Luke Chapter 21

vs 31

I can't tell if it's summer or winter without a calendar, and even then I have to count the months! But hopefully I am more spiritually aware than seasonally aware, and I will see the kingdom of God coming. That's what the signs are for, after all.

vs 32

Ok, now this is a hard verse. Because obviously there was more than one generation since Jesus said those words. 60-80 generations, you might say depending on how you calculate it. And yet the Son of Man has yet to return with power and great glory. The thing is, though, that the term 'generation' was used fairly loosely in the old days. It didn't simply mean one father to the next son. You look at the genealogies of Jesus - both are missing people that we know about from the OT. What about the OT genealogies? They're missing people too. They are usually put into a numbering system for some meaning.

So I guess it's possible that Jesus mean the generation of Christianity? That there would still be Christians around before this great thing happens? I mean, the movement was pretty small at this stage, remember. A few hundred, perhaps. Even after Pentecost, with a few thousand, that's not really a world-rocking religion. You could be forgiven for thinking it would die out in a couple of hundred years. But it's still here. That in itself is a miracle. But it doesn't help that Jesus said that "this generation" won't pass away. The plain reading is just ot obviously wrong, but any other reading is going to be somewhat of an assumption.

vs 33

Now that one is a much more comforting verse. Both heaven and earth will pass away - and a new heaven and a new earth will be made. But the words of Jesus will always remain - they will cross the gap between the old and new. They are eternal - starting 2000 years ago, still now, and forever more.

vs 34

Dissipation? You mean that the disciples are going to slowly spread out like a gas until they take up the entire area they are in? What a bloody terrible word to use. The NIV and NASB both use it. The KJV uses the even more archaic word 'surfeiting'. But at least I'm not going to get surfeiting (whatever it means) mixed up with dissipate, meaning 'to scatter'. Apparently dissipate used to be used to mean "to indulge in extravagant pleasure". Anyway, the greek word is kraipale, which means "the giddiness and headache caused from drinking excess wine" and it's the only time it's used in the NT. "Hangover", while not perfectly correct (because a hangover comes the day after) is good enough for me. Otherwise, what's the difference between that and methe (drunk)?

Drunkenness? I mean, I didn't imagine the disciples as a bunch of boozers. But there you go. Apparently they're going to be suffering from drunkenness and hangovers! Crazy bunch they were. Makes it sound like, if Jesus hadn't told them not to drink, they wouldn't even be able to walk a straight line.

And yes, the end of days would sneak up on them no worries if they're all sloshed.

vs 35

All at once? It doesn't really say. I guess we just assume that.

vs 36

That's 'stand tall' as it were, although you could be forgiven for thinking that the disciples might have trouble standing up after all their boozing. By 'escape', you could even think that Jesus is saying "pray that you get killed in persecution, so you don't have to be around when the apocalypse hits the fan".

vs 37-38

We have one day of that recorded, basically. But Jesus was doing it every day. Was he saying the same thing? saying all kinds of different things? We don't know. Even in this vital last few days of Christ, you see how much of a hole we have in our history. We got the important stuff, thankfully.