse 47). Likewise, the servant could decide to take advantage of the situation and oppress those under his care (verses 48-49) because he thinks, "My master won't be back for a while." The master shows up sooner than he expects and judgment falls on the evil servant (verses 50-51).

I suppose the passage could be about the fact we don't know when we will die and thus face judgment before God. The other possibility is that it refers to an "end times" moment when Jesus comes back and judges the living and the dead. Either way, the time is NOT knowable and it may occur sooner than we expect.

UPDATE: I had to take a closer look at my interpretation here about the passage refering to our death and then a subsequent judgement.

Sound interpretation needs to be based on what can be gleaned from the text and in the surrounding material (context). In this section, there are three other times Jesus speaks of "the coming of the Son of Man."

24:27 "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
24:37-39 "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

In each case the coming of the Son of Man is obvious: lightning is clearly visible; all the nations mourning and an appearance with power and great glory would suggest something highly dramatic and "the days of Noah" would be obvious once the flood occurs.

Therefore, I don't think my idea of the passage refering to our death is a viable explaination for the passage.

In terms of eschatology, the SAT word for the theology of the end times, these passages are hotly debated. In my journey of Christian faith, I've come across several perspectives on this part of Jesus teachings.

(1) One line of thought has these events as mostly future events relative to when Jesus said it. Some will say we are living in these times now. The hot selling "Left Behind" series is from this line of thought. I have to say I haven't read any of those books but from what I hear it sounds like it comes from this school of eschatological thought.

(2) Another line says some things have been fulfilled already (Jewish Temple destruction in 70AD) and that the passages describe how history unfolds as a conflict between good and evil. Thus, we have been living through them since Jesus time.

(3) A third line of thought suggests almost all if not all of the events described have already taken place.

My gut level reaction right now is toward the second school of thought about these passages. I'm open to more discussion of the differing views.

UPDATE: The first view has the weakness in that it would mean little to nothing to the hearers if most of the events are in the far future. Though I suppose holders of that view might counter that God's perception of time is different then our own.

As for the third view, I don't know how they interpret the phrase, "the coming of the Son of Man." Do they believe this is an event that has already happened? If so, what is the event it refers to?

These end-time passages generate a lot of heated arguments about "when" but there is no doubt about the "how then we should live" part of the equation.

Simply put, God, help me to try my best to do good all the time and be that faithful and sensible servant! Amen!!