[Jesus said:] "Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)
To hear Jesus tell it, being ready for his coming means paying more attention to what's going on around us, not less. It means keeping our eyes intentionally open, not letting them shut sleepily into the blissful ignorance of unconsciousness. It means keeping active in the present moment in light of the promised future, rather than sitting on our hands passively until we get to heaven.
All of that is implicit in these words from Jesus, which conclude the parable many of us heard this past Sunday in a reading from Matthew's Gospel. And he says the same in other places as well, almost like the refrain of a song or a guideline for living. "Keep awake," he says. And why? Because none of us knows "the day nor the hour"--that is, the timing of Jesus' coming in glory to make all things new. We don't know when he will appear, and so in the meantime, we are called to be ready, active, and spending the time we are given in ways that will still matter even after the old order of things in the world is past, and God's Reign has come in its fullness.
That, I think, is the key to this idea of staying awake. It's not that we, by our efforts or prayers or willpower, can do anything affecting the timing of Jesus' coming. That does not depend on our praying for it, or on some secret timeline of world events set into motion like clockwork (sorry, Left Behind and The Late Great Planet Earth fans). It cannot be sped up by a war in the Middle East or delayed by the outcome of the midterm elections. It is not affected by the number of Christians in political power or the number of people in church last Sunday. We are not in charge of the timing of Jesus' return--rather, we are responsible for what we do with our lives until his coming.
If Jesus doesn't think we can affect the timing of his arrival by our staying awake, why is that kind of vigilance still important? Why should we "keep awake" if we still won't be able to predict the moment of Jesus' return? I think the idea here for us not to get lulled into complacency or let ourselves believe that our lives and choices now are unimportant. I think Jesus has in mind that we pay attention to the world and make intentional choices about what we devote our time, sweat, and love to--because an awful lot of the things we spend our energy on are simply not going to matter in the big scheme of things.
I could spend my days trying to make a bigger and bigger pile of money, I suppose--but it will all be worthless at the inauguration of Jesus' reign, where the economy is built on mercy and the only currency is grace. I could devote my life to getting more stuff, newer technology, and fancier status symbols, but they'll all end up in the dumpster one day. I could turn all my attention in my life to seeing the interests of Me and My Group First and ignore the needs of everybody else outside that circle, but one day I'll discover that all those other people I dismissed as "the least of these" were fellow citizens in the kingdom of God, and indeed they even bore the face of Christ. When Jesus says, "Keep awake," I think at least part of what is being said is, "Pay attention right now to what actually matters, and what will not matter one little bit in light of my coming."
So it's not that if I do enough good deeds I can speed up the return of Christ... and it's not that if I do too many bad deeds I will delay or thwart the coming of the Kingdom. But rather, it's a question of doing more than sleepily going through the motions and paying close attention to what actually matters. In the end, my net worth will be forgotten, my achievements will have faded to invisibility, and my climbing up the corporate ladder will be laughable. What will remain is love. What will endure are the neighbors God sent across my path in life. What will retain its value are things like joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and goodness. It's worth spending our lives on those, and paying attention to what we are allowing to hold our interest in this life.
I know I have spent a lot of time in my years already sleepily dreaming of what everyone else told me I was supposed to want: the American dream, the 2.5 kids and the dog, the bigger house and the nicer car, and all the rest. But in light of Jesus' coming, there are things--and people--who matter a whole lot more than increasing my 401(k) and getting a vacation home.
Today, may all of us be alert and clear-eyed enough to spend our energy on what will still matter when Jesus comes in glory.
Lord Jesus, keep us from the sleep of complacency, and alert us to the things that will truly endure.
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