Be awake, even in the Nights
We begin today the season of advent. Advent is from Latin word, “Adventus” meaning “Coming”. In the course of the church’s years, it has assumed also the sense of “Expectation”.
These two words: “Coming” and “Expectation” put us into the very meaning of not just the Church’s liturgical season, but also our own earthly season. The Advent season brings before us, the reminder of “the coming of the Son of Man”. And when someone says to us: “I am coming to you”, the expected response from us is that of “Expectation”. We stay in expectation for the arrival of the one who comes.
The gospel reading of today (Matt 24:37-44), places a great emphasis on these two dimensions of our reality as God’s children which Advent reminds us, that is, The Coming of the Lord, and the Expectation required of us. When we are expecting someone, and we agree with the person on the time, we can be about other businesses of our lives and then when the agreed time approaches, we now keep ourselves in the mood of receiving a visitor. But it becomes too demanding when we know that someone is coming, but we do not know when.
This is the situation in which Jesus places this “Coming of the Son of Man”. It may seem that Jesus does not tell us anything about this “Coming of the Son of Man” expect that he will come and that we have to be ready for his coming. But today’s ready actually reveals to us the important things we have to keep in mind for this his coming to us.
Firstly, the circumstance in which he will come: Using the imagery of Noah and the great flood (Gen 7), Jesus gives us what would be the circumstance in the day of his coming. There is not going to be an extraordinary event. It is not that the heavens would begin to shake, or that the earth will begin to rotate faster, and may be night will befall the earth in the morning etc. No. All these extraordinary things we try to create would not be an indication of his coming.
In fact, Jesus himself warns us to be careful when all the “not-normal” occurrences begin to happen, and people begin to read signs of his coming in them (Lk 21:5-19). His coming will be like the day of Noah when people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage (Matt 24:38). That is to say, in the day of the great flood, people were going about their normal life businesses. Jesus uses this to teach us that the circumstance of the day of his coming will not be different from that of our normal daily businesses. But if we are not awake and vigilant even while living our normal lives, we will not know when his coming overtakes us.
Secondly, where will it be: On responding to the underlying question: “Where will it be”? Jesus gives us the metaphor of two men working in the field, and two women working at home. In other words, no matter where one is when the time comes, the Lord will meet him/her there. It is not going to be: “Please Lord, let me just go home and drop message to my people”
or “Please Lord, let me complete this project first”. No. whether we are at the place of our work (depicting by the men in the field), or we are at our houses (depicting by two women grinding corns), when it is the Lord’s time, our location won’t be an excuse.
So what is expected of us is to watch and be vigilant wherever we find ourselves. Wherever we may be, what is important
is that we live as God’s children “Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.” At the moment of his coming to us, it does not matter how many people are living the same lifestyle with us. We may be living the same sinful lifestyle with our friends etc, and be consoling ourselves that “every other person is doing it”. The day the Lord has planned to visit us may not be the same day he has scheduled for our friends. Two men have gone for robbery, one shot dead and died in sin, the other repented and became a true child of God, ready to meet him when he comes.
I remember the event of two young girls, one was 17 years, the other 18 years. They were living reckless lives and they got pregnant. The senior one had done abortion two times but the junior one had not. The senior one convinced the junior and they both went in for abortion. On the process, there was excess bleeding from the junior and she died. The senior lived, repented, got married, had kids and died at old age. We are not judging and condemning the younger one. But we are saying, “let not want others do be our conviction for doing the same”. Let us not take consolation in what we see in others and how others live. As the Lord requests, we must rather always be awake and vigilant.
Will he come in the morning or at night? The Lord responds: “I will come like a thief.” We are therefore expected to be awake even in the night. Night is generally when people rest after the fatigue of the day. Secondly, ‘night’ signifies ‘secrecy’. That is, why people can go or do things without being noticed. It is to these two senses of the night that the Lord also calls for our vigilance for his coming. In our lives, there should not be a time of rest from doing the things of God which keeps us in the mood of expectation for his coming. We should not say, “I have been doing good things, let me just do this one, after I will repent and continue with my good”. Our God does not work with such calculations. The ten virgins were waiting for hours, the very moment five of them decided to go and refill their lamps, the bridegroom came in and locked the door (Matt 25). There should not be a “Shabbath” in our living a holy life.
Secondly, even that moment when we think that nobody sees what we do or where we go to, in the very secret of our lives, the day of the Lord can come upon us there too. There should be no difference between what we are during the day and what we are in the night. The good things we do when eyes are on us, we should do more when no one is there to see. St. Paul tells us in the second reading (Rom 13:11-14), that as children of God, we must
always live in the day. That is to say, we must always be active in doing God’s work and in living as his children. We must live as children of light and not sons of darkness.
This life of Christ entails living in peace and harmony, showing love to everyone, seeing and using every second of our lives as if it is the last, not postponing the good we must do. Like in the vision of Isaiah in the first reading (Is 2:1-5), we should always hunger to learn the ways of the Lord and live by them. One of the ways of the Lord is living in peace with others. Instead of using swords and spears for war and destruction, we shall convert them as tools for doing good. Instead of using our positions in life, our advantages, our gifts, our bodies etc. to cause injury to others, we shall put them into service for others. This is what it means to live in the expectation of the coming of the Lord.
May the Lord help us to be always and everywhere ready to meet him whenever he comes to us.
Fr. Chukwuezugo Nnamah