In our reading from Acts, Jesus was reiterating what he had said before: ‘About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’ (Matthew 24:36, NIV).

 

Jesus’ parables consistently conclude with the challenge for his followers to be ‘faithful servants’ who are doing their Lord’s work every day with the urgency of those who know that any day could be their last.

 

The good news is that we are given power to live now in ways that are consistent with the values of God’s kingdom. We are called to prepare the way for God’s reign of gracious love, social justice, human reconciliation and peace in our world.

 

God’s promise is not to destroy this world but to redeem it: ‘God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him’ (John 3:17, NRSV).

 

With these words Jesus calls us not to abandon this earth but to be a part of its healing and redemption by the power of the Spirit of God at work in us.

 

Prayer: Dear God, bring healing to the world through our witness. Amen