Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of (Luke 21: 5-11) in which the disciples ask Jesus when the end of times will come and what signs they should look for.

Fr Paul says each of the three synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Luke and Mark – have this great discourse by Jesus before the final days of Jesus’ life and the ministry of the disciples begins.

In Mark and Matthew, the discourse is centred on the destruction of Jerusalem as a sign and warning of the conclusion of all history, when the son of man will come in all his majesty.

But for Luke it is different who we read and hear today it is different. He is here concerned with the destruction of the Temple itself as well as the city of Jerusalem. He is thinking about the events of 70AD, when the Roman armies destroyed the temple and the city.

In Luke’s Gospel Jesus gives a list of signs for when the end comes. But in Luke, Jesus stresses that ‘the end will not be so soon’ and that the work of the disciples is to happen ‘before all these things’.

As our church purposely focuses on the end in this last week’ of our church’s year, Fr Paul says, we might ask ourselves, ‘If the end of my life or the end of the world was to happen now – Am I ready? What do I need to do to be at peace?’.