Matthew
24:36-44
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- Reading the Text:
- NRSV (with link to Anglicized NRSV) at Oremus Bible Browser.
- Greek Interlinear Bible, ScrTR, ScrTR t, Strong, Parsing, CGTS, CGES id, AV.
- The Bible Gateway: NIV, NASB, CEV, The Message, KJV, etc.
- The Blue Letter Bible. KJV, alternate versions, Greek text with concordance, commentaries.
- The World Wide Study Bible includes commentary & sermons.
- Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
- The Five Gospels Parallels, John W. Marshall, University of Toronto.
- Comparative texts about New Covenant Eschatology and Apocalyptic Speculation from Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Targum, proto-Kabbala, Mishnah, Babylonian Talmud, and Midrash. At Rutgers University, Mahlon H. Smith's Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus.
- "Knowing the Danger (Thief in the Night)," "The Unknown Time," "Within This Generation," The Jesus Database, an online annotated inventory of the traditions concerning the life and teachings of Jesus. Dr. Gregory C. Jenks, FaithFutures Foundation.
- IV.XXXVI.3, V.X.1, Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons. (c. 180)
- III.6, V.14, Stromata, Clement of Alexandria (c 200)
- Chapter XXVI, Against Praxeas, Tertullian (c. 213)
- Part 56, On the Incarnation of the Word, Athanasius of Alexandria, c. 318.
- From the Catena Aurea, Patristic Commentary by St Thomas Aquinas.
- From the Geneva Notes.
- "It is sufficient for us to know that God has appointed a latter day for the restoring of all things; but when it will be is hidden from us all for our sake, so that we may be all the more watchful, so that we are not taken as those were taken in the flood years ago."
- From
Matthew
Henry's Commentary.
- "To watch for Christ's coming, is to maintain that temper of mind which we would be willing that our Lord should find us in."
- Section VIII, Evidences of the Christian Religion, Joseph Addison,
- From
Wesley's
Notes.
- "Our Lord speaks as having the whole transaction present before his eyes."
- From the Commentary on the Whole Bible (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
- From The People's
New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
- "The duty enjoined is not to watch for Christ, but to watch ourselves to see that we are ready."
- Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
-
Commentary,
Ben Witherington, Matthew 24:36-44, Preaching This Week,
WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
- "...God reveals enough about the future to give us hope, but not so much that we do not have to live and walk by faith day after day."
- Comments (commentary) and Clippings (technical notes for in-depth study), Advent 1A, Chris Haslam, Diocese of Montreal.
-
"First
Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary: Advent 1,"
William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
- "The watching is a dramatic way of speaking about God-connectedness...It is about developing an awareness of what the God of the future is saying and doing in the present, to take a God perspective on the issues of the day and the future and to let that happen at all levels of our reality, from our personal lives to our international community, including our co-reality in creation."
- See also: The Gospel of Matthew: An Introduction for Preachers, by Dr. William R.G. Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
-
"The Undomesticated God," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher,
2010.
- "Thank you for proclaiming the wild grace of this frighteningly merciful God, Working Preacher. Because sometimes I need to be startled out of the comfortable daydream in which I have unintentionally trapped the biblical God."
-
"Ready and Waiting," Kate Huey, ucc.org: Sermon Seeds, lectionary
citations, weekly theme, lectionary texts, bulletin back page, 2010.
- "Mary Hinkle Shore observes that Matthew moves in this chapter from the cosmic and grand to the most mundane images, from the sun and moon going dark and the stars falling from heaven to workers in the field and women grinding meal. How do we connect apocalyptic images to our own mundane, ordinary lives?"
- The Need to Watch, audio telling, story in episodes, graphic, audio and written commentaries. Go Tell Communications, Biblical Storytelling for the Global Village, 2010.
-
"The Fear of Abandonment," Alyce McKenzie, Patheos, 2010.
- "We should fear, not God's abandonment, but our not being alert and ready, not living in expectation of the return of the Son of Man. We should fear the possibility that we might abandon God."
-
Exegetical Notes
by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.
- "As congregations may be looking at their budgets, we might ask, 'How are we being faithful and wise in caring for others while waiting for Christ's return?'"
-
Lectionary Blogging, John Petty, Progressive Involvement,
2010.
- "He's not going to come with trumpets blaring, in other words. If he did that, we'd protect ourselves. He's going to come when he's least expected, when our guard is down, and he's going to come quietly, with stealth and subtlety."
