One of my clergy friends has a magnet on his fridge. It has a picture of our Lord on it. Across the top it says, ‘Jesus is coming…’ Across the bottom it says, ‘… so look busy!’

It’s a joke, of course. And indeed the last thing Christians should be doing in the season of Advent, which begins on Sunday, is adding even more busyness to the world. Many people already have crammed schedules and overlong ‘to do’ lists.

If there is work to get busy with in Advent, it is spiritual work. We call the season Advent because it is about getting our hearts ready for Jesus’s coming. We can understand this as preparing ourselves to celebrate Christmas: the pivotal event in world history when God in Christ comes to dwell among his people. But as importantly we are preparing ourselves for Jesus’s future return, when he will come ‘with clouds descending, … thousand thousand saints attending’.

In Luke 12 Jesus tells his disciples to be like servants ‘who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet’. This is the watchful preparedness of advent, so that we can ‘open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks’.

But then there is a twist. The disciples might expect Jesus to go on and emphasise that, when the master comes home, then, if they have been watchful, they will be able to welcome him. But actually Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; for he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them’ The reason to be watchful and ready for God’s coming is not what we can do for him; but the amazing things that he wants to do for us.

OK, you might say, but I having been waiting a long time - in fact I have pretty much given up. It’s too late. Jesus says: do not give up. It may be late from a human point of view, but it is not too late. ‘If the master comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds his servants alert, blessed are those slaves.’

It may look like the situation is lost and God will not come in to your life. But you might be surprised. All you need to do is to start preparing. ‘The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’ Suddenly the situation will turn, the light will break in.

We can prepare for this by starting to walk in his way. When we do something to care for others, we prepare to receive his care for us. When we forgive someone else, we prepare to accept his forgiveness of what troubles us. When we stand up for what is right, we become citizens of the coming Kingdom of God.

 Jesus is coming. Don’t just look busy. Prepare yourself for all that he wants to do for you.

 

Rev Philip Krinks