Matthew 24:36-44
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven or the Son, only the Father. 37For just as in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, feasting and marrying until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all. So will also be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two will be grinding with a millstone; one will be taken and one will remain. 42Keep watch therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been vigilant and not have let his house been broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, because you do not know at what hour the Son of Man is coming.
Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the church year. The word ‘advent’ is from a Latin word, adventus, which means ‘coming’ or arrival of an important occasion or person.
During the four Sundays of Advent we look forward to the important occasion of Christmas and its celebration of our Lord’s coming as a human baby born at Bethlehem as the Saviour of the world. It is Jesus’ birth, this Advent of the promised Saviour, which marks the beginning of the end times. The end is near.
During these four Sundays of Advent we also focus on preparing for Jesus’ final coming as King at the end of time. That preparation for His arrival involves self-examination and repentance.
The end is near, but, Jesus Himself tells us in today’s Gospel, nobody knows the day or hour of His return. We can only join in the confession of the Apostle Paul, who in our second reading from Romans 13 declares that “…our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed”.
Jesus explains His imminent coming and what that will mean with an example from history: His coming will be like the flood in Noah’s day. In verses 38-39 Jesus says:
“In those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, feasting and marrying until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all.”
Jesus is not condemning the eating and drinking, feasting and marrying, but the state of indifference to life with God. Noah and his family heeded the word of God and were saved. The building of the ark was a sign to the people for repentance, the sign that judgement through the flood was coming. Yet they carried on with their daily lives, eating and drinking, feasting and marrying oblivious to their need for God and the blessing of His forgiveness, so that when the flood came, suddenly, unexpectedly, it took them all.
So will the coming of the Son of Man be, Jesus says: sudden and unexpected. Which is why vigilance for His return is a critical matter. Jesus tells us a parable of a thief breaking into a house to help us understand this. If a thief consulted with the owner of the house prior to their burglary, and notified them of the precise time they were coming, the owner of the house would not be otherwise occupied or asleep, but present and vigilant, waiting for the arrival of the thief so that they could take the appropriate measures.
Thieves don’t publish a schedule for their criminal activity. It is sudden and unexpected. That is why, if that owner of the house in the parable had known at what time they were coming, he would have kept an eye out for them. Vigilance is necessary. So too for Jesus’ coming. Jesus says: ‘Therefore you also must be ready, because you do not know at what hour the Son of Man is coming.
Some years ago a tourist was travelling along the shores of Lake Como in Northern Italy. He wanted to visit a particular castle called Villa Arconti. When he reached the castle, an elderly gardener opened the gate and showed the tourist around the grounds which he had kept in perfect order, for over 24 years. “How often has the owner of the castle been here during that time?” The tourist asked. “Four times,” the gardener replied. When was the last time that he was here?” The tourist asked. “Twelve years ago,” the gardener replied. “Does he call or write to you?” “Never,” answered the gardener. The tourist was amazed, and said: “But you keep this garden in such fine condition and take such excellent care of it, just as though you expected your master to come tomorrow.” “Today, sir—today,” the gardener replied.
How about us and our preparedness for Jesus’ return? Would we be thinking: ‘Today my Lord may return. I must watch and be ready. I must attend to the state of my spiritual life and devotion.’
How many days in this past week have we thought that? How often have we lived each day as if we expected our Lord to arrive that very day?
Our work and leisure are two big areas of our daily lives that often crowd out the thought of being ready and keeping watch. We hear that from our text. Two people were in a field, one was taken, the other left behind. Two were milling the grain, one was taken, one left behind. So while there were two people carrying out their daily work, one was focused on work and its rewards; the other was focused on Christ!
In whatever work we do, it’s easy for us to become consumed in it. Would Jesus want us, in whatever line of work we are in, to be so busy that we do not come to Him in a time set aside for daily meditation and weekly reception of His grace and blessing through His presence to bless us in Sunday worship? That is the whole purpose of our text: to work in us the desire for daily baptismal living and the presence of God through the holy things he offers to us: His word and sacraments, as we await His final coming.
Yet these things easily go onto the backburner as we go through the daily motions, the weekly grind. It is easy to work ourselves into the ground. Our thoughts shift to taking time out. Of eating, and drinking, and feasting, as it were. How often is our immediate thought when we do have time off to say: “At the beginning of the day I will read my bible for 30 seconds, a precious half minute when I can meet with Jesus my Lord who will be there with His Spirit to bless me.”
But during Advent, we are not just keeping watch over our hearts and minds. Advent is also a time of joyful expectation and a time of hope. Advent is a time of waiting – not just waiting aimlessly, but waiting expectantly; a waiting for God to fulfil His promise. It is why we have the fifth candle on Advent wreaths. The candle in the centre, symbolising Christ, God born in flesh for us as a human baby, the light of the world who has come and who will come again. Christ the one who is at the centre of our expectant waiting, the One who our faith and hope clings to, and the one who fulfils it.
The gospel in our text is the very fact that Jesus is coming again to take His faithful people to be with Him in heavenly glory forever. For His faithful people, Jesus’ coming again is a time of joy and comfort, a time of fulfilment.
How will Christ’s second coming actually happen? Will we have time to blink? Will we be overcome with fear or rush to meet our Lord in jubilation? At His coming will we give extravagant praise or fall on our face in spontaneous reverence at the holiness of God before us? How would we know if it were really Jesus, or if we were being led astray by a false Christ?
Today’s text tells us that just as our entire salvation is completely the work of the one who was nailed to the Cross for us, so also our final rescue is completely up to Him. Jesus never speaks of us going anywhere! We are simply there. We are just waiting, the ones open to his work; the recipients of His grace. The action is on His part. He is coming to us. That, after all, is what adventus means. He comes – and those who belong to Him will be taken.
As we wait for His coming, His taking of us into eternal glory, may He, as the God of all hope, bless and keep each of us in true faith and hope.
And for those of us whose spouse or children or parents do not yet know the Lord, and for whom today’s reading consequently fills you with anxiety over your loved ones without faith, may you receive true peace and hope knowing that the Lord who is coming again, is the God of all hope.
The God of all hope who humbled Himself and became man, who broke into our world which groans for deliverance from transgression, the God of all hope who came to bring forgiveness and compassion to our human race tearing itself apart. The God of all hope: who came in human flesh and shared our weakness, and took upon himself the most sickening of human sin and depravity, so that those in the depths of despair could have a true and lasting joy of knowing God.
He continues to come into our world, into the homes and hearts and minds of those who, like the Apostle Paul once did, even proudly and publicly reject and persecute him. The God of all hope continues to come, even to the faithless, to create life saving faith in those, who like us, were unable to come to our Saviour by our own strength or choose Him.
Because God kept His promise to send His son, the world’s Saviour, He has shown Himself to be trustworthy. We can count on Him. We can count on His promise that Christ our Lord is coming again to take all His faithful people to be with Him.
Until then He continually comes to us in His holy Word as He has done again this morning, in the waters of Holy Baptism and in bread and wine which is his true body and blood.
Through these means He graciously bestows upon us the riches of His grace and all the benefits He won for us on the Cross through His shed blood: forgiveness, righteousness, reconciliation and peace with God, freedom from sin, death and the devil, and eternal life.
Through these means your King comes to you, humble and gentle, giving Himself, forgiving you, blessing you, and strengthening you in the one true faith until life eternal. Come Lord Jesus, come!
Amen.