-
Waiting on
the Felonies of Jesus, Russell Rathbun, The Hardest Question,
2010.
- "Can we keep preaching these texts, year after year, and expect people to believe he is coming?"
-
Evangelio, San Mateo 24:36-44, Osvaldo Vena, Preaching This Week,
WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
- "El objetivo de este pasaje es apaciguar las especulaciones escatológicas sobre el tiempo del fin, incentivadas por 24:26-35, pero a la misma vez exhortar a la comunidad a estar preparada, pues nadie sabe el día y la hora de la venida del Hijo del hombre."
- Commentary, Matthew 24:36-44, James Boyce, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.
-
Dylan's Lectionary Blog,
Advent 1A, 2004. (Episcopal Lectionary) Biblical Scholar
Sarah Dylan Breuer looks at readings for the coming Sunday in the lectionary
of the Episcopal Church.
- "The Ruthless Masters do NOT have the last word; Jesus does. The completion of Jesus' vision for the world, in which 'the least of these' and those who worked for justice for them are finally vindicated, is coming!"
- "Eschatological Discourse," Gospel Analysis, Sermons from Seattle, Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington. Detailed background and exegesis.
-
"The Element of Surprise," Mary Hinkle,
Pilgrim Preaching.
- "Maybe the surprise, when Christ returns, will be that he was here all along. Maybe the surprise will be that, ahead of time himself, he has been calling, gathering, enlightening and sanctifying the meek and all the rest of those who bear his name."
-
"First Sunday in Advent: Matthew 24:37-44 or Matthew 21:1-11," The Matthean Advent
Gospels, James Arne Nestingen, Word & World: Theology for
Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1992.
- "Forgiveness of sin is not merely therapeutic accommodation to the inevitable disappointments of a selfhood running out of control, it is the current form of the resurrection, opening both self and community tot he freedom of life lived beyond condemnation, in grace."
- Matthew in the Margins, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia.
-
Wellspring of
the Gospel, Advent 1A, Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn
Turner, Weekly Wellsprings.
- "If the Son of Man appeared while I was busy at work - would I be prepared to drop everything and go to Him?"
-
"Quit Guessing; Start
Building," Jerry Goebel,
One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
- "Christ said more than we do not know the dates; he said we cannot know the dates ? we are incapable of knowing them ? they are for God to know...It is enough for us to know that he will come again at the most appropriate time and to work towards that event."
- "Watch!" Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies & Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources.
- "Matthew in Minneapolis and in Israel," Sarah Henrich, Word & World, 1999.
-
"Waiting Joyfully," Advent 1,
Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R., from
Sundays Into
Silence: Reflections on the Sunday Gospels in the Light of Christian
Meditation. Claretian Publications.
- "Meditation is a way of being alert and ready for the Lord."
-
"Gospel
for the First Sunday in Advent: Matthew 24:36-44,"
from Exegesis for the
Christian Year, Henry Gustafson, 1998. At Religion
Online.
- "Believing that the future as well as the present belong to God, the minister of these Advent texts might find it well to listen to Hans Kung’s admonition: to take care lest she preach judgment too loudly and insistently before the small and defenseless and too softly and half-heartedly before the powerful of this world."
-
"The Big Surprise," Larry Broding's Word-Sunday.Com: A Catholic
Resource for This Sunday's Gospel. Adult Study, Children's Story, Family
Activity, Support Materials.
- "What recent turn of events has taken you by surprise? Why were you caught off guard?"
- Environmental & earth-centered reflections from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Commission.
-
"What Kind
of Coming This Year?" Expository Essay, Dr. William R. Long.
Part 2.
- "Just as the prophet Elijah discovered that God was not in the wind or the fire but in the 'still small voice,' the unexpected quietness that confronted him after all the demonstrations of nature had played itself out, so we may discover this Advent season that the Coming of Christ for us isn't in the activity, the memories, the fun, the singing, or even the carefully planned lessons of the Sundays in Advent."
-
Commentary,
Ben Witherington, Matthew 24:36-44, Preaching This Week,
WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
- Articles & Background:
- "Olivet Discourse," wikipedia.
- Recommended articles
from ATLAS, an online collection of religion and theology journals, are
linked below.
ATLAS Access options are available for academic institutions, alumni of
selected theological schools, and clergy/church offices.
Annotated list of "starting place" articles at ATLAS
for this week's texts (includes direct links).
