Pastor's Corner: The unknown hour

(Matthew 24:36-51 NIV) 36 "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[1]but only the Father. 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. (Matthew 24:36-44)

45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What a vignette Jesus has painted in verses 45-51: The master has left his servant in charge of the household. A slothful and selfish steward might be sitting in his room, drinking the master's wine and emptying the pantry while the other servants go hungry. But as Matthew narrates this passage, it seems that Jesus is making the assumption that the servant will be faithful, wise and diligent in watching and waiting, so that all is in order when the master returns.

This entire chapter deals with Jesus' teaching regarding the end times. Jesus has just described some terrible scenarios. There is no lack of urgency in Jesus' message about the last days, even though "no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son" (Matthew 24:36). As in the time of Noah, people will be going about their business without thought for the future.

Many believe that those days are imminent, but that isn't the point. The point is to be responsible, discerning and diligent stewards at all times. The times are such that the Biblical metaphor of the steward, ancient as it is, has come of age and must now be actualized in the teaching and preaching of the Christian community. But there is the difficulty of discerning, in the complexities of our culture and the problems we face, what the Christian community should be about. It is, however, essential to act faithfully rather than to wait passively for clarity.

This is now our task, and we should not mistake it: there is enormous risk involved in it! One must say this in sympathy with those whom Jesus rebuked for their dullness and lack of perception: it is one thing to predict the weather a day or so in advance: it's something else to decode the mysterious signs of the times... What is really going on? Even at the intellectual level it is hard to say. Who can assess with accuracy what is the truth about the here and now?

     Hindsight is of course easier. But the sort of obedience that is required of faith is never a matter of knowing what one might have done then. It is a matter of believing and deciding what one ought now to do: here and now. The wise ones of every age will always judge such obedience presumptuous, because the wise always want to wait until all the facts are in. But of course the facts are never in. Is that why the wise so seldom act? - Why for instance European intellectuals in two world wars were so silent? Obedient stewards of God's varied grace must act - unlike that clearly judicious servant who feared his action might end in the loss of his paltry talent (Matthew 25:14-30). They must be ready to risk, to rush in where the angels of the intellect fear to tread.

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Pastor Michael O'Hearn

Hi-Line Lutheran Churches