Reflection on Matthew 24:36-44

What is the point? 

What is the point of all of this end time language of evildoers being swept away like in the time of Noah?  There are two people working in the field.  One is swept away while another righteous one remains working.  There are two women holding their stone pestles, grinding meal in their mortars when one is suddenly swept away.  The righteous woman remains, grinding the grains.  What is the point of these fear-driven images?

I guess the point is exactly as Matthew writes, to “keep awake.”  But, still I ask, what is the end game here?  What does keeping awake look like?  Is Jesus asking us to become life-long insomniacs?  Are we supposed to literally stay awake so that our houses are never robbed by thieves?  Are we to hole ourselves up, booby-trap our doors, and survive off of canned food for the remainder of our days?

I ask because in the early 1990s, while I was in high school, there was a certainty that the end of the world was near.  Completely ignoring the words of Matthew 24:36 which read, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” if you were alive to remember, some people thought that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank were a clear sign that the end was coming soon.  Infomercials were purchased and played after the nightly news telling us of this impending end.  If you also remember, there was no other late night programming at the time.  So, these infomercials were all a high school night owl had to watch. 

I was in fear.  The thought of the impending end of the world paralyzed me.  I had hardly lived my life!  There were places to be explored and relationships to be had.  I did not know how to move forward in life if it was all to be over very soon.  I had no idea what to do with this fear inducing information.

Of course, the 1990s passed by and the West Bank settlements did not usher in the end of the world, rather they fueled a period of anger on the part of the Palestinians that still exists to this day. 

And, that teenager who watched those late night infomercials grew up to go to seminary in order to learn how to answer some of these lingering questions from the decade before.  And, what that seminarian learned was that the writers of the Bible often take the time to answer the questions they raise; you just have to keep reading further in order to find the answer.

Maybe it was because we pull out little snippets of scripture to focus on in worship or because many Christians do not regularly read the Bible that it took me all the way until seminary to learn a very basic technique in order to find answers to my biblical questions:  just keep reading. 

With that said, what exactly do we discover when we read a little further past the images of unrighteous people being swept away?  What lies beyond the injunction to “Keep awake…for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”?  What is the end game here?  What does “keeping awake” look like?  What is the point?

You find the point in Matthew 25:35-36.  This is what keeping awake is all about: giving the hungry food, providing drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger and caring for them, giving clothing to the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison. 

Those who are awake enough to remember these things are the ones who will not be swept away.  They are the ones who know what kingdom living is all about.  They are the ones who are awake enough to see the need around them and not allow the thief to snatch away those opportunities to love.

The idea that you can just bunker down in your home with your canned food and hide out until the day of the Lord’s coming is plain ridiculous.  Even Paul rails against such behavior in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 saying, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.” 

Of course, I do not personally know of anyone with a doomsday shelter, but I know plenty of people who feel as if they have nothing to contribute to God’s kingdom.  I know plenty of people who live in fear, or feel tired, or simply lack the ability to feel the Holy Spirit alive and at work in their lives.  They stand gazing at the horizon, looking for something better, looking for something beyond in the distance, and all the while the flood waters of hopelessness are collecting around their feet. 

Do not worry.  I have been there.  Plenty of times I have stood, unable to move, unable to shake the waters of inaction from rising toward my soul.   

That is why we have each other.  That is why we have a kingdom in which we stand, together.  That is why Matthew has told us to “keep awake” using the plural in the Greek. We “keep awake” together. 

Jesus desires deeply for us to keep awake so that we can care for others.  After-all, there have been plenty of times that Jesus has sent someone who was fully awake to provide water when we needed it.  In the past, Jesus has provided someone to hand us food when there was none.  Jesus has provided us people who have not been swept away by fear, tiresome souls, or simple inaction.  Jesus has provided us with kingdom people, who have not forgotten to:

give the hungry food,

provide drink to the thirsty,

welcome the stranger and care for them,

give clothing to the naked,

care for the sick,

and visit those in prison. 

“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right,” Paul encourages his people in Thessaloniki.  And, Matthew is encouraging us, in the same way, to keep awake and take part in this kingdom living.

By the way, did you know that you can be arrested for being awake to long?  Yes, the cops will charge you with “resisting a rest.” 

Sorry, for that groaner.  The tone of this whole sermon was much too somber and that is not what kingdom living is all about! 

Living in Jesus’ kingdom is not a burden, but a gift!  We get to be a part of the story of salvation that Jesus has shown us on the cross! 

We get to see the eyes of people start to gleam once again when they realize that someone notices and someone cares. 

We get to know that we are a part of something vital in this world when we help. 

We get to be a part of God's love which is the foundation of all existence whenever we give the hungry food, provide drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger and care for them, give clothing to the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. 

Keep awake so that we, together, might be a part of Jesus’ great vision to make God’s kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.