Keep Awake–We Don’t Know the Day or the Hour

Fr Michael Rasicci’s homily for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, 11/12/2023, Calvary Episcopal Church, Batavia, IL.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to keep awake–they don’t know the day or the hour that Jesus will come again in glory and all will be taken up to heaven. At the time, believers thought that it would happen in their lifetimes. Today we still don’t know.

The parable of the 10 bridesmaids makes it clear. Those who preserved extra oil for their lamps were ready when the bridegroom came. Those who did not were away when the bridegroom came and he did not allow them to come into the wedding. We need to be sure we, too, are ready when Jesus returns. T

he reading from Joshua reinforces the idea that people can make choices that take them away from God and Christ. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reminds them that the dead in Christ and those living when Christ returns will all meet Christ in the air and go on to heaven.

God’s love through Christ and the Holy Spirit fills us and helps us to stay on course and to be ready. We have a mission to fulfill while we are here–becoming more Christ-like in word and deed. We need to remain aware of that connection as part of our “keeping awake.”

(Readings: Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13)

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