Can you be surprised even when expecting something? Of course! Just ask anyone who’s delivered a child. Even the most predictable of deliveries seems to leave new parents in that same place: knowing what was coming, yet surprised when it all comes to pass.
Surprises can come even when we know what’s coming. That is how Jesus talks about his own appearing — we shouldn’t be surprised, yet we still feel startled when it happens.
At the end of November, we will enter into the season of Advent, a time of preparation for Christmas. What does it mean for us to be ready? When Jesus talks about making ready, it sounds, in some ways, quite ordinary. Jesus uses an analogy about household servants and says that the good servant is the one who gives the other servants their food at the proper time. The good servant making ready is the one who makes dinner and serves it as usual.
We display our watchfulness by living faithfully in the small things — and the big ones, too. By putting our bodies on the line for this sort of work. It’s not likely that anyone will ever write a best-selling novel about ordinary Christians going through typical days, being faithful. But the Bible — the best-selling book of all time — has quite a lot to say about the extraordinary call on ordinary lives inclined to the Lordship of Christ.
Remember Paul’s words of encouragement (Romans 12:9-21), a litany of daily life choices that shape us in enduring faithfulness: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection… Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
As people look at the shape of our lives, ready for Jesus’ visitation, may they also be able to say of us: “Those Christians never give up hope. We can tell.”
Let us continue to watch, wait, and work together!
Grace and Peace,