Matthew 24: 36-44

In the preceding verses, Jesus has said, “…this generation will not pass away until [certain things] have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Then he continues, in verse 36:

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

“For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

“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, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

“Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

“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 unexpected hour.”

The way Matthew tells it, it sounds like the coming of the Son of Man is something to be feared.

In the field or at the grinding wheel — wherever we may be when he comes — the judgment will be swift and decisive. “One will be taken and one will be left.”

Here we are, thinking we’re supposed to be preparing for Christmas, but maybe what we should be getting ready for is Judgment Day. At least that’s the view of some forces in our society — those who’ve adopted what Marian McClure spoke of two Sundays ago as a “pre-millenial” perspective. But I’m not sure that’s what Matthew — or Jesus — wanted to convey.

There’s one thing that’s gotten clearer as I’ve studied the Scriptures: This whole experience of expectation and anticipation that we call Advent isn’t about preparing to celebrate Christmas; but it isn’t about the time of judgment either.

In a broader sense, I think it’s about reorienting ourselves toward the future — allowing ourselves to see the new possibilities God is constantly putting in front of us — opening ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s promise. And as we focus on that new realm of possibilities, the line between present and future — today and tomorrow — becomes less rigid… less clear.

In our First Testament lesson, Isaiah sees a vision of God’s kingdom — a time when God is exalted above all… when God teaches us and leads us to a new state of peace and light.

Jesus’ disciples — the first Christians — knew that he had come to bring us into that new kingdom. He came to be the light of the world. But he also came to warn us that we must be prepared for what is to come.

What I want to suggest to you this morning is that Jesus’s purpose was not to warn us so that we wouldn’t be left behind, but so that we might live as full participants in his kingdom… so that we might play a role in the continuing fulfillment of God’s promise. Or, to express it differently, he wanted to alert us to the news that the future is now.

I don’t think Jesus would ever want us to live in fear and trembling, but to be open and trusting and ready for God to surprise us… any time, perhaps even now. There’s a fairly obvious clue in the fact that Jesus and the angels couldn’t predict the time of the second advent — the one we’re really supposed to be preparing for.

If they didn’t know, how arrogant and pretentious would it be for us to think we could read all the signs? And more to the point, how foolish would it be to assume that the second advent remains a far-off, future dream. If we can’t wrap our minds and hearts around the possibility that Christ’s kingdom has already come, we may as well deny the relevance — the reality — of advent in our lives.

If the hour is unknowable, it’s not for us to speculate about what was or is or will be, but only to trust in the One who has promised a new reality. Our hope lies not in our ability to chart the right course or make the right choices so that God’s promise might be fulfilled. Our hope lies in the reliability of the promiser, the faithfulness of God, and the certainty that the Son of Man is coming.

Our challenge isn’t to read the signs and break the code to discover when the end will come. A promise — God’s promise — doesn’t depend on logic or probabilities. Its fulfillment isn’t secretly encoded in the day-to-day events of our lives. It doesn’t have to be likely, or even possible, by human standards.

That’s why it will catch us by surprise. God’s ability to fulfill a promise doesn’t depend on our understanding of reality. It isn’t rooted in our experience of the world. It’s connected only to God’s future. And that’s what Jesus wants us to be prepared to accept.

As inheritors of God’s promise, we are bound not to the past, but to the future. We’re challenged to reorient ourselves toward its continuing fulfillment. That’s what it means to be watchful… expectant… prepared. It’s not about being ready for Christmas. It’s about trusting that the birth of Christ was just the beginning of the new kingdom, in which God’s promise is already becoming reality.

When Jesus talked about Noah, he didn’t dwell on the sinfulness of the rest of the world. He said they were trapped in their business-as-usual world — eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage — too preoccupied with their own self-fulfillment to accept a new reality.

Noah’s contemporaries were too firmly grounded in the present to receive God’s promise of a new future. Talk about one being taken and another left behind! They didn’t even know the ship was about to sail. Like the owner whose home was plundered because he failed to keep watch, they had allowed themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security, at the expense of their own future.

But later parables in Matthew’s Gospel make it clear that we can be watchful and prepared… by following Christ’s teaching and living as he commanded us to live — caring for the hungry, the sick, the outcast and the oppressed.

Advent isn’t about being ready for the birth of Christ. That already happened — whether we were ready or not.

What we’re waiting for now is the coming of the Son of Man — not on December 25th, but at an unknown hour: maybe 100 years from now… or maybe at 11:47 this morning. We no longer wait for the baby’s birth; we await his return as the Lord of heaven and earth. Or perhaps we’re simply waiting for our hearts to let him in.

As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, how real will his presence be for us? “This is my body,” Jesus said, and “this cup is the new covenant.” Are we ready to believe that it is, or will our minds be hearing “was” or “will be”?

Earlier this week, Rich Mouw shared some reflections on “is” in his Internet blog . Dr. Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary and, although not ordained as a Presbyterian, his leadership at  Fuller has brought the seminary closer to our Reformed perspective. (But I would hasten to point out that this is only my opinion, and may not be shared by all Presbyterians.)

“I have been reading John Calvin,” Mouw writes, “and in the process my thoughts have turned briefly to Bill Clinton.” You may recall the president’s much-derided grand jury testimony about the Monica Lewinsky affair, when he offered the now-famous comment, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

“Given the context,” Mouw suggests, “Mr. Clinton deserved the derision. But in making a general point about ‘is,’ the president could have claimed John Calvin as an ally. In arguing against the… doctrine of transubstantiation, Calvin spends several pages on the meaning of “is” in Christ’s statement… “This is my body.” How we understand this… verb, Calvin insists, is of utmost importance in grasping the significance of the eucharist.”

How we understand it, on this First Sunday of Advent, depends on how we perceive what is in relation to what is to be.

The question is: Are we ready to acknowledge that God fulfills promises in totally illogical and unpredictable ways?

Are we ready to blur the line between present and future and embrace the eternal reality of Christ’s coming?

Are we prepared to experience the wonder of Advent, and to be totally “blown away” by God’s amazing grace?

“You must be ready,” Jesus said, “for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Amen.

Property of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church

Contact the  church to obtain reprint permission