Alert (Matthew 24:36-44)

In recent years, and especially since the COVID pandemic, there has been a dramatic rise in the amount of shopping people do online. The process of buying something from an online store is pretty simple. We can look around the internet for something we want to purchase. When we find what we want, we can click on the item, enter our credit card details and delivery address, and then we wait…

A lot of the time, the online store will give us an estimated time when our item will arrive at our home or post office box. At other times, however, we don’t get tracking details or an estimated time of arrival, so we don’t really know when the item will turn up. Our credit card statement tells us we’ve paid for the item, so it’s ours. However, we don’t have what we’ve paid for yet. We can find ourselves in a strange situation of owning something that we don’t yet possess. We trust that it’s coming, but we need to wait for it to arrive.

While we wait, there are two things we can do. We could put it out of our minds and get on with our lives. If we do that, then the possibility exists that we could forget about it all together. Can you imagine buying something online, but then getting so caught up with other things that we forget about it and never collect it from the delivery centre or post office? The other option when we purchase something online is to trust that it’s coming, look forward to its arrival, and keep watching out for it to turn up. If we forget about it and get busy with other things, we could miss out on what’s coming. However, if we look forward in anticipation to what’s coming and keep looking out for it, then, when it arrives, we will be able to enjoy it and receive all the good that it will contribute to our lives.

In this week’s gospel reading, Matthew 24:36-44, Jesus is urging his followers to keep watch and be alert for his return at the end of time. He doesn’t want us to be distracted or complacent about his return because, like something we’ve bought online, if we forget about it, we could miss out on the good that’s coming. Instead, Jesus says, “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42 NLT). Jesus wants us to enjoy and benefit from what’s coming, so he wants us to wake up, keep watch, stay alert and be attentive to his return in the same way that we can look forward to and keep watch for the arrival of something we have bought from an online store. Jesus tells us that “the Son of Man will come when least expected” (v44 NLT). He won’t be like a package whose journey we can track, or that gives us an estimated time of arrival. Instead, Jesus will come when we least expect him, so he urges us to expect him all the time.

This is important because when Jesus returns, he will come with all his heavenly glory to gather his faithful people to himself, rid the world of everything that is wrong and evil, and fulfil his promise to make all things new again. Jesus’ return will be the completion of God’s plan to restore all his creation to the beauty, harmony and perfection that he intended from the beginning. In Revelation 21:5 he says, “Look, I am making everything new!” (NLT) Everything in heaven and earth will be returned to the way God created it in the beginning and the way God always wanted it to be from before the creation of the world. As we read in Revelation 21:4, “there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (NLT). Jesus’ redemption of the world, which he achieved through the sinless life he lived in this world, his innocent death which he died in our place, and his victorious resurrection to new life, will be complete. When Jesus returns, sin, evil and death will finally be overcome and all that will be left will be peace, joy and perfect love.

The life eternal which Jesus will bring with him when he returns will be infinitely better than anything we can buy from an online store. He purchased this life eternal through his life, death and resurrection and he gives it to us absolutely free of charge as an act of total grace which we receive through faith. Our lives now are lived in that time between this life becoming ours through faith and receiving it in full when Jesus returns. Like that time between when we purchase an item online and it turns up at our house or post office box, it’s ours even though we don’t have it yet. The difference is that there is no tracking, no estimated date of arrival, and we don’t know when it’s coming.

The question Jesus challenges us to think about in this reading is what are we doing while we wait for his return to complete our salvation? Do we get so caught up or distracted by the things of this world that we forget about his return and aren’t prepared for him when he arrives? Like an online purchase that we’ve forgotten about and is waiting for us at the post office, have we forgotten that Jesus is coming and have we neglected to prepare for his return? If that’s the case, the warning of this reading is that we can miss out on the life Jesus is bringing with him, similar to the way we can miss out on the good that we can receive from an online purchase. Or are we awake, alert, keeping watch and looking out for Jesus’ return and the life he will bring with him, like we can be alert and watching out for something we’ve purchased online with eager expectation, keen to enjoy and benefit from all the good and life-giving blessings that Jesus will bring with him when he arrives?

Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for Jesus’ coming. We can understand Jesus’ coming in a few different ways. We can remember when Jesus came to our world and God entered into our human experience two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. We can also understand Jesus coming to us now, today through the gifts of his grace and love which he gives to us through the good news of his Word, the water, bread and wine of his Sacraments, and the community of faith to which he calls us. The third way we can understand Jesus’ coming to us is at the end of time when he will return to fulfil all of his promises to us and complete his plan of salvation by making all things new. Until that day, Jesus teaches and urges us not to become complacent or distracted by the things of this world. Instead, as we live in this world and as his grace-giving presence in the world, he urges us to stay awake and alert as we keep watch for his return to make all things new. We can wait with eager expectation for the items we purchase online so we’re ready for their arrival. God fill us with his grace and keep us alert, awake and watching so we will be ready to receive all the good Jesus has for us when we returns at the end of time.

More to think about or discuss:

• If you have bought something online, what is the time like for you between when you purchased your item and it arrives? Have you ever forgotten about something good coming? What did you do while you waited for it to arrive?
• What are you looking forward to most about when Jesus returns? Why is that important to you?
• How can you remain awake, alert or watching out for Jesus’ return? How can you help others keep awake, alert or watching out while we wait for him together?