As we enter into another church year we are reminded once again that God’s decisive involvement with our world starts with a baby. This may seem a huge leap from last week when we were celebrating how Jesus was king of the whole universe. But really it isn’t. Whether we think about kings or babies the same point is true – the God we believe in, the Father who revealed himself to us in his fullness in Jesus, doesn’t operate in terms of the type of control that we humans seek.
This is true not only if we think in terms of power and politics and economics but also at a more basic human level. A baby has literally no control, over anything. A baby left to themselves will quickly die. God chose to come into this world as a helpless infant. He trusted his human parents to care for him. He who was everything became nothing.
Our readings this week are focused on the fact that we have to wait (Matthew 24:37-44). Jesus has been the foundation of creation from the very beginning (as John says at the first words of his gospel, and Paul elaborares in his letter to the church at Colossus that we heard last week (Colossians 1:12-20). As human beings we can only experience this reality in a limited way. We come to some understanding over time as we follow the human path of birth, growth, and development. All the way to death. And only then do we get some slight understanding of what this was all about. And because it is more than we can comprehend, in our church life we repeat the process every year. By the grace of God each time we may get a little closer to the complete appreciation that is promised to us.
So once again we wait. But we don’t wait passively, just zoned out, until something comes to wake us up. Jesus was very emphatic! Stay awake: “you must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come”. Yes, we go through our yearly cycle and trust that God will gradually help us gain wisdom and understanding. But this isn’t really like the endless cycle of the seasons. There will be a sudden moment when he arrives for us – let’s be ready.