The Unexpected Hour
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Today is the first Sunday of a brand-new year in the Christian calendar. We begin today in the season of Advent.
Growing up, we did not celebrate the season of Advent in our church. After Thanksgiving, it was all about Christmas. We had Christmas plays at church. The church choir would present a cantata. There would be Christmas parties.
My mom would bake lots of Christmas cookies and fruit cakes. My family didn’t drink alcohol, but my mom always managed to have a bottle of rum to add some to the fruit cakes! I never did ask her where she got it from.
Advent is a time of perpetual watchfulness for children. Each day is looked at with much scrutiny: “How many more days until Christmas? What if I miss it?”
Everyone and everything is monitored closely to see what comes in and out of the house. Each night is met with increasing restlessness, not wanting to sleep or even close your eyes because—what if you miss it? What if you miss the magic? What if you miss the wonder? What if you miss Santa Claus on the rooftop or sneaking presents under your tree?
My brother and I would take advantage of every moment that both of our parents were out of the house to go hunting for where they hid the presents. Sometimes they were in the attic. Sometimes they were in our parent’s closet. Sometimes they were in the basement. We always managed to find where they hid them.
If they did manage to get them wrapped before we found them we were not above carefully unwrapping them to see what was there and even play with what we found if we knew we wouldn’t get caught.
By the time we were teenagers my mother gave up and just put the stuff under their bed knowing we were going to find it anyways. It did take much of the challenge out of that sneaking around every year.
Kids watch closely each and every day with wonder, counting down the days until that magical day finally arrives.
While this story isn’t relatable for everyone. Some did not grow up with that sense of wonder that Advent and Christmas brings. I think though that most of us can relate to a time we were anticipating something. A wedding day, the birth of a baby, retirement, a long-worked-for raise—whatever it might be, we know what it is like to watch in extreme anticipation, waiting.
Our text today is about this type of waiting and watching, never losing focus on what we should have our eyes on: the return of Jesus.
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24: Matthew Jesus’ Exhortation to Watchfulness
While Jesus was certain of His return, He didn’t know the exact time. Consequently, His primary emphasis was on watchfulness
Many of us read this text with the baggage of fear, and there’s some validity to that because the preceding verses are a bit gloomy—to say the least. The disciples were wanting to know what the signs of Jesus coming at the end of the ages. Jesus paints a somewhat distressing picture. It might leave some with a sense of fear. There is definitely a sign of caution here to not be distracted, to stay the course, but the message is not one of fear. It’s ultimately one of hope: that God keeps his promises, that Christ will return, and that if we stay the course, if we are watchful and ready, we will see this hope fulfilled.
Hope is a very powerful feeling. When someone is diagnosed with a dread disease, they will hold out hope that a cure will be found. It is when a person loses hope and gives up that there is nothing else that can be done to help.
As Christians we are called to live in hope. That hope is that one day that Jesus is going to return.
We are to focus on what we are called to.
This text reveals a distractedness that can consume all of us. Instead of staying focused on Christ, sharing Christ, and living the life Christ has called us to, other things rush in to distract us.
There is so much in our culture today that can distract us and get our eyes off the main thing. The challenge for us is to keep focused on what we are called to. What is it that we are called to?
The Gospel of Matthew has an overarching theme of sharing the gospel with others. This theme is revealed in the Great Commission at the end of the book,
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
We also see this theme illustrated in the parable of the sheep and goats in 25:31–46, where we learn that the call of those following Christ is to a life lived in love and compassion for those around us. Jesus said there in that passage:
37 “Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’
One thing that always stood out to me in that story is that neither the righteous nor the unrighteous realized that they were serving or not serving Jesus by what they did or didn’t do. The righteous were living a life of faithfulness and treating everyone by the words of the second great commandment of loving others as themselves. The unrighteous had forgotten all about that second great commandment and were just looking out for themselves.
We need to remain focused on Christ and sharing Christ, and living the life Christ has called us to. It is way to easy to get distracted. This section of scripture calls us to faithfulness as we live out the hope of Jesus coming again.
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24: Matthew Jesus’ Exhortation to Watchfulness
Jesus calls us to be disciples in the world, to serve in the world, to evangelize the world—not to stand apart waiting for His coming.
We have a call to join the mission of God in the world. What is God’s mission? It is a rescue mission to redeem creation that was damaged by sin. The coming of the baby Jesus in a manager was the culmination of that mission. God became man and as the Message paraphrase puts, he moved into the neighborhood.
The problem that we all face is this, it is:
Losing Focus
The context for this passage reveals several parables that illustrate the distracted nature of humanity.
The first is the parable of the ten bridesmaids.
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten young bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t bring oil for them. 4 But the wise ones took their lamps and also brought containers of oil.
Five of the bridesmaids took extra oil with them. They were prepared, they were focused on what was going to happen. The Groom was on his way and they needed to be ready. Five of the bridesmaids did not bring any extra oil and they were left out in the cold.
Why did those five not bring oil? Did they think that perhaps they had more time? Did they as many do today think that someone else was going to do it for them?
