Expected

Is Jesus coming like a thief or not like a thief?  At an expected time or not expected?  Will we be surprised or not surprised? 

By PAUL ZILMER

Read Time: 2 minutes

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You’ve read these verses any number of times.  Take a look at them again—in fact turn them up and read the full context.  Jesus is the speaker in all these:

Paul writes something similar to the brand new baby church in Thessalonica:  “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2)  But then he goes on: “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.” (verse 4)

So, is Jesus coming like a thief or not like a thief?  At an expected time or not expected?  Will we be surprised or not surprised?

Taking all of it together (and other similar passages), what emerges seems to be this:  The timing of the return of Jesus Christ is not known to us.  For many, he will come at an unexpected, surprising time—and note, it isn’t a good thing to be surprised in the night by a thief breaking in!  On the other hand, for those who stay awake, although the timing isn’t known in advance, they are ready.  For them, Jesus isn’t a thief in the night.  He is their master, coming home—no surprise, they’ve been expecting him.

We do expect our Lord.  We long for his coming!  But the staying awake part is an issue, isn’t it?  Constant, never ending vigilance isn’t something we humans are very good at.  As the night wears on, we get more and more tired.  Is there some sort of spiritual caffeine that can keep us awake?

Jesus suggests there is.  Here’s a larger excerpt from the Matthew 24 passage:

The full parable in Luke 12 says the same.  The point is this:  If we just sit around, we’re going to fall asleep!  What keeps us awake is doing.  Specifically, he suggests, feeding our fellow servants.

Can it really be that simple?  Well, it is expressed in simple terms, but simple isn’t the same thing as easy.  What’s easy is falling asleep.  But our Master is expected; we’d better stay awake, and to do that we better stay busy with the work he’s given us to do!

Love, Paul