Sunday Worship
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the first Sunday in Advent. Our church services are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11.00 am at St Thomas'. If you're not able to be with us in person, the Gospel, reflection and prayers can be found below.
Our first hymn this morning is "Wait for the Lord"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 24:36-44 The Day and the Hour Unknown
Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Reflection
I’ll start this article with a bit of movie trivia for those who like quizzes either on TV or at the pub! In how many movies did Arnold Schwarzenegger say, “ I’ll be back”? It’s mostly associated with the Terminator series of movies, but in total he uses the phrase in 8 movies which also included Running Man, Commando,, Raw Deal and Twins (yes the one with Danny DeVito). When you hear that phrase, you know without doubt that in the next 30 minutes or so Arnie will indeed be back, to hand out retribution and wreak havoc on the bad guys.
Two millennia before that, Jesus made that very same promise - I’ll be back. That also will be a day of judgement, when the wheat is sorted from the chaff and Jesus will return to separate His people from those who do not abide by God’s will. For those who are left behind there will be no second chance, they will be left in a broken world to face the final Armageddon.
Advent is the season of wating with hope and expectation leading up to the our celebration of Jesus’ first coming on that Holy Night in Bethlehem. So it might seem a little challenging, if not scary, to be confronted with this apocalyptic promise of judgement and warnings of being left behind in an ever more broken world.
However, in this passage, Jesus is giving us a positive message of hope. Unlike Arnie, He is not promising to sort out the bad guys, but rather, he is promising to come with his angels and save His followers and believers. Moreover, he is showing us what we must continue to do, by following His teachings and ways. By living our lives in community and looking after one another, living in a way that is pleasing to God.
So, why did Jesus not tell us when the day of Judgement will be? He makes it absolutely clear that only God knows, (for those who are scratching their head, because Jesus is also God, I can point you to a number of discussions on this), but suffice to say, this is what Jesus told his disciples. The point is that we are required to be constantly vigilant to ‘keep awake’. In other words he is saying don’t take your eye off the ball or think you can leave things to the last minute, because ‘judgement day’ is not something you can prepare for at the last minute, like going on a trip or doing the Christmas shopping. But if we help and love one another as part of our way of life then will be prepared. God sees us all the time and He knows what is truly in our hearts.
Jesus told us that people won’t notice His return when it happens. “For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”. Perhaps because many of us are preoccupied with other less worthy things! If we are honest with ourselves, how many hours a week do we spend doing recreational activities when we could be doing something more useful that would please God? When Jesus comes again he will call us all to account for our actions and it will be no good saying, “I just never got around to doing things I should have because I was too busy”.
God reveals enough about the future to give us hope, but not so much that we do not have to live and walk by faith every day. We need to always be ready for Christ’s return. We don’t want Him to catch us by surprise. Paul
