Comfortably Disturbed

A Reflection on the Gospel for December 1st, 2019:
​First Sunday of Advent

Matthew 24.37-44

Jesus spoke to his disciples: “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

“Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

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“In the case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.” Occasionally I see this bumper sticker when I’m sitting in traffic. It’s meant to be funny, but it has the opposite effect on me.


I feel ill at ease. There rises in my imagination a post-apocalyptic image of my surroundings: cars, unmoving, with engines running and radios playing but no drivers at the wheel; car doors hanging open in the middle of a normally busy road; the left-behind people wandering between the vehicles, looking bewildered and frightened. It’s eerie.


In the gospel for the first Sunday of Advent, Matthew warns: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” He reminds us that Jesus came to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Like the five wise virgins, we must be prepared to meet Him with our lamps filled, trimmed and burning.

"Jesus came to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

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The Gospel also says, where two women are grinding meal together, one will be taken and the other left. The woman taken, where will she go? I always assumed she’d go to heaven and, therefore, it was better to be taken than left behind, but is that what the Bible says? Upon reflection, I don’t think it does. 


Luke 17:20-37 gives a similar account. Jesus tells the disciples: “There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.” They ask him: “‘Where, Lord?’ He says to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’” 


“Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather”? A place where birds of prey feed upon the dead? That is no place I would ever want to be. Is it better, then, to be behind? Yes, I believe it is. 


Again, in Luke, the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come, and He replies, “[T]he kingdom of God is among you.”


“The kingdom of God is among you.” Well, in that case, I really do want to be a person left behind. 


I know already that here, today, is where the Lord comes to find me, in the midst of my messy life, my struggles, my mistakes. I don’t have to wait for heaven to be with Him. My life in this world should be a cycle of preparing for and encountering Him. Each time I prepare afresh, I make a better place, a more worthy place for Him and, in this way, I encounter Him at a deeper level.
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During this Advent season, I begin to prepare again, and I invite you to do the same. Then, at the feast of Christmas, we will be more ready and our hearts will be the most welcoming home we have ever offered Him. 


This is where the kingdom of God is. In the case of rapture, by His grace, my car will not be unmanned. I will not be bewildered and frightened. Instead, I will be fully present and ready to meet my God. ​

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​Donna Davis

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