Ripe

Luke 21:29-38 (The Message)

29-33 He told them a story.

"Look at a fig tree.

Any tree for that matter.

When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner.

The same here—when you see these things happen, you know God's kingdom is about here. Don't brush this off: I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen.

Sky and earth will wear out; my words won't wear out.

34-36 "But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping.

Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once.

So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man."

37-38 He spent his days in the Temple teaching, but his nights out on the mountain called Olives.

All the people were up at the crack of dawn to come to the Temple and listen to him.

Take just a moment to read that passage again, slowly. Let it really sink in.

It's striking in many ways.

It seems to me that the message Jesus is proclaiming shouldn't draw huge crowds. It's one of self-control, discipline and readiness.

It flies in the face of things that are "fun, quick and easy." Sometimes I tend to think that people don't want to hear these kinds of things.

And yet, "all the people were up at the crack of dawn to come to the Temple and listen to him."

Maybe in Jesus they couldn't help seeing the signs, the first budding of the new, green leaves.

Jesus says that we can see and know when the fig tree's leaves are coming. Their presence tells us that summer is on its way. A huge fig tree stands guard outside the window of my office. This is the fourth fall when I have seen its leaves turn yellow and then brown, then fade away to nothing.

This springs it will bud out once again. The huge, green leaves will come, and then the fruit. In the heat of summer we'll pick figs one more time.

But we're not the only ones who love figs. So do the birds, squirrels and deer. As soon as the figs begin to turn, we pick them. We have to get there first, and to do that, we have to be ready.

We have to watch.

Now, if I'm willing to keep an eye on ripening figs (some things don't change in 2,000 years, do they?), then perhaps I ought to be equally willing to keep watch for the coming of the kingdom.

The holiday season is near, and this year, I want to keep watching. Do Jesus' words sound as though they are describing coming days?

"Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping."

Watch with expectation. Pray. Ask God to make us ready for the ways he may break into our lives.

Prayer: Father, we ask you to make us aware. Help us to be spiritually awake, not asleep at the switch. As we watch for ripening fruit in the summer, show us how our lives and our world turn ripe in your presence.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.