A tribute to all teachers on Teachers Day 2021

Jesus is often addressed as “Teacher” in the Gospels. And rightly so! The “Kingdom” is the primary content of His teaching. At the beginning of His ministry, Matthew records that, “he went throughout all Galilee, teaching…” (4:23). And towards the end, Luke says, “They [the disciples] asked him, ‘Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?’” (21:7).

He is indeed the greatest teacher; after all, what can be greater than to teach about the coming Kingdom of God?

We are coming to the close of our study of the Gospel of Luke in our Sunday Bible Classes. I hope it’s a journey of discovery for some and a time of affirmation for others. In Luke, the author places Jesus’ teaching on hisparousia (second coming and the coming of the kingdom) in chapter 21. There, Luke says it will be preceded by “signs in [the] sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves” (v.25). One of Luke’s fundamental theological themes is eschatology (end times) and the concept of the “kingdom of God.”

Luke didn’t elaborate on the signs. However, Mark who wrote his gospel much earlier than Luke says, “the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light … the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken” (Mark 13:24,25). Matthew says the same thing in Matthew 24:29. Whether these are metaphorical or whether they speak of real catastrophic physical events that will occur in the future I can’t say with certainty.

Luke didn’t provide an answer to the question of “when” the end will occur but he calls for spiritual and moral vigilance: “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36 NKJV).

In this way, Luke reveals his goal: to connect eschatology with the correct moral life; how to live is more important than knowing the time of the second coming.

And how would people know unless his disciples follow his noble task to, “Go .. and teach?”

Pastor Robert Chew