The first disciples were mired in the present moment. Most were poor. Like their contemporaries, they were living from day to day in a harsh world. The community faced daily struggle, fear and persecution. They needed to be reminded. Though Jesus seems to be gone and things were going poorly for his community, nevertheless, he is with us now and he will return. In the light of this hope, early Christians could look at their lives through the lens of expectation. He will soon come again.
As time passed, and Jesus did not in fact return, the sense of urgency passed. It was easier to become complacent, to grow comfortable with compromise, and to put off real conversion. All of the Gospel messages about being prepared had to be reinterpreted. Very often, the motivation for authentic Christian living became the inevitability and the unpredictability of death. Christians must live good and holy lives every single day in order to be ready to meet the Lord at the moment of death.
But being prepared has to take on a different meaning. Jesus called his disciples to “roll up their sleeves” for the hard work ahead (his image is, “Gird your loins....”) and to light their lamps. In what kind of darkness will we need to light the way?
The seeming victories in modern society, especially in the first world, its pride, accomplishments and privileges for the few, are illusionary and temporary. The powerful and rich seem triumphant. Nevertheless the community of Jesus is called to be less anxious about its own welfare and more concerned about those in need. The comfortable and the competent are the ones who are really on shaky and insecure footing. For with the Lord’s return, their powerful rule, will be revealed for the illusion it is. Jesus likens his return to a thief’s breaking into a house. It will come as a complete surprise to those not prepared for it, to those living in false security and distracted about other things.
Being prepared means being ready for a spot check on our Christianity at any time. We cannot shirk our responsibility as disciples with our gaze fixed on some future reward in heaven. Rather, we are called to tend to what is not well in this life. Jesus’ strong reminder that he will return like a thief who catches the householder unprepared, should keep us on our toes, focused on what occupied Jesus’ attention while he walked among us - healing the sick, welcoming strangers, eating with outcasts and forgiving wrongs done against us. We cannot accept a dualism that focuses on our destiny with God, while the current distress of the world God created in love goes unaddressed.
We are the people of the promise, the people of God's choice. We are the "evidence of things not seen." At the most unexpected times and in the most surprising of ways, the Lord knocks on the door of our lives and asks to be let in.
Image: Eugene Burnand, The Waiting Servants
