First Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

MATTHEW 24:37-44

SOME OF OUR PROTESTANT FRIENDS HEAR THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE AND RELATE IT TO THE BOOK OF REVELATION; THEY SEE THIS AS JESUS PREDICTING SOMETHING CALLED “THE RAPTURE”. IF YOU READ THE BOOK OF REVELATION YOU CAN INTERPRET IT TO SUGGEST THAT BEFORE THE TERRIBLE THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE END OF TIME, THE SAINTS, STARTING WITH THE BLESSED MOTHER, WILL BE MOVED OUT OF HARM'S WAY; ST PAUL TALKS ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE ALIVE BEING CAUGHT UP WITH THE DEAD WHO ARE RAISED AT THE TIME OF JUDGMENT. MANY FUNDAMENTALISTS EVEN THINK THEY KNOW WHERE ALL THIS IS GOING TO OCCUR, AND EVERY NOW AND THEN YOU HEAR ABOUT SOME GROUP GOING TO ISRAEL AND CLIMBING MOUNT OLIVET, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE JESUS ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND THAT'S WHERE HE WILL COME AGAIN TO GATHER UP HIS SAINTS. BUT BEFORE YOU RUN OFF TO MOUNT OLIVET, WE SHOULD PROBABLY LOOK AT THIS STORY A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY.

THE VERSE JUST BEFORE THE GOSPEL PASSAGE REMINDS US THAT NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY NOR THE HOUR, ONLY THE FATHER. AND THE GOSPEL READING STOPS WITH THE LINE ABOUT THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE AND THE THIEF. BUT IF WE WERE TO READ ON, WE WOULD SEE JESUS TALKING ABOUT THE FAITHFUL SERVANT WHO GIVES THE OTHER SERVANTS THEIR FOOD IN THE PROPER TIME. IMAGINE THAT. THE FAITHFUL SERVANT IS COMMENDED BECAUSE HE IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE SHOULD BE DOING. AND THEN WE CAN LOOK BACK AT THIS PASSAGE AND SEE THAT DURING THE TIME OF NOAH, PEOPLE WERE LIVING ORDINARY LIVES; NOT EVIL LIVES, NOT PARTICULARLY GOOD LIVES, BUT ORDINARY LIVES. JEWISH SCHOLARS SAY THAT NOAH, IN ADDITION TO BUILDING THE ARK AND ROUNDING UP ALL THE ANIMALS, PREACHED TO HIS FELLOW CITIZENS THAT THE END WAS COMING. IN THE BEGINNING, MANY BELIEVED HIM AND SOME PITCHED IN TO HELP BUILD THE ARK. AS TIME WHEN ON, AND THE END DIDN'T COME, THEY BEGAN TO GO BACK TO THEIR OLD WAYS, UNTIL ONLY NOAH AND HIS FAMILY REMAINED FAITHFUL. AND WE READ ABOUT TWO MEN OUT WORKING IN THE FIELD; ONE WILL BE TAKEN, ONE WILL BE LEFT; OR TWO WOMEN GRINDING GRAIN, ONE WILL BE TAKEN, ONE WILL BE LEFT. MAYBE IT'S THE ONES WHO ARE LEFT THAT ARE WHERE THEY SHOULD BE, NOT THE ONES WHO ARE TAKEN.

I HAD A PATIENT ONCE WHOSE SON HAD LEFT HOME SHORTLY AFTER HE TURNED EIGHTEEN. MY PATIENT HAD NOT HEARD FROM THE SON IN TWENTY YEARS; SHE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE LIVED, OR HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM. SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER HE WAS ALIVE OR DEAD. SHE TOLD ME THAT AFTER HER HUSBAND PASSED AWAY AND HER DAUGHTER HAD MARRIED AND MOVED OUT, SHE WANTED TO SELL HER HOUSE AND MOVE TO AN APARTMENT, BUT DIDN'T BECAUSE IF HER SON EVER CAME BACK, HE WOULD KNOW WHERE TO FIND HER. SHE WENT ABOUT HER DAILY ROUTINE ALWAYS KEEPING IN MIND THAT THERE MIGHT BE THAT KNOCK AT THE DOOR AND SHE WOULD SEE HIM AGAIN.

