I'm sorry that I haven't been on top of this the past 2 months! This is becoming more of a seasonal thing... I've just been so swamped with work and school, I haven't had a chance to really sit down and write these discussions. If you would like to do a discussion for a month, please let me know and we'll work something out! Any kind of participation is accepted!
This week, our church has changed its colors to purple. Traditionally, purple is the primary color of Advent, symbolizing repentance and fasting. Purple is also the color of royalty and reception of the coming King, celebrated during Advent. There are 4 readings for this first week that are related to the lectionary: Matthew 24:36-44, Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, and Romans 13:11-14. We will focus on the Gospel of Matthew for this discussion.
Matthew 26:36 presents us with Jesus telling his disciples that neither angels nor ordinary people, including himself, know the timing of His Return, or Second Coming; only the Father knows such things. This should tell us not to focus on timing, but human flaw has us speculating. And yet, there are differences between having a great expectations, trusting that God's word is true, and making calculations which involves human speculation. Jesus does not encourage the latter, even as he instills in his disciples the "Blessed Hope" that he will return one day to raise the quick and dead, as the creeds affirm.
Verses 37-38 draws an analogy that suggests that the days of Christ's return will be more like the days of Noah when the flood came. This analogy suggests that judgment will come in a form of an event which will catch the unprepared by surprise. When Jesus returns, many will be taken away in judgment, but some will be left behind. Jesus is not suggesting that those taken away are more fortunate than those "left behind"; on the contrary, those taken away are taken away from judgment, while those left behind are wiping their brows, thankful that they have survived "the Great and terrible Day of the Lord."
The prudential advice, based on the predictions in verses 36-41, is that the faithful must stay vigilant and awake, knowing that Christ will return, regardless of the unknown timing. The phrase "the hour" is a reference to the timing, It is not suggesting that the timing of Christ's return can be known in advance, but that the specific day or hour is obscure. God reveals just enough about the future to give us hope., but not so much that we do not have to live and walk by faith day after day. We have assurance about the things hoped for, and conviction about things not yet seen, but what we do not have is a timetable in the Scriptures, nor would that have been very helpful to the faithful anyway. The person who knows for sure he will die in two days may well do all sorts of things out of character because he has a firm deadline before him and throws caution to the wind. Likewise, even a Christian person who knows Christ will certainly not return in his lifetime may well be tempted to throw caution and his morals to the wind.
The analogy of Christ's return being like a thief in the night is an important one, and we find it is used in other Scripture, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:2. The imagery itself implies an arrival at an unexpected or surprising time, hence the exhortation to stay awake. As verse 44 says, he will come at an unexpected time.
In the days before cell phones (BC, as it could be referred to...) and text message, friends used to write letters or dial landlines to tell us they were coming for a visit. Since friends might sometimes stop at various places along the way, we were not always certain of when they would arrive. This meant that we had to always be awake and ready to welcome them. It was the certainty of the coming, not the timing that motivated this behavior of being ready at any moment.
What experience in your life can you relate to this story? Of a certainty of coming, but not of timing? What have you learned from this story? How has your faith pushed you through difficult times of waiting or struggling?
Can you share an experience where you may have questioned your faith? Are you still questioning it?
