This passage obviously reaches back to the parable of the fig tree in chapter 11. Jesus gives a parable to His disciples reinforcing His point - stay awake! Jesus doesn't urge them to study every coded word for specific signs of His coming. In fact, Jesus tells that not even He knows when that will be. N. T. Wright is accurate to say such searching reduces God's Word to "the level of horoscope." Instead Jesus is inviting us to a relationship with God that forms our every thought and behavior. Jesus calls us to trust and be awake for whatever God is doing at the moment. Will the disciples be able to "stay awake" with what is about to happen that Jesus has already alerted them to?
Questions:
How can we better position ourselves to stay awake to what God is doing around us? How can Lenten practices of self-denial help put us in a more trust position?
How might you better trust God and see what He is doing?
If the Bible is not to be read as a horoscope how would you describe to read Scripture to a friend? Would it be history or love letter? Biography (if so whose story?) or book of rules? Narrative or science book? Or are there parts of some or all of these?
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