For Sunday, December 1, 2013 – Matthew 24:36-44
And suddenly, they were swept away! Out of nowhere it was upon them, catching them unprepared and without protection. Some were taken and some were left behind. Some were lost and some were saved. Stay awake! Is this today’s scripture, or today’s news? Massive tornadoes ripping through unsuspecting towns, floods and fires and tsunami-force waves submerging entire regions—are these simply natural occurrences, the consequence of large air masses radically changing temperature and colliding, or the advent of Jesus?
Traditional end-times theology, which would have us watching the skies with anxious hope for Jesus to come back and clean up this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into—and judge us for doing, or not doing, what we should have been doing—has never sat easily with me. It just doesn’t sound like the same Jesus who walked beside us, got down in the mess with us, saying again and again, “Fear not.” Threatening punishment if I don’t shape up and fly right sounds more like . . . well, me.
Which leaves me to wonder, maybe the coming devastation spoken of in scripture is no threat. Maybe Jesus simply is describing the way things go when we live out of alignment. Maybe the coming crises of creation, and whether or not we will see what’s happening and wake up, are of premier significance—the kind of significance we could call salvation and not be exaggerating. Maybe our salvation, which is nothing less than the fulfillment of the incarnation, is integrally tied to whether or not we wake up and see what Jesus sees, or whether or not we just keep snoozing as the burglar breaks into our house.
If we know what’s coming, Jesus says, surely we will stay awake. If we know what’s happening, surely we will pay attention. Won’t we?
