Matthew 24:36-44; What Kind of Advent Coming This Year: Second Essay

While I was awash in the predictable and expected character of Advent, I decided to look afresh at the text for this morning. And, what did I see? Well, I saw a series of "s's." The coming of the Son of man is secret, sudden, a bit scary and sure. But its sureness doesn't take away from the fact that no one knows the day or the hour of its coming (v. 43). Let's explore the Biblical imagery of this text and then ask the question of how we live with something so expected and unexpected at the same time.

We can divide the passage into three subsections: (1) v. 36; (2) vv. 37-41; and (3) vv. 42-44. The first states the general principle. No one knows when the events of the coming will take place. But before we go further we must face yet another irony or paradox. The coming of which the text speaks about in v. 36 is what Christian's would call the Second Coming, but the coming about which we teach/preach this morning is the First Coming. Yet the sense of uncertainty is the same. Early Christian writers could only talk about Christ's coming fulfilling Biblical prophecy after the event. Few understood at the time that the child born in Bethlehem would be an expected Savior.

I love vv. 37-41 because of their "contemporary" feel. In the days of Noah people were eating and drinking, participating in marriage festivals, celebrating life as if there was no tomorrow. Noah heard in the midst of the cacophony the insistent call of God to do something seemingly very foolish: to build an ark. What a waste of time and energy! What little potential practical payoff! Of all the useless ways to expend one's energy! I always think of Noah when someone comes to me with a scheme which, at first glance, seems "out there."

But then the verse falls on us with all its insistence: "and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away" (v. 39). Such will be the suddenness and secretness of the Coming of the Christ. It may not be like the flood in that it sweeps all away; it will, however, be as unexpectedly secret as was that flood. You couldn't go to the predictable prognosticators to find out about it or to plan for it, even though God let the plan to known to Noah. A YouTube video of Burl Ives from the 1940s singing "Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord," fills my mind as I write this last statement.

Then comes the scary part of the Coming. Two people are working in the field; one is taken, one is left behind. Two women are grinding meal; one is taken, one is left behind. Rather than the coming being a time to cultivate community, then, the Coming is a rather fearful event in which ties are severed and community may be shattered.

But all of this is subordinate to the message of vv. 42-44. In view of this secret, sudden, sure and scary coming, what do you do? Well, you "keep awake." That is easier said than done, because constant vigiliance isn't in our nature. Indeed, constant vigilance is almost impossible. We relax. We need to relax. We become distracted, focused on other things. Yet the Scriptures are insistent. We need to "keep awake" and "be ready" for the uncertain coming of the Son. How do we do both?

III. "Resolving" the Paradox

Paradoxes, like deep philosophical problems, are not meant to be solved. Just as I don't believe that anyone will ever come up with a satisfying explanation of the way that divine and human freedom coincide or why so much misery exists in a world that has been created and is watched over by God, so paradoxes like ours today aren't really meant to be "solved." They just "are." But we can make some headway into its exploration by venturing two verses outside our text. Jesus asks who the faithful servant is, in the context of these realities (v. 45). Then he brings in an arresting word (makarios--blessed) and says that the blessed servant is the one who, when the master/lord comes, finds the servant, literally, "thus doing" (v. 46). Or, in other words, he finds the servant doing just what servanthood requires of him/her.

That, indeed, may be the most unexpected thing about Advent that we can imagine. Instead of being lost in the hoop-de-doo of special services and meetings, of holiday baskets and carol sings, of painful memories and fractured relationships, we are told that the one Jesus calls blessed is the one who is just doing the work of the servant when he comes. That person is the one who is put in charge of all his possessions (v. 47).

Conclusion

Just as the prophet Elijah discovered that God was not in the wind or the fire but in the "still small voice," the unexpected quietness that confronted him after all the demonstrations of nature had played itself out, so we may discover this Advent season that the Coming of Christ for us isn't in the activity, the memories, the fun, the singing, or even the carefully planned lessons of the Sundays in Advent. He may come in our work; in our quiet; in a sudden and unexpected way to us. But the Scripture is clear. The coming is sure. That is the Word of God. How, indeed, has he come for you?

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