The people to whom Jesus was talking (Matthew 24) could not have believed his warnings about the destruction of Jerusalem. He told them that it would be so sudden that, of two men working in a field, one would die and the other would be saved, of two women grinding flour, one would die and the other be saved. Many Christians who remembered these words of Jesus fled Jerusalem when the Roman armies appeared in 69 A.D. and thus saved their lives. Those who did not heed him, perished.

Jesus tells us that he comes to us in the events of human history, in big floods and in household burglaries. We must be prepared for the unexpected. Our homes and families, which we pray will be havens of blessing and peace, security and stability, will be broken into because of unexpected illness, disappointment, suffering and death. None of us can be immune to such events. Therefore we have to keep watch, and be ready. How do we do that?

Paul tells us in Romans 13:11-14.

"Make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of your day-to-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!" (The Message)

Whenever I read this passage I think of St. Augustine. Let me tell you his story. He was born in 354 AD of a pagan father and a Christian mother. He lived for 15 years with a woman who fathered his son. He dabbled with different philosophies, and traveled to Milan to take up the post of professor of rhetoric where he came under the influence of Bishop Ambrose. He wanted to become a Christian but did not want to give up his promiscuous lifestyle. His celebrated prayer during this period was, "Lord, make me chaste, but not yet!" In his struggle to make a commitment to follow Jesus he wavered backwards and forwards. He tells the story in his Confessions in this way:

Inwardly I said to myself: Let it be now, let it be now. And by this phrase I was already moving to a decision; I had almost taken it, and then I did not do so. Yet I did not relapse into my original condition, but stood my ground very close to the point of deciding and recovered my breath. Once more I made the attempt and came only a little short of my goal; only a little short of it -- yet I did not touch it or hold on to it. I was hesitating whether to die to death and live to life. Ingrained evil had more hold of me than unaccustomed good. The nearer I approached the moment of time when I would become different, the greater the horror of it struck me. But it did not thrust me back nor turn me away, but left me in a state of suspense. Vain trifles and the triviality of the empty-headed, my old loves, held me back. They tugged at the garment of my flesh and whispered: 'Are you getting rid of us?'... I hesitated to detach myself, to be rid of them, to make the leap to where I was being called. Meanwhile the overwhelming force of habit was saying to me: 'Do you think you can live without them?

He found himself in a garden, weeping over the agony of his heart, when suddenly, he heard the voice of a boy or girl from a nearby house chanting, "Pick up and read, pick up and read." He interpreted it as a divine command to open the New Testament and read the first chapter he might find. He seized the book from his seat, opened it, and read in silence the first passage on which his eyes lit. It was Romans 13:13,14 --

"Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies or drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

He writes, "I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled." It was 386 AD and Augustine was 34 years of age. He became one of the most influential leaders of the western church. Christ came for him in this crisis of faith.

Why do we need to keep watch? To be prepared for the coming of Christ in our lives, suddenly and unexpectedly. To be prepared for the crises of life, in which the Lord comes for us. To be prepared when he comes to judge the living and the dead.

How do we prepare ourselves for his coming? By putting on the armor of light, i.e. clothing ourselves with the character and life of the Lord Jesus Christ, by behaving decently, lovingly, doing the right thing, asking the Lord Jesus to help us live in the light as he is in the light.

The Season of Advent in the Christian Church Calendar is given us to prepare for the coming of Christ: his first coming, unexpectedly in the first century, in obscurity, in humility, in disguise, to win our salvation; and his second coming, when he will appear in glory and majesty to take us to be with him. This life is given us to prepare for his coming. How we use it determines whether we will be ready.

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