Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
What is entailed in staying awake? We hold a treasure in earthen vessels (see Second Corinthians 4:7), a pearl beyond all price (see Matthew 13:46). What level of vigilance is necessary to keep the thief from taking this from us?
It seems that what Jesus is asking us, first and foremost, is not some kind of special militarization of our awareness, not doubling down on spiritual self-defence, but rather consistency and fidelity.
Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
To sleep, then, is not simply to have merely human limits on our awareness. It is rather to slide back into sin.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
Being awake is therefore more than a mere state of mind. It is living in the light of Christ. In this light the thief, who comes only to kill and destroy (see John 10:10), cannot hide.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime (see Romans 13:11-13).
It is easy to read the challenge to stay awake as a challenge to have constant awareness and vigilance. But it is not so much this as a call to remain in the light which Jesus has already given and to not withdraw from it, to hide from it, or to slide back into sin. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins all of them in fact fell asleep, but some of them were still ready with fuel in their lamps. But it is the LORD himself who offers us the fuel of the Spirit. With his help we can be ready to fend off the thief and welcome the bridegroom.
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand how great were the gifts given to them by Jesus, enriched in every way, all discourse and knowledge, and every spiritual gift. He told the Ephesians something similar.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens (see Ephesians 1:3).
These gifts are the fuel given by the Spirit, embers that can be set ablaze (see Second Timothy 1:6). When the darkness begins to press in on us, or when we are tempted to slide into sin, these are means by which we can remain awake. Our lives are rather like a late night car ride when we are thoroughly exhausted and the radio, the heater, and our companions can do little to keep us awake enough to avoid hitting a tree. The Spirit in this analogy is the hit of caffeine that can fully restore us and help us to see the road ahead for what it is. Though he, of course, works better and more consistently than any energy drink.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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