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S. Advent 1.25 Matt. 24:36-44

‘Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

Which is a bit like one of my favorite lines from Gandalf in Lord of the Rings when Frodo asks when he can expect to see him again and Gandalf says: “Expect me when you see me! Look for me at unexpected times.” I mean… how would you do that, exactly? You don’t expect someone when you’re seeing them. And how do you look for someone at unexpected times? Looking is a form of expectation so it’s like saying “Look!” when you’re not looking 😉

I think Tolkien got those amusing lines straight from our Gospel today. And I hope that we can have as much fun with Jesus’ somewhat cryptic advice as he did… 😉

How can we be ready for the unexpected? That seems like a very good trick!

BTW, when Jesus says in our first line of our Gospel, “concerning that day and hour no one knows… but the Father only.” He is answering this question of his disciples’ which they asked him at the beginning of chpt. 24, right after Palm Sunday, as they were touring the temple and Jesus told them get a good look because it would all get torn down…

They ask: “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” For the disciples, quite clearly, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the coming of Jesus and the end of the age are all one day, the Last Day. Are they right?

Last Sunday, which was the Last Sunday of the Church Year, we saw how Good Friday, Jesus’ death on the cross was the Last Day—the end of the reign of sin and death over us. But the temple of Jerusalem stood for exactly 40 more years from that day, April 6, 30 AD. I think the disciples could not imagine the world continuing without the temple in Jerusalem because that was the site of God’s presence, and for them, if God withdrew that presence, the whole world would come crashing to an end immediately and the 8th Day of Heaven would be all there is.

And there’s a way they are theologically right about that, yet historically wrong. Jesus’ death on the cross withdraws his presence from the world. Jesus’ death also brings the old age of the devil’s reign to an end. But outwardly, historically, tangibly: things go on just as they always have.

And Jesus is clear in Matthew 25 there will be a Day when he returns in glory for all to see and will roll up the whole universe like a dirty old coat, purify it with fire, and unroll it (and us!) all gloriously new and different and yet the same physical universe we’ve known and lived in, but purified of sin and all its deleterious effects.

Jesus’ example of Noah and the flood can help us towards seeing what being “ready for the unexpected” entails. The day of the Flood (or the 40 days, to be precise) were the End of that world, physically and spiritually. When the earth dried and the ark rocked up on Ararat, a new day, a new age began. People could eat tasty animals(!) which seems an advance over the old. Hallelujah! Mmm… bacon!

Yet that day wasn’t the end of the devil’s reign over unbelievers. The same old sin problems manifested in new and different ways. But God says if he hadn’t brought the age of Babel to an End, none of the faithful would have survived. So; the Flood was the first “Last Day” and it has many similarities to other Last Days, like Good Friday…

For one thing, no one saw it coming—the Flood, that is. God warned everyone, and warned Noah. But even Noah didn’t look around at the decline of decency and faith and say “OK! I figure I’ve got about 120 years to build an ark and then “Flood, baby!” No. God specifically told Noah he had 120 years to get ready for a Flood that would wipe out humanity.

And God told him to build an ark the size of a small aircraft carrier (good thing Noah was spry and had 120 years! Maybe he also had the Rock People, the nephilim like in the last Russell Crowe Noah movie to help him? Maybe!).

When the ark was finished, God told Noah how to stock it, and how the animals would come to him on a specific day, 2 by 2; and after that, “batten down the hatches!” and get ready for some RAIN! The point is that: without God specifically telling Noah what was up, Noah would not have been ready. He would have been swept away by the Flood like everyone else who didn’t see any sign of an Apocalypse about to come!

Jesus says his Parousia—his Glorious Return as King—will be just like that! Two men will be in a field. One will be taken by the Apocalypse, and another will be left. BTW—being “taken” is a bad thing—that’s what happened to the wicked. Noah is “left behind” and that’s a good thing!—stupid premillennialists to the contrary!

Jesus says we should “keep watch” or “stay awake” as the ESV has it because we don’t know the day the LORD is coming in glory—just like if the master of the house had known which part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into…

But think about that! You can’t give up sleep every night!!!

So, how can we be ready for the unexpected Return of the King? Well, we can’t, except by believing the word Jesus tells us!

In a nutshell, our preparations and expectations for the Apocalypse (Zombie or otherwise 😉 are useless! Our anxious worrying and scheming and planning is worse than useless for the Apocalypse. There are many “Last Days”—the Flood, Good Friday, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (April 6, 30 AD), the sack of Rome in 411, the collapse of the Soviet Union (Christmas ’91). Someday the American Empire will end, too!

And there is no sign that God sends portending these Last Days that could prepare us to stop it or mitigate the deleterious effects on the world. Sometimes, ‘you just have to let art flow over you…’

The only way to be ready for the unexpected Apocalypse of our little worlds is not to be too attached to those little worlds!—not to have anything in them to lose, ’cause our treasure’s in Heaven… 😉

This is the Way!

When all we really want is… to see Jesus in his unveiled glory—when the change we yearn for is the change in us that will finally make us able always to behold him, and that vision to make us just like him!—when that’s all we really need, we’re ready for anything.

All the Last Days that come, will, for us, only be new dawnings of that 8th Day when Christ is all in all, and Peace, surpassing understanding, guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.