Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Psalm 8; Matthew 24:36-51"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
(Matthew 24:44)
This is the third passage now the speaks of the "coming of the Son of Man." Jesus says that no one knows the day and hour, not the angels nor the Son, only the Father.
The main point today is to "be ready" - and we do that as we "stay awake," watching for him, and by doing what we has told us to do. Noah did this. God called him and told him what to do, he did it; God told him to get into the ark, and he did it.
Are we looking to him and looking for him? Are we doing what he's told us to do? This begins, first and foremost, with "Repent and believe the good new of the kingdom." It also includes loving the Lord with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we love someone who has gone away, we will watch for them or for signs that they are returning: whether post cards or letters, phone calls, reports from mutual friends, or like the prodigal father, keep looking out over the horizon for a glimpse of the returning son.
And if we love them, we will do whatever we can to honor their wishes and desires as they come to us. Like our daughter-in-law Monica asked us before our visit to Atlanta about what we wanted to eat or drink, and how Mark and Monica have us sleep in their room in the good bed.
This seems like the sense of this final part of the discourse before the three parables that close it. Jesus also uses the words "wise" and "faithful" and "servant" to describe the dynamic going on here. Again, he is not throwing us in a maze and saying I hope you can find your way out before the bus leaves or you'll be left forever! He is not saying it's all work, work, work out of fear, guilt, and anxiety. He's simply saying something like, "be in relationship with me, be listening and looking. Be faithful and wise. Love me. Have a heart to serve me, and others, and you'll know when I'm coming, and you'll be ready."
A couple of weeks ago Larry Norman died. He was 60 years old and a Christian rock-and-roll legend. Two of his most famous songs were "Why should the devil have all the good music?" (Jesus is the rock and he rolled my blues away...) and "I wish we'd all been ready." That second one I still remember from about thirty years ago (it was actually written 39 years ago!), it's a sad song, and frankly I don't agree with the the whole "Left Behind" theology it foreshadows, but it's apocalyptic and foreboding tone still ring loudly, like Jesus' imagery in our reading today (check it, and other Larry Norman songs, out on YouTube - just listen, the slide show has it's good parts and goofy parts...):
Life was filled with guns and war, everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died the days grew cold, a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind
A man and wife asleep in bed, she hears a noise and turns her head, he's gone
I wish we'd all been ready
Two men walking up a hill, one disappears and one's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind
Life was filled with guns and war, and everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died the days grew cold, a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind, how could you have been so blind
the Father spoke the demons dined, the Son has come and you've been left behind
"Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes."
(vs. 45-46)
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