Matthew 24:36-44 Commentary

Advent begins with the humbling reminder that though we can be confident in Christ’s return, and there is plenty “knowing” and “unknowing” to go around.

Jesus’s opening words in our passage this week make rather clear that “no one knows” the day of judgment that will usher in the new heaven and new earth—not even Christ himself! (It continues to be wildly fascinating to me how Jesus declares this truth and yet we continue to have rapture predictions go mainstream…)

Jesus likens the experience to another kind of “unknowing”—that of the people during Noah’s time. The flood that God used to pass judgment on the carousing people came upon them as they were continuing to do what they did: eating and drinking and getting on with their lives (marrying and being given in marriage). In the Genesis account, the way the people are living makes God regret that he even made human beings—a pretty stark description of their corruption and violence.

Noah is set in direct opposition to those under judgment; he “was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” In other words, Noah knows the Lord and lets his life show it: he does as God commands and builds an ark. In fact, that Noah does what God commands is repeated point throughout the story. Noah knows what is coming so he acts accordingly; the people do not know (or we presume, would not care to know) so they keep on the road to perdition.

And as Ben Witherington points out in his post for Working Preacher, Noah and his family on the ark are the ones who are “left behind.” Meaning, this passage actually points to the opposite teaching of modern rapture theology. The one who is left in the field is NOT the one who God is rescuing; the woman left grinding the meal is not the guilty or unknowing one. In other words, this picture of separation that Jesus is painting is another way of describing the sorting that happens as part of the process of judgment day—like the sheep and the goats, one to the right and one to the left. Witherington argues that the ones who are left, both in Genesis and here in Matthew 24, are the sheep who know and listen and obey God’s voice; they are the beginning of the new heaven and new earth.

Because they know God’s voice, they have “kept awake” in their lives with God, paying attention to the Spirit’s movement in their lives and in the world. They are the people who are confident of Christ’s return. So confident, in fact, that they are really eager to live in such a way that God’s establishment of it might (if this is possible) feel like second nature or normal (albeit way more awesome and glorious).

Because they have lived with God, or will have turned their lives over to God and come to know God’s forgiveness and mercy and grace, they have nothing to fear: they will be ready. Like the homeowner who knows when the thief is coming, they will be living in such a way to limit the disruption that evil tries to thrust into their lives.

So here at Advent we begin again, with the humility of not knowing exactly when, but with a two-fold confidence that we know Jesus will come again and that we know what to do while we wait. We are to be like Noah, knowing and obeying everything God commands. We are to be like Noah, “counted as righteous” in our time and place, refusing to fall prey to unknowing or feigned ignorance. We are to be people who do not want to escape, but who yearn for the fullest sense and reality of God’s kingdom to come, on earth as it is already in heaven.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Textual Point

The participles describing what the people were like in Noah’s time are meant to give us the sense that they just kept living their lives, going about their carousing and enjoyment. It’s a juxtaposition to the people who follow Christ’s command to be ready: both keep on living, but that living looks (or ought to look) so very different.

Note: In addition to our weekly sermon commentaries each Monday, check out our special Advent and Christmas Resource page for more sermon ideas and other Advent/Christmas resources. 

Illustration Ideas

This fall we had yet another one of those rapture predictions disappoint. This one was a little different because it took off on TikTok—especially among “spiritual but not religious” young people. Of course, alongside people who believed it, there were tons of parodies. I’m not sure what keeps us from believing Jesus’s words about not knowing the time of his return, but perhaps there’s a connection to the fact that most of the Christian predictions about the end of the world come from people who believe in the rapture, a heavily disputed reading of the Scriptures.

Ben Witherington also provides a simple illustration of what the waiting is like for us. In times “before cell phones” (“B.C.” as he calls it), Grandma and Grandpa would call your home phone to let you know they were on their way. Then you just had to wait (and maybe clean up the house to prepare) for their arrival. You knew they were on their way, and you trusted that they would show up, but you didn’t know when their car would drive up to the house.