Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44 is a collection of sayings of Jesus around the theme of what theologians call eschatology. Chapter 24:1-36 is the “little apocalypse” that we also find in Mark 13. 24:37-51 is a collection of sayings largely from the material he shares with Luke.

One might boil down the theme of this passage to the relationship between eschatology and ethics, or the question of how to live in the present in light of the uncertainties of the future. The imperative that the passage promotes in regards to this relationship is the need for persistent watchfulness. The motifs of watching and knowing figure prominently in this passage such that a lack of knowledge provides even more reason for remaining attentive. The motif of knowledge is one that we can see throughout the passage. 

In verse 36, a passage from Mark, says that only the Father knows when “the end” will come. The passage reminds us that Jesus and his followers lived with the expectation of the end. Yet, it also reminds us that they the timing of the end was never as significant as it was in some circles. They lived with the hope contained in the notion of the end of all things, but reflection on the time of its occurrence was not central. The verse also reminds us that “the Son” has limits to his knowledge. With the rise of the Docetic controversy, which denied that Jesus was completely human, this verse was important in showing that he was fully human.

Matthew 24:37-42 contains sayings on the Son of Man.

            Verses 37-41 emphasize the unexpected nature of the Son of Man's coming.  People will be carrying on their normal occupations, wholly unaware that the decisive messianic moment had arrived. 

Verse 37-39, a saying on like Noah, is from the material Matthew shares with Luke 17:26-27. Typical of apocalyptic literature, it warns of the surprising suddenness of the Parousia.  Jesus reminds his listeners of another predicted, but not precisely timed, event - the cataclysmic flood.  The flood, sent by God to wipe out the wicked, caught an entire generation unawares, unprepared for judgment.  The text makes a comparison between the coming of the Son of Man and the biblical stories of great destruction.  "Eating, drinking, and marrying" without a thought to God's judgment was typical of Noah's day according to rabbis. Jesus admonishes his listeners to watch and be ready for the unexpected and unpredictable return of the Son of Man, to prepare for the tumultuous events about to unfold in Jerusalem. 

Verse 40-41, taken or left, has a source in in the material Matthew shares with Luke 17:31, 34. The Jesus Seminar says it belongs to common lore, in that we cannot know when death will strike. The saying is about people being separated during routine activity, such as while they are eating and drinking or at work.  The version in Thomas makes death the agent of separation, while in Matthew and Luke the agent is the Son of Man.  It warns of the division that will ensue at the Parousia.  Neither warning refers to the person of Jesus. Matthew stresses the unexpected and sudden character of this end.  The outcome of those caught unprepared is that they are going about their everyday tasks, when one is taken and the other is left behind.  For one, the dream of a redeemed life is fulfilled.  For another, separation from the divine and the nightmare is just beginning.  Jesus is making the case a perpetual state of readiness for those who follow him. 

            Matthew's counsel to Christians in between the time of the coming of Jesus and the coming of the end is that they are to focus upon acts of faithfulness, remaining obedient to all of Jesus' commands so that when that end-time finally arrives, the Christian will have no fear. 

            Verse 42 is a reminder to keep awake precisely because you do not know when the end will come.

            Matthew 24:43-44 is a saying on the homeowner and burgler. The source is material Matthew and Luke 12:39-40 share. The emphasis is not the joyful nature of the coming of Christ, but his coming in judgment. Jesus returning like a thief became a common theme in the New Testament.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:2

For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:4

But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;

2 Peter 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

Revelation 3:3

Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Revelation 16:15

("See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed, not going about naked and exposed to shame.")

 

Jesus says that the promised day of the Lord, that cataclysmic ending of the old world, and beginning of the new, will take place like "a thief in the night." He does not say that God is a thief, or that he is a thief. Yet he uses an evocative, perhaps even offensive, metaphor for describing how the kingdom of God steals in among us. It is like a thief. The nature of a burglar is not to prepare those whom he is planning to burglarize. Surprise, unexpectedness, and shock typify burglaries.

Therefore, you are to be ready, for the Son of Man will come just as unexpectedly as a thief will.