Luke 21:5-11

“They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’” vs. 7

Futurists can make a good living by writing books about coming calamities and the likelihood of their occurrence…and they don’t even have to be right! No one ever seems to do any fact-checking and in a decade or so they can just write another book. They’ve figured out that history is boring to most folks and what really sells are prophecies and apocalyptic visions. Some disciples had the notion that Jesus was a futurist and kept asking him when the end times were going to show up…to top it off they also requested a sign that those times were near. In 2016 Jesus doesn’t have to put up with questions like this anymore…but people are still asking. And they love it when imaginative religious writers give answers in their often best-selling books. Jesus told the questioners not to believe the stuff they were hearing about the future, that they should trust God and not be afraid…in spite of all the ugly things that would be happening. Today he would tell people to ignore the doomsayers and concentrate on living in the present without fear. Everything we need to know has already been revealed. There will be endings…we can count on that…but when the endings come, there’ll be new beginnings, and all will be okay!

Thought for the Day: What calamities await in our future?