The King is Coming Back to Your Neighbourhood

Earlier today I was watching some of the Tour de France  cycle race on TV with my family. We spotted that one section of road in particular that the riders rode over had notably been newly re-tarmacced. This got us talking about how certain things will only get done by the council when important visitors come by.

We talked about places we had lived in and worked in in the past, that had overnight very expensive  facelifts c/o the council and taxpayer, because either the Queen or Princess Diana was coming to visit for only a matter of minutes. Suddenly, things long ignored like pot holes in the roads and broken fences were fixed, rubbish and graffiti was cleaned up, and even brand new flower beds were planted and hanging baskets hung up on glistening lamp posts. Everything was made as perfect as possible to ‘give a good show’.

I do not grudge making places look nice, nor in giving honour where it is due, it’s just when this kind of thing happens, it can feel somewhat like a slap in the face to the locals. Because the locals had been repeatedly asking the council to fix a dangerous broken bit of pavement for five years and had been consistenly ignored; and you’ve guessed it, this same section of pavement was fixed rapidly because it was decided Royalty might  glance that way as they passed through that part of town.  (The Royal Family probably honestly thinks that everywhere in Britain always smells like fresh paint and new tarmac!)

Anyway, this got me thinking. If we knew Our King Jesus was coming back next week, what metaphorical broken fences would we fix, what pot-holes would we fill in, what weeds would we dig out and flower beds replant, what walls would we paint to get things looking nice – in our lives, and in our churches? With what rapidity would we run hectically around rushing to get all the things on our lists done? And perhaps still fret that not enough had been done and await nervously His Majesty’s inspection?

Yet it has to be asked, when these things are being knowingly and wilfully neglected today for whatever reasons, with whatever excuses, with whatever alternative priorities or distractions, why can these things not done be now  for Our King who has left them in our charge and trust? Be ready, be the faithful servant who is ever ready and ever dressed.

***

This following past post also below which ties in with this: (from here)-

“I watched a film recently that was set in China in the early 1900s. Because it was set in a culture very differant to my own, it helped me see a bible passage in a new light. In the film, the rich Master goes through some personal tragedy. Therefore he leaves his home and his hometown to grieve and to ’find’ himself – and from what I understand, this practice was not at all unusual among the wealthy.  He leaves his house in the charge of his servants while he goes off walkabout, and the servants are left to look after his house not knowing when to expect their master back – it could be a week, a month, a year, a decade or even more  – but they are left to get on with it. 

Anyway, after many years away, the Master finally returns to his home. His old servant runs to the door and is delighted to see him again but immediately apologises that the house has not been kept up to proper standards. In the first few years it was very well maintained, kept in the expectation as if the Master could walk in any moment - it was swept and cleaned and everything was kept tidy and there were even provisions bought in the master liked in case he came back hungry and wanted a meal – but as more and more time went on, the servant became more and more lax, even complacent, and now it had been so long the servant only really looked after himself and his own needs, even though he was on his master’s payroll, and had gotten lax and the house had been neglected in crucial areas. He had not been a faithful servant for the past few years, as even though the Master had not been living there or giving him continued direct instructions by letter, the servant was still paid to work.

I immediately thought of Mark 13: 34-37 -

‘But of that day or hour (when Christ will return) no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his servants in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert – for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’

and also Mathew 25: 13-21 -

“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour…. For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’….But when the Son of Man comes in His glory….”

And again Luke 12: 35-59 -

‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those servants. But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

…”Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other servants, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That servant who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. …

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrits! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Christ is truly returning soon. I tell you the truth in this. Make sure YOU are found ready and dressed for action with enough oil in your lamps. The Master has taken a long time in coming, but it is not long now – the end of the world is nigh!”