36 But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
“Keep awake ! Be ready !” Sounds like Jesus is speaking to some sleepy people, doesn’t it ? I wonder if those who heard these words from Jesus, actually woke up ? Did they hear them as threatening words,? Jolting words ?. Can we imagine at least that Jesus wants to have us pay attention ? His intervention into our daily lives ?
This time of the year brings an increasing amount of activity and if we are not careful, we can easily be about everything and nothing at the same time. We can be caught up in everything about the season and miss everything about the season.
Jesus wants us to be awake…ready for his coming. On textweek.com Peter W. Marty ( Martin’s son) writes in his article for Christian Century, “Wake Up Call,”
"He comes for us in love to interrupt our routines because he wants us to know that life is far too precious a gift to forfeit for business (or busy – ness) as usual."
Luther Seminary professor Mary Hinkle Shore writes about God’s intervention in daily life.
“The intervention of God into our human affairs cannot be managed or scheduled the way many of the events of our days can be. Whether God’s advent is as manageable as a heart attack, or as manageable as falling in love, either way, you know that you are not in control, and you can be fairly sure the rest of your day will not go as planned.” New Proclamation Commentary, an online resource
Can we imagine God at work in our worlds… that spin so frenetically this season of the year ? Can we hear the call to “pay attention,” as law and/or gift ?
Can we imagine God at work in our worlds… that spin so frenetically this season of the year ? Can we hear the call to “pay attention,” as law and/or gift ?
3 comments:
I like Mary Hinkle Shore's insight that we cannot manage God's interventions in life. . .
Be ready. Be awake.
While many take off from here and look ahead to God's appearing, I hear in this call is a beckoning to open our eyes to Jesus already present in our world.
Here's a quote from my bunch-a-quotes
I don't where I got it - by some Egyption Monk (not related to Art)
"Unawareness is the root of all evil."
Thanks Vicar, for the great question, can we hear the call "keep awake" as law and/or gift.
How quickly we lose sight of the wonder of life. . .
Here are a few quotes that reflect on the giftedness of life:
"Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem is that we would fall down and worship each other." - Thomas Merton
"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." -Aaron Rose
"Food is the sacrament of unnecessary goodness ordained for a continual reminder that the world will always be more delicious than it is necessary." Robert Farrar Capon The Supper of the Lamb
"God tends to confound, astonish and flabbergast. A Bethlehem stable, a Roman cross, an empty garden tomb. We might as well reconcile ourselves to the fact that God's truth often turns up in ways we don't expect." - Sue Monk Kidd
I recently had a funeral for a person who died suddenly - mid conversation a healthy person had a heart attack and that was it - and here is the irony: both she and her husband had for years carried with them (she in her purse, he in his wallet) copies of this verse from Matthew to "be ready." Family asked that it be read at her funeral, and so I made it the subject of my sermon. Unusual, and a little bit difficult, but speaking to an underlying truth, non the less. People often say, when someone dies in whatever way, that you are "never really ready." So we are called upon to be ready for that for which we can never be really ready. In the movie, Stranger than Fiction, the character knows how he will die. But for the rest of us we do not. Not only that, Jesus doesn't even know when the parousia will take place. Be ready for the thing that is impossible to be ready for. I note two things about this. One is the spiritual awareness of being open to surprise - as Mary Hinkle Shore's comments might suggest. The other is that, in terms of readiness, all that is necessary for our salvation has been accomplished. There is really nothing left to do. God in Christ has done it all. Living in that promise and hope is as ready as we can be.
It might be a good week to bust on that bogus notion of the rapture, but this year, with this funeral ringing in our ears, we will be re-living a Sunday morning version of that funeral sermon. Unless I get a better idea, which I have little reason to suspect, given the way things are going these days.
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