What happened with them? They got distracted. They did not keep their focus on the coming of the bridegroom.
The point of that parable was to keep focused on the end. Jesus said
13 “Therefore, keep alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour.
The second parable that Jesus told which helps us is the parable of the talents.
14 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. 15 To one he gave five valuable coins, and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey.
The man entrusted his wealth too three of his servants. The first two invested the money and made a profit for their master. The third did nothing but bury or hid the money.
All three of them gave back to the master the money he had entrusted them with. The first two also gave him the profit they made.
It was that third servant that was only able to return to the master what he had been given. He didn’t put it to work, he didn’t do anything with it other than to hide it.
Are we ever like that third one? Do we hide what God has entrusted us with? We do that when we do not get involved in making disciples. We are all called to make disciples, to share the treasure that God has entrusted us with.
This guy got distracted and worried that he might lose what his master entrusted him with so he did not do anything. Fear can cause us to become distracted, it can cause us to focus on the what if’s and not on the what does Jesus want me to do. We become so distracted that we don’t do anything.
The third parable that Jesus told is the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Common English Bible Chapter 25
44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything to help you?’ 45 Then he will answer, ‘I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’ 46 And they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous ones will go into eternal life.”
What happened with this latter group is they didn’t equate serving others as being the same as serving Jesus. They got distracted with life and did not take the time to help others in their time of need.
We also see this distractedness in verses 37–39 of our text today, in the reference to the time of Noah.
37 As it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Human One.38 In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 They didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Human One will be like that.
The issue was not that the people were marrying, eating, and drinking. The issue was that they allowed those things to distract them from their coming destruction and, ultimately, the opportunity for hope and salvation.
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24: Matthew Jesus’ Exhortation to Watchfulness
Jesus’ point is that life went on as always. There was no sign other than the preaching of Noah for the 120 years while he was building the ark, when suddenly the flood came. From this reference we note that God waited patiently for 120 years for people to repent, but there was no change, and He was morally free to bring the flood of judgment without someone answering back to say that if He had only waited a bit longer they could have repented.
They were caught off guard because they forgot about God. Remember, it took Noah 120 years to build the Ark. They had plenty of time to repent. But when they rain started falling they were caught off guard.
They were not paying attention to the signs around them that were pointing them toward salvation; instead, they were focused on other things.
Life went on during those 120 years, even for Noah. He still had to provide for his family. Every day he worked on building that great ark and every day he worked to provide for his family. He had to grow the crops that would supply the food during their time on that Ark. For 120 years Noah labored to build that ark and face the criticism from his community. Noah did not become distracted, he remained focused on the mission he was given.
Guess what? We also are a distracted people.
While we may know that Christ is coming, we often allow other things to consume our time.
We sometimes forget our call to compassion and love because of these distractions.
This time of year, we can look at obvious distractions in our lives.
Busyness is a problem throughout the year, but this season can feel particularly busy.
Materialism is an issue especially as we near Christmastime. Shiny new things are alluring, and we can sometimes view both getting and giving as a way to be fulfilled; yet both can serve as distractions.
Keeping up appearances—the way we, and our homes, look to others—can become a serious distraction in our lives.
Family can be a distraction, even though family is really good! Much like the people in Noah’s time weren’t wrong for getting married and celebrating, we aren’t wrong for spending time with family, but sometimes even good things like our family can become the focus of the season over Jesus.
There are myriad things that distract us from looking for Christ in our lives and in the world around us.
The important this is for us to stay focused. But, what do we do if we have lost focus? How do we go about regaining focus?
Advent is a season for regaining our focus.
While this might feel like an odd text for Advent, it is appropriate for us today.
This passage reminds us to be mindful of the distractions in our life and remember the birth of Christ.
The statement Jesus is the Reason for the Season is very true.
Each week during Advent we are called to look back to Christ’s birth and remember.
We are also reminded each week during Advent to look ahead to Christ’s return.
Just like the anticipation we had as children, looking forward to Christmas day, we are reminded to look forward for Christ’s return.
What distractions do you need to remove from your life to regain focus on Christ?
What do you need to add to your life to regain focus on Christ?
Those of us who anticipate the return of Christ are hopeful. We know that the hardships and trials we face now will be made right at Christ’s return.
We are confident of the ways the already/not yet kingdom of God is at work.
When we are anticipate Christ’s return, we look for and see where the Holy Spirit is already at work in the world.
We partner with the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, in much the same way Noah partnered with God in building the ark.
The fear that is found in this text is never for those who trust in the Lord. It’s always for those who don’t.
Conclusion
Advent is the new year in the church. New years are often a time for resolutions and for thinking of ways we want to improve. We don’t always think of Advent as a season of reflection and renewal, but what if we shifted our thinking?
What if we found a way to reduce distractions, to simplify things, and to focus on remembering the coming of Christ and anticipating his return? How might we be transformed by that, and how might the world be transformed by our faithful witness of watching and waiting with hope?