EXPLORE THE TEXT
Believers should be ready for Christ’s return.
42 “Therefore be alert,
since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
43 But know this:
If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming,
he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.
44 This is why you are also to be ready,
because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
We don’t know when Jesus is coming back,
but His return is guaranteed.
Jesus focused on what believers should do while they wait.
Highlight the need for diligence.
It would be easy to discount Jesus’s return since it has taken
so long, but we are called to be alert as we serve Him here
on earth.
Review the illustration that Jesus used to make His point about vigilance in this passage:
Jesus used another illustration-the homeowner and a thief.
The idea of Jesus’s return being like a thief coming at an unknown time
became a common metaphor for the early church
as they anticipated Jesus’s coming. .Verse 44 summarizes the entire warning to be ready.
No one knows when Jesus will return.
The day is not known (v. 42),
no one knows during which “watch” He may come (v. 43),
and no one knows the hour of His return.
Constant watchfulness is essential
because Jesus’s return will be at an hour you do not expect.
The command is not just to be alert or stay awake
but to also be ready. (PSG, p. 101)
Jesus made two points here.
First, we don’t know when He is coming back.
That’s up to the Father.
Second, we can be sure that He is coming back.
And because that’s a guarantee, we need to stay alert
and keep serving Him well until the day of His return finally arrives.