CAN IT BE THAT THIS IS WHAT JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT? THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, LIKE NOAH'S NEIGHBORS, LIVED IN ANTICIPATION OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS. EVERY TIME ONE OF THEM DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES OR MARTYRDOM, IT SHOOK THEIR FAITH, BECAUSE THERE WAS THE EXPECTATION THAT JESUS WAS GOING TO RETURN AND TAKE THEM ALL WITH HIM. SAINT PAUL HAD TO TELL THEM THAT IT DIDN'T MATTER IF YOU WERE ALIVE OR DEAD WHEN JESUS CAME, JUST SO YOU WERE READY. AND HERE WE ARE 2000 YEARS LATER, AND WE'VE LOST THAT SENSE OF URGENCY; FOR US THERE IS ALWAYS TOMORROW.

JESUS TELLS US TO BE PREPARED. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULD RUSH OUT TO A MOUNTAIN TOP TO WAIT; IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULD STAND ON THE STREET CORNER WITH A SIGN ON OUR BACK THAT SAYS “REPENT, THE END IS NEAR!”

SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGOURI RESOLVED WHEN HE WAS ORDAINED A PRIEST THAT HE WOULD NEVER WASTE TIME. HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 90, HAVING FOUNDED AND LED THE REDEMPTORIST RELIGIOUS ORDER, HAVING BEEN BISHOP OF NAPLES, AND HAVING WRITTEN 111 BOOKS AND OTHER WRITINGS WHICH ARE STILL READ TODAY. HE IS STILL CONSIDERED A LEADING EXPERT ON THE BLESSED MOTHER, AND ALSO ON MORAL THEOLOGY, AND WAS NAMED A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH. SAINT ALPHONSUS SHOWS US THAT ONE OF THE THINGS SERIOUS CHRISTIANS NEED TO DO IS TO BE VERY AWARE OF HOW THEY USE THEIR TIME.

SAINT AUGUSTINE WAS ASKED WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD DIE BEFORE SUNDOWN. HE REPLIED THAT HE WOULD CONTINUE HOEING HIS VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAINT AUGUSTINE TEACHES US THAT WE HAVE TO LIVE INTENTIONALLY; WHEN WE CHOOSE TO DO SOMETHING, WE DO IT BECAUSE IT IS THE THING TO DO RIGHT NOW, AT THIS TIME.

AND SAINT FRANCIS DESALES TELLS US THAT IF YOU ARE THE MOTHER OF SMALL CHILDREN, YOU SHOULD NOT BE PRAYING BEFORE THE BLESSED SACRAMENT FOR SEVERAL HOURS EVERY DAY. SAINT FRANCIS TEACHES US THAT CHRISTIANS MAKE THEMSELVES HOLY BY DOING THE WORK THEY ARE CALLED TO DO, AND DOING IT AS WELL AS POSSIBLE.

WE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO WITNESS THAT GOD CAME INTO THIS WORLD, HE BECAME MAN, HE LIVES IN US. WHEN I WAS GROWING UP THE TIME BEFORE CHRIST WAS DENOTED AS “B.C.” – BEFORE CHRIST – AND AFTER CHRIST IT WAS “A.D.” WHICH STANDS FOR THE YEAR OF THE LORD. NOW OF COURSE IT IS POLITICALLY CORRECT TO DENOTE THOSE TIMES AS BCE AND CE, – BEFORE THE COMMON ERA, AND THE COMMON ERA. BUT THE OLD DESIGNATION REFLECTS THE IDEA THAT FOR A CHRISTIAN, EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN GOD BECAME MAN AT A PARTICULAR TIME AND PLACE, AMONG A PARTICULAR PEOPLE. AND WE GIVE WITNESS TO THE FACT THAT OUR WORLD IS INFUSED BY GOD BECAUSE OF THE INCARNATION IN OUR STRUGGLE TO BECOME SAINTS. WE LIVE WITNESSING THAT IT MATTERS HOW WE TREAT OUR NEIGHBORS; IT MATTERS THAT WE ARE HONEST, EVEN WHEN NO ONE WOULD KNOW; IT MATTERS HOW WE TAKE CARE OF OUR BODIES AND OUR MINDS, BECAUSE WE ARE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. WE CHRISTIANS WITNESS THAT EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN GOD BECAME MAN WHEN WE CONSCIOUSLY TRY TO BRING CHRIST INTO THE WORLD THROUGH OUR IMITATION OF HIM.

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH, WE ARE TOLD THAT THE PAGANS SAID TO EACH OTHER, “SEE HOW THESE CHRISTIANS LOVE ONE ANOTHER!” AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT MANY PAGANS BECAME CHRISTIANS BECAUSE THEY SAW THIS. TODAY OUR GOSPEL TELLS US THAT WE NEED TO LIVE OUR LIVES SO THAT OUR NEIGHBORS WILL SAY, “THEY REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT JESUS WILL COME AGAIN. AND THEY ARE READY.”