Lying in wait for the buds of spring

This week's verses are Matthew 24:32-44:

 “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not even the angels in heaven—except the Father alone. For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood, people 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 took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one left. There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; one will be taken and one left.

“Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

 

Before these verses, Jesus is talking to us about the end of the world. The disciples were asking him when everything would happen. What is the shortcut?
They know they can't get it right every time, so they want to know when it will count. 

So Jesus starts in with these verses, where he talks about the fig tree.
The fig tree buds and it is summertime. Or for people in more wintry climates who don't have fig trees, we might say that spring begins when the snow has all melted. 

Does anyone know the precise day and time that will happen? Can anyone say that at 3pm, on the 17th of April, the last snowflake will melt and spring will officially begin? We recognize it when we see it, but we can't predict the time specifically.

And the same is true for the end of the world. We will recognize the things that Jesus describes, but can we predict exactly when they will happen?

What teenager can predict that on their 25th birthday they will try heroin for the first time, become an addict, infect their fiancee with HIV, and be dead before they turn 30?

What successful executive would project that in five years, on the 9th of August, at 7:23pm, after celebrating a new promotion, they would drive home drunk and accidentally run over and kill their neighbor's kid playing in the driveway?

If we could predict these things, we'd avoid them, right? But not everything follows our schedule.The future unfolds organically.

It's hard for us to believe that. We don't want to believe that there are things outside of our control. We like to think that with science we can predict everything, that we can control everything, maybe even that we are a little bit like gods in that way. But we can't. And we aren't.

So Jesus asks us, the ones who think we can control this: How would we protect against a thief in the night if we didn't know when he was coming?

In the west, there is enough of a fear of the law that while a thief might steal from you, they know the penalties are much higher for anything more serious. So in the west, thieves mostly just steal. But elsewhere; in some places, once the thief is in the house, he'll rape and kill and do whatever he wants, because he knows he's not going to jail.

The situation Jesus was referring to would have been like the more dangerous one. There were no police back then. So, imagine someone is coming to break into your house. If he gets in, he can and will do as he likes. 

So do you stay up all night, every night, waiting by the door with a club in your hand? You can't. But you also can't get the thief to just tell you what time he's stopping by either. And yet you have to do something. So what do you do?

You design your house such that the thief can't just walk in. You make it difficult for him to slip in unnoticed. Set up some alarms, throw some gravel down, install some floodlights. You prepare yourself, so that when he does arrive, you are ready for him.

So, I guess the first question Jesus is really asking us in this conversation, is "Are you ready?" If the world ended tonight, would you know where you are going? Are there plans you would change? Habits you would drop? Things you would distance yourself from? Make the changes while they can be made. Buy the supplies while they are cheap.

And the second, which is a bit linked to the last couple weeks' studies, is "Are you paying attention?" We need to have our eyes open, and be ready. We need to be aware of the season we're in and behave appropriately.

That is what Jesus is asking us to do, when confronted with the reality that our world will end, and is ending. He is asking us to prepare ourselves for the harsh times ahead. He is asking us to be ready. We don't know when the end will come, but like a homeowner, we can prepare for it all the same.