Homily delivered on the First Sunday of Advent at Mary the Queen Parish last Sunday, 28 November 2004.

Did you notice something strange about today’s Gospel?

In the very last paragraph, the Lord Jesus says, “Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” And to illustrate the point that we must all be vigilant, he proceeds to make a comparison: He compares us to the master of a house who, knowing what hour of the night a thief would come, would stay awake and be ready for the burglary, obviously to stop it.

But that’s not the strange part. The strange part is what follows: If in Christ’s comparison, we are the master of the house, what does that make him ?

Did the Lord just compare himself to a thief?

I must have done a little double take when I read the Gospel.  The Lord, a thief?  It’s hardly an appropriate metaphor to use on the Lord when you think about it, and certainly not one that you w0uld expect to come from the Lord himself!

Actually, upon careful reflection, we will realize that it does not necessarily follow. There doesn’t have to be a one-to-one correspondence in the comparison, such that if we are the master of the house, then the Lord will have to be—heaven forbid—the thief. Maybe all that the Lord is trying to say in the comparison is that we should be vigilant just as an owner of the house should be vigilant for any burglary. Period. End of comparison.

In other words, we don’t have to conclude that the Lord meant to compare himself to a burglar. That way we can all heave a collective sigh of relief, agree with the message in peace, and go back to our personal lives, business as usual.

But then again, isn’t the Lord known to shock his audience with bewildering and sometimes disturbing parables? Just to take one example: Remember that “Samaritan” was a pretty bad word when the Lord decided to cast him as the good guy in his parable.

And so what if? What if we permit ourselves to get a little carried away in our interpretation and assume that the Lord also meant to compare himself to a thief? Will anything more be added to the message?

To help us in our little work of biblical interpretation, let us ask ourselves a basic question: “What does a thief do anyway aside from coming at a time when he is least expected?”

I think even without the benefit of personal experience, we can agree on three rather obvious answers: First, a thief has to steal into the house—or break into it. Secondly, he searches the house. And third, he takes what is most valuable.

Now, is it possible that when he comes, the Lord will do precisely those three things? At that unknown day and hour, when we least expect it, the Lord will seek an entry into our hearts. He will search our hearts. And then he will take what is most valuable.

Think about it. It raises questions. What will happen when the Lord does finally come to us like a “thief in the night”?

At that unexpected hour, will he find the door unlocked, or at least perhaps some window left open, so that he can steal into your heart? Or have you put your heart behind locked doors, secured the windows, set up barrier after barrier, so that the only way to get in is for God to force an entry by breaking into your heart?

At that unexpected hour, when the Lord searches your heart, will he find something truly valuable, something truly lasting? Or will he find a heart cluttered with hordes of possessions acquired one after the other but having no true value and all waiting simply to fade with time?

At that unexpected hour, when the Lord desires to take what is most valuable, would you be willing to give it away--your heart-- to him? Or would you, in spite of yourself, end up putting up a fight?

Dear friends, if we truly want to wait for the Lord’s coming in this season of Advent, we have to open our hearts, or at least leave some kind of opening to provide God some entry.

As we wait for him, we must already spend our days gathering treasures that are truly valuable, and not only things that are passing, so that when he comes searching our hearts, he will find something of true value.

And finally, even now, as we begin this Advent, let us already make the decision that when the time comes, we will let the Lord steal our heart away.

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