Jesus is Coming! Stay Awake!

Text: Matthew 24:36–44

Supporting Texts: Isaiah 2:1–5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11–14

Advent 1 — Year A

Jesus is Coming! Stay Awake!

As we move into the season of Advent, we are awaiting and celebrating the miracle of God becoming flesh through Jesus Christ.

Advent always surprises us a little. We come expecting angels and shepherds and maybe a little bit of Mary and Joseph preparing for the baby. But Year A starts with Jesus talking about… not knowing anything. Not the day, not the hour, not even the signs. It is striking that Advent, the season of preparation, opens with Jesus essentially saying: “You can’t prepare the way you think you can.” The disciples earlier asked Jesus: “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt 24:3) Here Jesus answers the “when” by saying: no one but the Father knows. This includes “neither the angels of heaven nor the Son.” This is a mark of discipleship: we are called to live without knowing the timetable.  Even Jesus.

God is still speaking—meaning God breaks into our lives in ways we don’t predict or control. God comes to us purely by grace—meaning salvation, revelation, hope, and healing are not things we manufacture. They arrive. Sometimes suddenly. Sometimes quietly. But always as gift.

Jesus’ examples here are so ordinary. Two people working in a field. Two people grinding meal. Not saints in a cathedral. Not monks in prayer. Just regular life. Matthew’s point is not to divide the saved from the lost. It’s to show that God’s arrival happens during normal living. In other words, grace shows up in the places we least expect it. Our lives—jobs, relationships, ministries—go on. And we are invited to live as though kingdom-coming is already at hand.

Theologian NT Wright says Jesus isn’t trying to frighten anyone; He’s trying to wake people up to the nearness of God’s reign It’s about awareness—learning to see God’s presence in the “ordinary.” Think back into this past week – where did you see God’s presence?

Paul in Romans picks this up with urgency: “Wake from sleep.” Not because judgment is coming in the way we fear, but because God’s salvation is already closer than we imagined.

God meets us not where we are strong, but right in the middle of our vulnerability, uncertainty, and longing. Advent is the season where we dare to believe that Christ meets the world at its weakest point—and transforms it with mercy. But we must be open to seeing Jesus. Alert.

In our scripture today, Isaiah steps onto the scene with his vision of peace—people beating swords into plowshares. Isaiah imagines nations learning a new way of life not because they’ve perfected themselves, but because God teaches them. God draws them to the mountain. God shows them the ways of peace.

Many of us are uneasy with uncertainty. We like schedules, we like knowing when things are coming, we like being prepared down to the minute. Jesus turns that on its head: for this coming event (the “coming of the Son of Man”), no one knows the day or hour except God (v. 36). Lutheran pastor Christine Hamilton emphasizes that Matthew’s Gospel places the disciples—and us—in a space of not knowing, and invites us to embrace that condition rather than trying to eliminate it.

Christ will draw us into a future we cannot yet see, and cannot create on our own.

Martin Luther would remind us: if salvation depended on our ability to stay alert, we’d never make it. Christ is the one who keeps watch for us. Christ is the one who comes to us. “Keep awake,” then, becomes less about effort and more about awareness. Pay attention. Look for grace. Look for the places where Christ may already be breaking in.

Maybe it’s in a conversation you weren’t expecting.

Maybe it’s in forgiveness that surprised you.

Maybe it’s in a moment of compassion that felt like it wasn’t entirely your own.

Maybe it’s in hope that showed up on a day you least expected it.

Advent readiness is not about predicting the future.

It’s about trusting the One who already holds it.

Bring God into your daily lives: Monday morning to Sunday worship, in our jobs, families, neighborhoods—Jesus is present. You are not to wait for something only future, but live as though the reign of God is already breaking in. As regards our community: do not become complacent or numb to suffering, injustice, systemic oppression. Because we don’t know the hour Jesus is coming, we cannot justify complacency. Our readiness includes working for peace, building relationships, and sharing our hospitality as Jesus would share it.

Cultivate consistent habits of prayer, scripture, and worship that train you to stay awake

Today we light the first candle—hope.

Not optimism, not wishful thinking, but the kind of hope God plants inside people who realize their own weakness and still believe that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

So the question this week is not, “What will happen?”

The question is: Where is Christ already showing up in your real life—and how might you stay awake to that?

Amen