The “coming” of the Son of Man: a reflection for Day 27 of Lent

 

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Luke 12.39-40)

     Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.  The number of people thronging around Jesus is increasing (Lk. 11.14, 29; 12.1), and so is the tension between Jesus and the obstinate members of “his generation”.  The tenor of Jesus’ teaching is often severe.  Many readers of his Gospel continue to interpret passages like this one as referring to Jesus’ second coming (Lk. 12.37-40).  Read this way, these passages become warnings to the (future) Church to be alert and prepared for the unexpected return of Christ.

     As Luke has told us, Jesus’ crucifixion will be the equivalent of the Exodus from Egypt (Lk. 9.31)[1], and – in a painful irony – the equivalent of the entry into the Promised Land forty years later will be…the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (cf. Lk. 17.22-37; 21.5-36).  As Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem is to be understood as the “return of Yahweh to Zion” in order to judge/save his people (cf. Lk. 3.4-6), so the destruction of the city within “one generation” (Lk. 21.32) is to be understood as the “coming of the Son of Man” to the Ancient of Days (cf. Daniel 7.13-14).  In Daniel 7, the “people of the saints of the Most High” are attacked by a series of four monsters (i.e. pagan empires).  Following this period of suffering, “one like a Son of Man” is exalted to heaven and “comes on the clouds” to the Ancient of Days in order to receive an everlasting kingdom, i.e. the kingdom of God, which is to displace all earthly kingdoms (which had been “monstrously” persecuting the people of God).

     So, when Jesus speaks of the “coming of the Son of Man on the clouds”, he is not referring to his return to earth at the end of time.  Rather, by evoking the vision of Daniel 7, Jesus is interpreting himself as the Son of Man who will be vindicated after his suffering at the hands of the “monsters”, i.e. the rulers of God’s people who will condemn him to death.  Sure enough, following his crucifixion, Jesus is raised from death, ascends “to the right hand of God”, his disciples embark on a campaign in Jerusalem of proclaiming both his resurrection and his innocence, all the while condemning Jesus’ prosecutors as “those who murdered the Prince of life” (cf. Ac. 3.14-15).  Finally, 40 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, Jerusalem fell to the Romans; Jesus had said that the events of AD 70 would be the final proof that the Son of Man (i.e. himself) had been vindicated and exalted “on the clouds of heaven” and had received the kingdom from the Ancient of Days (cf. Dn. 7.9-14).  The cross and the destruction of Jerusalem are inseparable – they are two sides of the same coin.  Through the cross of Jesus, Yahweh offers salvation to his people; a generation later, Yahweh judges his people who had refused to listen to his Son (the final messenger: Lk. 20.9-19).  Salvation and judgement – this is the consistent scriptural pattern of Yahweh’s action on behalf of his people. 

     If Luke did indeed write his Gospel before the disaster of the year 70, then these words (of Jesus) were a warning to heed the prophecies of Jesus contained in chapters 17 and 21. Jesus is journeying towards Jerusalem; Yahweh is returning to Zion to judge and to save.  Who is alert to what is happening (cf. Lk. 12.54-56)?  They will be ready to act appropriately when the time comes and be able to “stand before the Son of Man” (cf. Lk. 21.36).  Amen.


[1] During Jesus’ transfiguration, Moses and Elijah discuss the “departure” that Jesus will undergo at Jerusalem.  The Greek word translated “departure” is Exodos (=Exodus).

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