Ready Or Not - Here I Come (Part 2)

As a soldier in the Army we were told to always be ready for surprise barracks inspections by the commander. We usually were but one time the commander decided to inspect at 2:00 AM in the morning after we had just completed maneuvers and shifts of fourteen hours a day for two weeks. We were unprepared and it seemed unfair for the commander to inspect at such an inconvenient and unexpected time so some soldiers complained but the commander just said, "You are to always be ready."

This is the same thing that Jesus is communicating to us; always be ready. Jesus may come when it is inconvenient. He may come when there are other things in your life that could consume your attention. He may come when you’re busy with relationship issues, business issues, or money issues. All these things must be taken care of but they must never cause take priority over our spiritual lives and service. We must all be careful to make sure that nothing in this life distract us from being prepared for Jesus return. He expects to find you ready whenever he comes even if it is in "the second or third watch of the night."

Jesus uses another analogy to emphasize one of the reasons we need to always be prepared; He will come suddenly- "like a thief." Thieves do not make announcements about when they will arrive. They do not RSVP. The only way to be prepared is to always be prepared because you can never know when they will show up.

As a former police officer I cannot tell you how many times I’ve responded to a home burglary only to find that the doors were left unlocked or that the alarm had been turned off in the house. When I would ask why the owners of the house did not lock their doors or turn on the alarm they would say things like, "I did not expect a thief to rob my house in the middle of the day!" Or "I thought it would be too cold out for a thief to be prowling around." Thieves come in the day and they come at night. They come in the cold, rain and the heat. Thieves do not come when you expect them to, so always be prepared.

Of course Jesus is no thief but he will come like one. He coming will be unannounced and suddenly he tells us "you must also be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Do not wait until later to get ready. This is one time when bad timing can really hurt you!

Jesus seems to especially emphasize the accountability of those in a leadership position. They are referred to as "managers" whose responsibility it is to give the other servants their "food allowance." This may be a reference to leaders faithfully feeding God’s flock with the word of God. If leaders do that faithfully and diligently they will be rewarded

Some people do not see ministry as an opportunity to serve others but rather as an opportunity to "fleece the flock" rather than feed it. They are described as foolish because they do not really expect Jesus to come at any moment and therefore they use their position abusively. They use their leadership position to pad their own bank account and look at others as people to be used and deceived rather than served. Certainly we have our share of such people in leadership positions today. Jesus will come on the day they do not expect and despite their Christian leadership position he will punish them severely. The Bible tells us he will "cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers." This is certainly a reference to being sent to hell, as the parallel passage in the Gospel of Matthew makes clear. The person being referred to here may not have been a true believer at any point in their life; certainly their character is not consistent with the true children of God.

Jesus is giving us a principle that is applicable to all Christians. We will all be held accountable for being ready by being faithful. Those who know the most about the Father’s will, i.e. Christian leaders, but do not do it will be punished more severely than those who are not in the same position or have the same understanding. As it says in James 3:1 "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers come because you know that we who teach we’ll be judged more strictly."

I expect more from my 16 year old than from my nine year old though they both will be punished or disciplined for doing wrong or failing to do right. The sixteen year old will receive a greater punishment based on her knowledge.

As children most of us played the game of “hide and seek” In this game we would say, "Ready or not here I come!” I believe that Jesus is announcing to us today , "Ready or not here he comes! "But this is not a game; it is a serious call for us to be ready and prepared for his return.

Are you ready?