Matthew 24:36 But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[a] but only the Father.

Matthew 24:43  If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into

When I was a child, I was not allowed to stand (or jump) on the couch. But sometimes, when Mom and Dad were gone, my sister and I would crank the volume on the Monkees and have a dance party on the sofa, with one eye and one ear on the driveway in case our parents came back unexpectedly. We knew the rules. We knew the consequences, but so long as no one was there to see . . . When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

The passage from Matthew is part of the story of the Signs of the End Times. Jesus left the temple and warned his disciples that someday all of it would be destroyed. The disciples questioned when that would happen and how they will know the end is coming. Jesus answers that they will not know. They must live faithfully always since when the Lord will return no one knows. He advises that there will be wars, famines, and earthquakes, false prophets who appear and deceive many people, an increase in wickedness that will cause the love of most to grow cold, “an abomination that causes desolation” in the Holy Temple. People will lose faith, betray, and hate each other, but the Lord will come again and those who have kept the faith will be rewarded and the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Jesus encourages us to have faith even in times of darkness, even when false prophets deceive people and evil grows. Keep the faith. Live through faith. Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. For the Lord will come again, and His is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever.

Contributed by Diane Warren