12/3/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reading: Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
33 “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
34 It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
35 Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
36 May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
37 What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

12/3/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reading: Mark 13:33-37

In this gospel reading, we hear Jesus telling us to be watchful and to be alert for His coming. We know He had already come more than two thousand years ago but before He went back to His Father on Ascension Day, He promised that He would come back but He did not mention the day or time. Yet we may not be alive when He comes back. For our life on earth is only temporary. Sooner or later, We will leave our earthly body and go to the other world. That is why there is a really a need to prepare for any eventuality. In other words, whether we are alive when Jesus comes again or we die today or tomorrow, we must be ready to meet Him face to face.

Here’s the best way to prepare. Let us know Him now and develop a relationship with Him so that when we meet Him, He will not be a stranger to us and He will not tell us that He doesn’t know us. Woe to those to whom the Lord will say “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

So let’s get familiar with Jesus now. It is not yet too late. Let’s know Him and His precepts for it will be an anomaly if we have heard of Him but refuse to believe and follow Him. To be familiar with Him means to listen to His words every day and to live a life according to His will. Much better, let us live in faith that He is always with us and in us. For in truth, He never left us because He has sent His Spirit to be with us.

Yes, Jesus is with us in Spirit because He is the Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23). What we are awaiting is His second coming to complete the redemption of this world and the fulfillment of His Kingdom. As we await in joyful hope, we celebrate regularly His first coming. This is the true essence of Christmas – a celebration of His coming as savior and a reminder that His saving work will soon be completed. May the Christmas season be a great time to reflect on how prepared are we to meet Him face to face.