Homily
Jesus said to his disciples: As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. IN those days, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the son of man. Two men will be out in the field, one will be taken, one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake. For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too you also must be prepared. For at an hour you do not expect, the son of man will come. (Matthew )The week before this last week, I was called to the hospital to my brother's bedside, and it became very evident very soon that he was dying. And the next day it became very evident that indeed he was dying. And oddly enough as I was there by the bedside, also there when they took off the life support systems, standing with his wife, my sister-in-law, this Gospel passage came to mind. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come. My brother had very bad lungs. He was for years a very heavy smoker, and he knew also that his lungs were causing him difficulty. They had built for themselves a very lovely house on Lake Cocalolla, and if anybody knows on the one shore of Lake Cocalolla where there are houses, they are very close to the beach, very close to the lake. And it was several years ago that he told me that he would have to move back to Spokane. And I knew how much he and his wife liked the home, and so I asked him, why? He said, "I was down by the edge of the lake yesterday and I couldn't get my breath; I didn't have enough energy to walk back to the house" -- which would be about as far as where I'm standing to the third pew in front of me. So he knew that the end would come. But he did not know when the end would come. And so it is with the coming of Jesus into our life, into our death, and the coming of Jesus at the end of time. We know that he is coming, but we do not know when he is coming.
Jesus uses the example of Noah's day. It's interesting that he uses the example of the judgment act at the beginning of history, in the incident of Noah; Jesus uses that same example for the judgment day at the end of history when he comes. Why is Jonah's example so important for Jesus? Was what they were doing wrong or sinful? They were engaged in the normal activities of life; Jesus says that they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage -- necessary activities of life. Was that what was wrong with what they were doing? No, what they were doing was very normal. And the first thing that Jesus teaches us by referring to them is that Jesus comes in the midst of everyday, normal life and activities. But what then is the sin? And here is the real example of Jesus.
The sin is that they have a nonchalant attitude toward God. They have a nonchalant attitude that one of these days they would have to face God. They were so indifferent -- that was their sin, secular indifference to the end of their life, to the end of time. The end of their life, the end of time had no place in their consideration of life. It had no place in their thinking about life, in their daily living. It was as if it didn't enter into their consciousness at all. And Jesus tells us by referring to two men out in the field, two women at the mill, that the same exists in His day; and I'm sad to say the same exists in our day. The great sin of our age is secular indifference, a nonchalant attitude. And the overwhelming example of the Gospel today, of all the readings today, the overwhelming theme of Advent is that we should always be prepared at every day, every hour, every second, so that when we are surprised by the coming of Jesus, we will be found ready for the coming of Jesus.
And that means that we need to live our lives so that we will not be surprised by the surprise of Jesus' coming. The motto of the Boy Scouts could apply to the Christian, "Always prepared" -- sempe peratus. But I like to use the saying of Pope John XXIII, which is not as harsh as a motto, and has more warmth, when he told his doctor (after his doctor had told him, "Holy Father, you are dying"), and John XXIII said, "Don't you think I know that? But my bags are packed. I'm ready to go."
The question that Jesus would like us to ask ourselves, to remind ourselves, particularly in Advent, but every day of our life, is this: "Are our bags packed? Are we ready?" Or, have we not even begun to think that we'd better get them packed. That's secular indifference. Let us pray that we may always be saved from that. "For at an hour you do not expect, the son of man will come.
When we took my brother off the life support system, we knew the end was coming, but we did not know when. And it was not until 20 hours later that my niece called me at 12:15 in the morning to say that the hospital had just called her to say that he had breathed his last. I can truly say that my brother's bags were packed. I only hope that mine are.