Matthew 24:37-44
The Gospel for the first day of Advent comes as a wake-call, as a summons to be awake, alert, and watchful for the coming Christ. Jesus moves us to be ready: “Therefore, keep watch!”
But the passage also carries a more subversive, less-anticipated image for the coming God. God is like a thief who comes to break into your house in order to steal from you. What a strange way to begin Advent!
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Matt. 24:42-44)
In spiritual stories, house is often a symbol for your life; therefore, those things inside your house are the various aspects of your life that you consider to be yours . . . your beliefs, your attitudes, your ways of being in the world, your essential framework for doing life. In short, inside your house is your entire inner world, both the parts of you that heal and give life, as well as the parts of you that are detrimental to you, others, and the world.
God is the thief who breaks into your house to steal from you . . . to steal your hatred . . . to steal your bigotry and prejudice . . . to steal your judgmental spirit . . . to steal your greed . . . to steal your miserliness . . . to steal your bent toward destructiveness.
The point seems to be that if you want to hold onto who you think you are at the moment – to your anger and your weapons of destruction and your jealousies and your ego-centric behaviors – you had best lock your doors securely and not allow God inside. Because once God gets in, God is going to steal those things you refuse to let go of, those things you cling to for life.
I know this to be true. God has been a thief, stealing from me for over two decades . . . anger, life-stealing behavior patterns, judgments, preconceived notions about life which were not true. Time after time I have found God to be a thief who takes from me what I thought I had locked away securely. God has stolen from me things that diminished my capacity to love and things that compromised my ability to act mercifully.
One of my mentors says this is essentially what the dark night of the soul is . . . God stealing from us in the darkness what we will not hand over willingly to him in the light.
Advent is here! The Thief is coming . . . jiggling the door handles of the rooms you and I have secured, in order to gain entrance . . . to steal from me and you yet again.
For Reflection:
• Are you bothered by the image of God as a thief? If so, you may want to sit quietly for a moment and explore with God why you are bothered by the image.
• What is your experience of God as a Thief?
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