An eight-year-old boy named Kevin McAllister is accidentally left behind when his family sprints off on a Christmas vacation to France. Big family, big house, big rush – it happened. While enjoying the good things of being “home alone” (that’s the name of the movie) – like sleeping in his parents’ king-sized bed, non-stop TV and junk food, Kevin discovers the not-so fun things – especially overhearing two burglars named Harry and Marv planning to break into his house while the family is out of town. Because he knows at what hour the thieves are coming, he is able to prevent the burglary by rigging a bewildering battery of booby traps – night after night. Bruised and battered, the thieves are carted off to jail, the family is reunited, and Kevin is the hero.

“If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ”

No kidding, and although that knowing made a really funny movie, you can’t know, right? Most of us don’t know? And you can’t be ready all the time for the thief, can you? Take turns staying up all night, hire night watch people, install elaborate alarm systems… to say nothing of worrying about it all the time...how am I doing at protecting my house?

And it is, after all, just an example that Jesus – Luke – uses, right? But this is where I get totally confused. An example of what?????

I tend to be a pretty consistent Type A personality. Good work ethic, maybe even a tad compulsive… so I get the first part:

"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ”

I can do this “be ready” stuff. I’m one of those people who think “helper” is a good word! And “slave” in this sense, being a servant, working for someone – doing your job – well, means - doing your job well!

“Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If the master comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.”

Really? Well, that’s a little over the top actually – in fact, Wow! Because you’re doing your job well, the employer will serve the employee dinner? I understand a yearly “appreciation /take you out for a meal” recognition, but this is superb! The rewards of being on top of things with this boss are huge!

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. "

It’s an example for the disciples? For us? The owner – he should have known? The expectation is that the owner should have known what time the thief was coming, and should have kept his house from being broken into!

Let’s be crystal clear on what we’re talking about here. The Son of Man is the final judge. The “unexpected hour” is the time of judgment. You also must be ready. Constantly ready for the Son of Man, the final judge, is coming at an unexpected hour. Constantly ready. How in the world is this possible?!

And making the example useful to the disciples, what does that mean for them? It means believing that “the Son of Man is coming,” – it’s inevitable, and knowing exactly when the son of Man is coming, OR assuming it could be any minute. Every minute. That’s the only way to be ready. OK that makes me tired! Worse: Scared. This feels impossible.

Because right off the bat we can eliminate the “knowing exactly when the Son of Man is coming” possibility. "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” That’s in Matthew, (24:36) followed by a nauseating little example of its own: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.” ¹ We’ve all heard those kinds of images. It’s no wonder we feel scared.

That leaves Door Number Two – assuming that what we are waiting for could be any minute. Every minute. That’s the only way to be ready, Jesus says.

So it’s “continual watchfulness.” On your toes all the time…. We could spend a few hours talking about what that could look like. Instead let’s go with the prophet Isaiah’s description ²:

A big directional hint – “Listen to the teaching of our God” – hmmm – maybe there’s a Disciple Bible study class in our future (10)

A few general tips for the life of being God’s people: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (16-17)

And a promise: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land ….” (18-19)

There’s that eating thing again. The good of the land, the fruit of the earth. “Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If the master comes – to the ball game, to Loaves and Fishes, to the rally against torture, to worship, to the office party, to the bridge club night, to the corporate board meeting, to the play date, to the after-school hang-out, to My Space.com, to Face Book, to the music lesson in the daytime – or during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.”

What is all that constant readiness for? What happens when the master comes? He sits down and serves those who have been ready. Those who have understood themselves to be servants of the living God, being watchful, doing the best they can in every circumstance.

In Anne Lamott’s new book, Grace Eventually, she has an essay called “The Muddling Glory of God ³.” She recounts the challenge it was for her then ten-year-old son Sam to adjust to a new house, especially the fact that his bedroom, which used to be close to his mother’s, is now two rooms and two short hallways away. Sam is coming into her bedroom and sleeping on the end of her bed each night. So they come up with a plan: Sam will move three feet closer to his own bed each night. So the creeping retreat begins – beside her bed, the foot of the bed, the doorway, the first hall progression over three nights. Lamott continues the description: “Then there were four nights in the living room, as he crept overland closer to his own room, with four three-foot scootches, one stall, and one night when he had to drag his sleeping bag back three feet. Sometimes he would call out, “Good night” again to hear my voice. There was one valiant worried night in the hall between my study and his room… “See you tomorrow, Mom. Love you, Mom. Doing okay out here, Mom.” A few times he called for me to come sit with him. My nearness lifted him. Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking. And then, at last, he spent his first night in his spooky new room, bravely, on the floor.”

Lamott likens Sam’s progress to his own bedroom to her daily life of faith. Listen for Lamott’s attempt at constant readiness:

That’s me, trying to make any progress at all with family, in work, relationships, self-image: scootch, scootch, stall; scootch, stall, catastrophic reversal; bog, bog, scootch. I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things; also, that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace’s arrival. But no, it’s clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in silence, in the dark.

I suppose that if you were snatched out of the mess, you’d miss the lesson; the lesson is the slog. I grew up thinking the lessons should be more like the von Trapp children; more marionettes, more dirndls and harmonies. But no: it’s slog, bog, scootch.”

It’s not about the threat of judgment. It’s not about holding over your head, “Don’t forget – God is watching you!” It’s not about saying to yourself, “The kingdom is imminent so I better get a few really good deeds in!”

It’s about the every day, every week, every month, every year walk of discipleship – in whatever it is you slog through or scootch toward, or fall back into or plow forward in the direction of, while doing the very best you can to live what you understand to be God’s vocation for you. It’s about being invited to the banquet that is God’s banquet, in God’s kingdom. Whenever that is. At an “unexpected” hour. It’s about the already accomplished for us/“I know who you are and I still love you” grace of Jesus Christ.

Keep those lamps trimmed and burning. The time is always drawing nigh. That’s the good news.

¹Matthew 24:37-39
²Isaiah 1:10-20
³(Pages 49-51).

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