Main news for 30 July 2026

Those who reflect on the times of the Second Coming and the Last Judgment for some reason pay more attention to the cataclysms accompanying those critical times than to Jesus' very clear words that at that expected moment normal everyday life will continue: neither customary labors, nor weddings, nor even the taking of food will stop. The main upheavals will occur not in the earth's crust or in the atmosphere, but in people's lives, in their souls. The choice the Lord offers us is made already now, and it is made quietly and unnoticed by most of those around us. Completely similar people make the choice, but they make it differently. Until a certain time they are side by side, but the hour of parting will come, when each will go along the path he has chosen for himself.

It is interesting that here Jesus again mentions the fig tree, offering it to the disciples as an example of one that can sense the changes of the times. These words once more make us remember another fig tree, the one that gave no fruit. We are called to be constantly ready to bear fruit and place it in the Lord's hands.

Today's passage is the second part of Jesus' account of the end of time, given in the Gospel according to Matthew. Here we find an explanation for the apparent misunderstanding that had already perplexed representatives of the first Christian generation: history had ended, yet Jesus, contrary to the promise He had given, still was not returning. Here He says directly that everything He told the disciples about would happen during their lifetime (v. 34; by "generation" here, according to the meaning of the Greek word, "generation" is meant).

On the other hand, He tells the disciples nothing definite about the timing of His return; more than that, He says these times are known only to the Heavenly Father (v. 36). In that case it becomes clear that the events marking the end of earthly history and the Savior's return could be separated by some time, whose duration could not be determined precisely at that moment. Jesus, in fact, did not promise the disciples that He would return in glory during their lifetime; He only promised them that they would witness the end of that history whose final stage they had reached. After that, all that remains is to wait for the Teacher's return and, as far as possible, not to relax spiritually (vv. 37-51).

It is no accident that Jesus compares His return with the situation described in the biblical parable of the flood: in Noah's days no one seriously believed that catastrophe was possible, and only Noah himself took the danger hanging over humanity seriously. Evidently, Jesus' return can be expected above all when most people are not thinking about that return at all, having sunk into everyday affairs and forgotten Christ, and perhaps spiritual life altogether.

But why do the times remain unknown? In speaking of the times, Jesus refers to the fact that they are known only to the Father. Meanwhile, everything known to the Father is known to Him as well. In that case, one can only suppose that on the day when Jesus told His disciples about the last times, the times were not yet known even to the Father. This would be entirely possible if He had not yet determined the time at that moment. Of course, for God time is not a self-sufficient reality as it is for us, but all His decisions, if they have to do with our world, still fit within the framework of our familiar concepts of past and future. And from our point of view, His decision about the day of Jesus' return was then still a matter of the future. It was still too early to speak about it.

God has no predetermined plan for everyone in which each human step would be known in advance; if that were the case, the day of the Savior's return would also have been known and predetermined from the creation of the world. But God leaves each person his freedom. And He carries out His plans in accord with the free choice of specific people. Here nothing can be predicted in advance, at least for us, people living in a world where past and future remain absolute realities. That is why the day of the Savior's return cannot be predicted in advance. To a certain extent, it depends on the choice made by each of us.

Speaking about His return and about the last times, Jesus specifically warns His disciples and followers against being carried away by false prophets and false messiahs. But where could such fascination come from among those who, as it would seem, had already settled the question of the Messiah?

The answer to that question may be found in the traditional ideas of that time about both the Messiah and the Kingdom. In those days, among the Jewish people, it was widely believed that the Temple in which Jesus preached would become the messianic Temple. The ideas about the Kingdom themselves still remained close to pre-exilic ones: in the popular religious consciousness, the Kingdom was perceived as an earthly state, though one ruled by the Messiah who would head it. And the apostles, it must be said, were not free from such ideas either; even on the day of the Ascension they were still sure that now, at last, their Teacher would finally begin building the messianic state whose appearance they had awaited so long.

Yet it was precisely the first, in part, and the second, mainly, generation of Christians who would witness the very tragic events Jesus is now speaking about. The messianic uprising of A.D. 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple became not only a national but also a religious catastrophe for the people. For the Jews it meant that they had not waited long enough for the Messiah after all, and for Christians it meant that He had not returned before the end of time, as He had promised. In such a situation confusion and wavering would be entirely natural. Self-appointed "messiahs" and "teachers" or "prophets" who wanted to "correct" or "supplement" the Gospel would have appeared. Indeed, if the Temple had already been destroyed and the Kingdom had still not come, did this not mean that something had been missed? Maybe the Founder of the Church had left something unsaid or unfinished?

Such doubts could become, and in their time did become, fertile ground for all kinds of theories and concepts that use Christian language but in substance have nothing in common with Christianity. Of course, the chief answer, as usually happens in the Church, was the new revelation received from Jesus about the era that had begun, about the spiritual meaning of the events taking place during that era, and about its completion; it found its embodiment in the Book of Revelation. But Jesus, as we can see, considers it necessary to warn His disciples and followers in advance. After all, the things at stake are too serious: the Kingdom and salvation.