Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Luke 12:32-40)

Don’t you wish we’d all been ready? Jesus promised his disciples that he would come unexpectedly. To illustrate what he meant, he compared his future arrival to that of Jewish wedding customs of the time. The groom did not tell his bride when he would show up to get her. It was a surprise and part of the fun of getting married. So the bride, her family, the guests—everyone involved, had to simply wait in anticipation, and make certain that they were always ready. Jesus’ story then takes an odd turn. In a real banquet, it was the servants who would serve their master. But Jesus has the master serving the servants: a hint about the nature of Jesus’ kingdom.

To drive the point home in a way that perhaps is clearer for modern readers of the Bible, Jesus said his arrival would also be like the coming of a thief. No one knows about a burglary before it happens. That his disciples should await his coming prepared, no matter how long the delay, was so important that Jesus explained it to them in more than one way.

We should live our lives each day in anticipation of Jesus’ coming. We never know when he may come for us, whether in the clouds, or in our dying breath. Each day should be lived as if it might be our last.

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