- Alison, James, "Punctured," The Christian Century,
2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Burghardt,
"Advent: Remember, Repent, Rehearse," The Living Pulpit, 1997.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Cousar, Charles B.,
"Disruptive Hope: New Testament Texts for Advent," Journal for
Preachers, 2001.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Henrich, Sarah, "Matthew in
Minneapolis and in Israel," Word & World, 1999.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Johnson, Stephen C., "The 'Future' of Preaching:
Apocalyptic Eschatology and Christian Proclamation," Restoration
Quarterly, 2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Long, Kimberly Bracken,
"Holy Waiting," Journal for Preachers, 2005. Sermon.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Long, Thomas G.,
"Imagine There's No Heaven: The Loss of Eschatology in American Preaching,"
Journal for Preachers, 2006.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Lowry, James, "A Christmas Memory: A Christmas Hope,"
Journal for Preachers, 1999. Sermon.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Nestingen, James Arne, "The Matthean Advent Gospels,"
Word & World, 1992.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Pettegrew, Larry D., "Interpretive Flaws in the
Olivet Discourse," Master's Seminary Journal, 2002.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Richter, Kimberly Clayton, "The Advent Texts:
Glorious Visions, Dogged Discipleship," Journal for Preachers,
2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Toussaint, Stanley D.,
"A Critique of the Preterist View of the Olivet Discourse,"
Bibliotheca Sacra, 2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Van Reken, Calvin P., "As in the Days of Noah: A
Sermon on Matthew 24:37," Calvin Theological Journal, 2008.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Varner, William C., "The Didache 'Apocalypse'
and Matthew 24," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2008.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Wardlaw, Theodore J., "Preaching the Advent Texts,"
Journal for Preachers, 2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Alison, James, "Punctured," The Christian Century,
2007.
- Reviews:
- Wilson, Alistair I., When Will These Things Happen?: A Study of Jesus as Judge in Matthew 21-25. PaterNoster Press, 2005. Review by Samuel Subramanian, Review of Biblical Literature, 2006.
- Sermons:
- "Ethics and Eschatology," Theodore J. Wardlaw, President, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 2004. Covenant Network of Presbyterians.
- "It's Coming!" 2 December 2007, Walter W. Harms, Göttinger Predigten im Internet: Every Sunday Sermons based on the RCL by a team of Lutheran theologians/ pastors.
- "Expect the Unexpected," 28 November 2004, Hugh Beck, Göttinger Predigten im Internet: Every Sunday Sermons based on the RCL by a team of Lutheran theologians/ pastors.
- "Suddenly," "Wake Up! Don't Fall Asleep!" Rev. Edward F. Markquart, Sermons from Seattle.
- "Anticipation - You Must Be Ready," John Jewell, 1998.
- Father Andrew M. Greeley, "Priest, Author, Sociologist," Commentary and Homily
- With Children:
- "Children's Literature: A Resource for Ministry," November 28, Union Presbyterian Seminary, 2010. Connections: Matthew 24:36-44 and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie DePaola.
- Anna's Hosannas, Children's Lesson for Advent 1A, 2010.
- "No One Knows the Day or the Hour of Jesus' Coming," Sunday School Lessons: Family Bible Study, art projects, music, stories, etc.
- "Coming Suddenly," Jim Kerlin, childrensermons.com.
- Drama:
- "A New Heaven and Earth," from A Certain Jesus by Jose Ignacio and Maria Lopez Vigil. Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today's gospel. Claretian Publications.
- Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
- Clip Art, Matthew 24:43, Fr. Richard Lonsdale, Resources for Catholic Educators.
- Clip Art Images: Matthew 24:36-44, Misioneros Del Sagrado Corazón en el Perú.
- Matthew 24:36-44 at Cerezo Barredo's weekly gospel illustration. Liberation emphasis.
- Hymns and Music:
- ?There is a Mighty Question,? Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Tune: ANGEL'S STORY 7.6.7.6 D (?O Jesus, I Have Promised?) Church World Service.
- ?God, You Alone Know What You've Planned,? Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Tune: CAROL 8.6.8.6 D (?It Came Upon the Midnight Clear?), The Presbyterian Outlook magazine.
- Hymns with Scripture Allusions: Matthew 24:42-44. The Cyber Hymnal.
- Hymn Selections, The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship.
- At Digital Hymnal (midi files, guitar chords, karaoke files, projection text):
- Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's Art Index:
- Movies scenes with the following themes, listed at The Text This Week's Movie Concordance:
- Study Links and Resources for the Book of Matthew
