Matthew 24:37-44
37 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Expect the Unexpected
Do you know what a B.O.B. is? It stands for “Bug-Out Bag.” “Preppers” put them together and stash them near an exit. It’s a bag full of the essentials in case of an emergency. So, let’s say that Montana invades Alberta. While the troops are marching through Edmonton on their way to St. Albert, you don’t have to gather a knife, rope, lighter, water, rations, first aid kit. You just grab your pre-made bag and go.
I’m not a “Prepper.” I don’t have a bunker in the backyard or a bag by the door, but I’ve sat around a campfire and discussed what I’d do if the zombie apocalypse ever happened. I know where I’d go, who I’d want to be there, what supplies I’d need.
It’s silly. I’d stake my reputation on the fact that there will never be a zombie apocalypse, and yet, talking through it and making the most improbable preparations somehow made me feel better about something I don’t even believe is going to happen.
I think back to realer threats from real history, like the fear of nuclear war. People dug fallout shelters. Schools practiced duck and cover protocol. Do you think hiding under a desk is going to help if a nuclear bomb dropped? Not much, but it sure made a lot of people feel better about it. There was at least the illusion of being prepared.
We don’t live in the 60s anymore; the threat of nuclear war is drastically lower. The threat of the zombie apocalypse is non-existent, and yet, some of us still prepare for them, while others prepare for different things. A.L.I.C.E. training goes on in schools and workplaces for “active shooter” scenarios that, God-willing, never happen. We have fire escape routes, even though in 60 years that’s never been an issue here. You can get insurance for just about conceivable act of God under the sun.
And yet, there’s one thing we know is going to happen and I’m not convinced we prepare for it enough.
Do you know how long Noah was building the ark? 120 years. Every day he set out to work on a project that for 119 years – longer than any of us have been alive – seemed unnecessary. Noah didn’t know when it was going to start to rain. There was no risk of flooding for more than a century. People laughed at him and mocked him as he prepared for an event many considered as preposterous as the zombie apocalypse. They went about their daily lives eating and drinking; they planned special events, like getting married, without a care in the world. Then, one day, Noah entered the ark.
Can you imagine being one of Noah’s neighbors? For 120 years you’ve been complaining to the home owner’s association that Noah park his ark somewhere else. You marveled at what you considered to be a colossal waste of time and resources. But then you marveled again at his diligence. He wasn’t joking. He had even gathered more animals into one place than the San Diego Zoo.
Then, in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month[1] Noah – and all those animals – got in the ark and didn’t come back out. The skies got unnaturally dark. There was a chill in the air and a shiver ran down your spine as you felt the first raindrop fall.
Jesus says, “they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”[2] That’s not entirely true, is it?[3] Noah had told them. His ark was a visible sign of the coming judgment. They had 120 years to listen. They knew, but they paid no attention.[4] They knew, but they couldn’t comprehend. And so, this entirely expected event came as a surprise.
Jesus warns us not to be likewise surprised, because his return on Judgment Day is going to come much like the Flood did on the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. He didn’t have it marked out on his calendar 120 years in advance, but when that day came, he was ready. No one else was.
Another day is coming. We can’t know when, but we do know what will happen on that day. Jesus says, “Two men will be a field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”[5]
Jesus is not describing the beginning of the millennium or the rapture here. He’s describing the same thing he does one chapter later in Matthew’s Gospel. He’s describing the eternal separation of believers from unbelievers, the sheep from the goats, those who go to heaven from those who go to hell.
It’s a jarring image. In part because it will happen so suddenly and without warning. But also because it will seem so indiscriminatory, so random. Two people doing the exact same thing; one taken and the other left. One goes to heaven and the other to hell.
Jarring as this image may be, it helps us to understand a major point of God’s Word. What we spend our time doing on this earth is almost entirely immaterial when it comes to being prepared for Jesus’ return on Judgment Day. For one, other people can be doing the exact same thing and end up in the complete opposite place; one taken and the other left. And two, what Jesus commands us to do is not so much a prescribed set of actions as it is a state of being.
He says, “Keep watch,”[6] and, “be ready.”[7] Both of these commands are mostly passive, because someone else has already done all the work for you.
Think about Noah again, for a second. Yes, he was active in his watchfulness – and we should be too – but it wasn’t his plan to build a boat. He didn’t read the Farmer’s Almanac and figure out that this Flood was going to happen and decide to do something about it. He didn’t even go out and get all the animals; God sent them to him. Noah did a lot of things to stay prepared, but God did all the heavy lifting. And that ark was not a testimony to Noah’s preparedness as much as it was a sign of God’s grace.
God had a plan to save Noah, and, more than that, through Noah, to bring a Savior for the world. That’s Jesus, or “the Son of Man,” as he calls himself in Matthew’s Gospel. That’s a very special name, and especially at this time of year.
In Advent we prepare for the birth of our promised Savior. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus by the virgin Mary. Yes, he is absolutely, 100% the Son of God, but he also had to be “the Son of Man.” He had to be born of human flesh and blood to take up our human sin and guilt and ultimately die on a cross to forgive them both.
So, when Jesus talks about “the coming of the Son of Man,” he is referring to something that was only made possible because of Christmas. And this return of Jesus on Judgment Day takes on a whole new light when we recognize that he is our brother. That he shares our humanity. That the reason he came the first time was to save us from our sin. And the reason he is coming again is to take us from this sinful world, to be with him forever in heaven.
Yes, Judgment Day can be jarring, but Jesus does not leave us wondering who will be taken and who will be left. As we heard last week, in the days of Christ our King, he will gather all who have been scattered and none will be missing. No one can snatch us out of his hand, because he has promised us eternal life and that we will never perish. Because Jesus became the Son of Man to live and die for you, he promises that you have nothing to fear on that Final Day, but you do still have cause to keep watch.
Keep watch so that you don’t fall asleep or fall away from the faith. As Jesus reminds us, doing good stuff isn’t enough. Unbelievers do good things, but that won’t save them. Only Jesus can. Keep watch and keep feeding your faith until the day that your Savior returns.
Keep watch so that you don’t get discouraged or impatient and lose sight of what God has left you here to do. It took 120 years for God to send the rain on Noah, but during that time Noah stayed busy and earned a name for himself as a “preacher of righteousness.”[8] We have people in the here and now who grind with us at the mill and work with us in the field who need to know what we know. Keep watch and always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.
But, ultimately, keep watch and remember who it is you’re waiting for. As Christians, we don’t have bug-out bags at the ready for fear of what is to come. But we anxiously wait for our Lord and Savior to return, because we know what that means. It means the same thing it did for Mary and Joseph, and the Wise Men, and Simeon and Anna, and the shepherds out in the fields nearby. Our Savior is coming. He’s left us with all kinds of wonderful blessings and promises here – food to eat, weddings to attend, family to spend the holidays with – but he’s coming again, and his physical presence is better than any gift we could find under a tree.
Keep watch and be ready. The Son of Man is coming. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] Genesis 7:11
[2] Matthew 24:39
[3] I don’t mean to imply that Jesus is misspeaking or even lying. The Greek word for know used in this verse is related to the concepts of understanding and comprehension. A better translation of Jesus’ true statement would be: “…they did not comprehend until the Flood came…”
[4] Luther: “…Sie achteten es nicht,” with reference to Noah’s entry into the ark.
[5] Matthew 24:40,41
[6] Matthew 24:42
[7] Matthew 24:44
[8] 2 Peter 2:5