Sorry, you missed it.

The second coming’s come and gone.

I know some of you are expecting a bolt of lightning to vaporize your screen ’cause that last statement is pure blasphemy.

But, it’s the only conclusion I can accept if I start with the assumptions that:

1. Jesus wanted the people he was talking to to understand exactly what he meant.
2. Jesus meant what he said and said what he meant

When all of the folks were marveling about the Temple and commenting on how beautiful it was, Jesus tells them that the temple will be destroyed.  His disciples pull him off to the side and ask for the real 411.

Now, there are a lot of preachers and Bible scholars that want you to believe that Jesus immediately lapses into what I call “hiddenspeak” where what he says really isn’t what he means.  And the only way to understand what he means is to understand the nuances of Jewish history and old testament eschatology.

es·cha·tol·o·gy – a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of mankind

Did’ya know that?  Most folks don’t… and don’t care either.  So, why would Jesus, who hand picked a bunch of regular Joes — fishermen, tax collectors, tradesmen, etc. — to be his followers, explain things to these guys in “hiddenspeak”?  That’s what preachers and Bible scholars want you to believe.

Here’s what I believe. . .

The disciples ask ‘im and he tells ’em — straightup, no pulled punches.

He talks about famines, and pestilences, and wars, and rumors of wars.

According to Matthew, he throws in the “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet”.  Matthew has a habit of throwing in these obscure Old Testament references and he doesn’t disappoint here.  Our preachers and Bible scholars go wild on this one, but they can’t seem to agree on just what it means.

I don’t know what it means either. . . and I don’t really care.

‘Cause the J-Man ends it all with this”

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”

BAAAYM!!  I guess he darn well told us!

Now, regardless of the impression I might give, I ain’t stoopid.  I know that Christian preachers and Bible scholars want this phrase to mean “…the generation alive when all these things come to pass shall not pass away…” They have to believe that,  otherwise they’d have to admit that either Jesus was wrong (heaven forbid) or they missed his “second coming”.

I, however, don’t buy that contrived explanation ’cause:

1. the language (including the original Greek) doesn’t give any indication that that’s what he meant
2. Matthew, who has another habit of “cleaning up” and explaining Jesus’s words, doesn’t add any “explanation” here
3. everything that Jesus says and everything Jesus does indicates that the Kingdom of Heaven is a present thing, not something that will arrive way, way, way far in the distant  future
4. I believe Jesus wanted his hearers to understand exactly what he meant and that he meant what he said and said what he meant.
5. I don’t believe Jesus was wrong and as far as I’m concerned, the “second coming” ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. . . it’s more — much, much, more.

So, if the second coming’s already come and gone, what does that mean for me? For you? For the World?

It means only one thing. . . let’s be perfect.