Nuclear buttons and MY house

There’s been much publicity in the past week or so about nuclear buttons. Donald Trump apparently has a big button which he can press - and it works. Kim Jong Un on the other hand has a small nuclear button which allegedly may not work.

Amongst the rhetoric is a very, very serious issue. The end of the world.

It’s actually even more telling for us Jersey folk because we know that two big nuclear establishments are on the French coast only a few miles from us. Maybe it’s because that’s such a big threat that we rarely speak about it, let alone speak about the end of the world.

 

When Jesus was a man here on earth he was asked for a sign that the end of the age – the end of the present era - was about to take place. He linked the end of the age to an event which he called “the arrival of the Son of Man”. The most important thing he said about that was that “no one knows that day and hour” of the arrival of the Son of Man.

A few years ago, a young man who lived at Five Oaks told me that he was giving up studying for his professional examinations because he was absolutely sure that the Son of Man – Jesus – was coming back within two years. Nothing could change him – not even Jesus’ teaching that nobody knows or will know the day.

Why is it that nobody will know the day or hour of the end? Jesus gave a reason. I’d like to know what you think of it. Nobody knows, he said, “because as were the days of Noah, so will be the arrival of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the cataclysmic flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Eating, drinking, getting married? Busy living their own lives. But Jesus had good news too. He added: “At that time two will be in the field; one is brought to safety and one is sent away. Two will be grinding at the mill; one is brought to safety and one is sent away. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

 

Does this sound altogether off the wall? And yet, the nuclear buttons are for real – even Iran, with all its present political instability may be well on the way to having one.

If all this is far-fetched, I wonder what you’d make of Jesus’ next comment to his followers on this subject. It’s rather cryptic so needs even more thought. He said: “Know this, that if the owner-occupier of the house had known in advance what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”

 

There’s a change of metaphor here, isn’t there? It’s no longer the end of the age that Jesus was telling his disciples about. Instead it’s about their own houses – their own selves. Richard Syvret’s own house may be broken into long before the end of the age - long before someone presses a nuclear button…

Jesus was a kind and generous person who longed for total good for every human being. It was his gut-wrenching heart of compassion which caused him to close with the following words: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man does come at an hour you do not expect.”