Reflection on Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44 (NRSVue)

[Jesus said to the disciples,] 36 “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 the 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. 42 Keep 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 hour you do not expect.”

Reflection

“Keep awake!” Jesus implores us.  “Keep Awake” (Matthew 24:42).

Shouting that at the start of the Advent sermon is a favorite pastime of preachers throughout the world, startling parishioners for years and years.  One startled parishioner once shouted back at me, “I’m not asleep yet!”  “Yet.”  This was the same guy who loudly snapped open his newspaper whenever he thought I was preaching too long.

But it is more than an inside joke for preachers.  It is an actual desire in the heart of Jesus.  He desperately does not want us to be swept away in the concerns and distractions of this world. 

And we do get swept away.  Like “in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” we get swept away in the family drama that inevitably comes with the holiday season.  We get swept away with the national stories and political concerns that tug at our attention as we talk and sip our coffees.  We get swept away with the struggles of paying bills and providing for our families.  It is not that these things are never important or worthy of our attention, but our minds and our lives can get swept away with these things, causing us to fall asleep to all that God is doing. 

Not all of us, of course.  Some of us are able to work “in the field,” keeping our minds on God, while others of us are swept away because of others concerns (Matthew 24:40).  They are the ones who are not paying attention while the cows are stampeding towards them, and they get swept away in the commotion and get trampled.  “Keep awake,” Jesus says. 

Some of us use our time in the kitchen to pray and meditate on all that is holy, and others are swept away while “grinding meal together,” worried more about the things that distract, and their bread is ruined along with their lives (Mattew 24:41).  “Keep awake,” Jesus says. 

A monk once taught me that even the simple task of bread making or beer brewing can be holy.  He taught that all of it can be a time for prayer and…and.  Well, I did not really hear the rest of what he was saying because my mind wandered to something else.

Ever been there?  Have you ever been so distracted and carried away with your concerns that you were not truly present with the person you were with, or not truly present to accomplish the task at hand?

I was once at a doctor’s appointment, and the doctor was so distracted, talking and decompressing about the trauma from which she had just come, that it was only after 15 minutes of talking that she realized that she only had about 5 minutes remaining to talk about why I was sitting there in the room.  And you thought there was nothing hazardous about a pastor’s job.  “Keep awake,” Jesus says. 

“Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 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. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 26:42-44).

“Keep awake…you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 26:42). 

While I was preparing for this sermon, I decided that I needed to find some way to stay awake spiritually.  “I need to try my best to keep awake,” I thought to myself.  “Maybe I will set an alarm to help remind myself.  Maybe I will start some sort of daily routine that allows me to remember to keep awake.”  And just as I resolved to do exactly that, a very basic question popped into my head.  “Jesus?” I asked, “what does keeping awake look like?”

“How can I possibly keep awake if I have no idea what you are talking about, Jesus?”

And that question sent me into the Bible.  I started searching for what was going on just before Jesus told us to keep awake.  And if you take a wander with me to just a few chapters before today’s reading about keeping awake, you will discover in Matthew 23:37 that Jesus laments that Jerusalem has refused to gather under his wings and follow his ways.  And if you look even further back you will see Jesus warning some scribes and Pharisees that they have been paying attention to the wrong things; they have been swept away, focusing on things that are not very important.  Sound familiar? 

Listen to Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23). 

“Justice and mercy and faith.”  The scribes and Pharisees have been distracted by things that are not so important and have forgotten to do the most important things: “justice and mercy and faith.”  We still get distracted today from these very things in favor of other concerns and pressing needs: “Justice and mercy and faith.” 

Jesus is not stating anything new by trying to bring our focus back to “justice and mercy and faith.”  This has been the drumbeat of the prophets forever and ever.  Micah 6:8 reminds us: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

Isaiah 1:17 tells us to: “Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

And just in case you are not the type to hear a message through verbal instruction, but you need to hear it in song form, the Bible serves up for us Psalm 82:3. “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”

Ensuring that all people are treated fairly and just, making sure that all people experience forgiveness and experience a concern for their wellbeing, and encouraging people to love and trust in the Lord is exactly what Jesus is talking about when he tells us to keep awake! 

And just in case you do not know what any of that looks like, Jesus provides us with a very clear example.  He teaches that when he comes again, “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me’” (Matthew 25:35-40).

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 needs around them and are awake enough to keep the thief from snatching away those opportunities to show love to others.

And, in this teaching, did you also notice that Jesus has already returned?  It says that when we give water to the thirsty, we give it to Jesus.  He has already returned in the face of a thirsty child.  He has, indeed, shown up at an unexpected time and in an unexpected way.  “Keep awake,” Jesus urges.  It is possible that he has already arrived.

And with that, instead of being inspired, I am now thinking about the number of times I have seen the thirsty one and walked away.  I guess it is only natural to think that way, and I know that I am not alone.  I know plenty of people who live in fear, or feel tired, or simply lack the ability to feel the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.  We stand gazing at the horizon, looking for something better, looking for something beyond this time in life, always looking into the distance.  All the while, the flood waters of hopelessness are collecting around our feet. 

If I have just described you, do not worry.  There have been plenty of times that I have stood, unable to move, unable to shake the waters of inaction from my soul.  That is why we have each other.  That is why Jesus has given us a kingdom in which we stand. 

That is the very reason that Jesus asks us to keep awake and care for others; because there have been plenty of times that Jesus has sent someone who was awake to provide the water when I needed it.  Jesus has often provided someone to hand me some food when there was none.  Jesus has provided me people who have not been swept away by fear and inaction.  Jesus has provided me 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. 

And unbeknownst to me, Jesus has offered me to others as well.  Remember that doctor who had to unload about the trauma she had just experienced?  Well, Jesus just happened to provide someone trained in pastoral listening to help ease that burden off her shoulders.  And a weary and tired doctor experienced a bit of mercy. 

“When was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing?” the people ask at the end of the age.  I did not realize it at first either, but that is the way of those who are awake to God.  You do not plan or schedule love, you are love.  Jesus makes you person of love.

Living in this way is such a gift!  We get to be a part of the love and salvation that Jesus has given us on the cross!  We get to see the eyes of people start to gleam once again when they realize that someone notices them and realize that someone cares about them.  We get to know deep down that we are a part of something vital in this world when we help others.  We are extensions of God’s love, blessing the world when 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, together, we will be a part of Jesus’ great vision to allow God’s kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.