"But about that day or hour
no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
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."
THE CELEBRATION
Church, can I tell you something this morning? Jesus is coming back! And when He comes, He's not coming as a baby in a manger—He's coming as the King of Glory! He's coming to set everything right! He's coming to judge the living and the dead! He's coming to wipe every tear from our eyes! He's coming to make all things new!
And Jesus says, "STAY AWAKE!"
THE TROUBLE IN THE TEXT (6-8 minutes)
The Problem of Sleep
Now, when Jesus says "stay awake," He's not just talking about physical sleep. He's talking about spiritual sleep. He's talking about the kind of sleep that makes you comfortable with injustice. The kind of sleep that makes you numb to suffering. The kind of sleep that makes you forget God's promises while you settle for the world's scraps.
You see, the people in Noah's day weren't bad because they were eating and drinking and getting married. Those are normal things! The problem was they were so caught up in the ordinary rhythms of life that they couldn't see the extraordinary judgment coming. They were sleepwalking through their days, business as usual, while Noah was building an ark and preaching righteousness.
They weren't awake to what God was doing.
Our Ancestors Knew About Staying Awake
Our ancestors understood this text in their bones. They couldn't afford to fall asleep—literally or spiritually. When you're enslaved, sleep means vulnerability. Sleep means the patroller might catch you. Sleep means you might miss your chance to run. Sleep means death.
So they stayed awake. They watched. They waited. They sang:
* "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, the time is drawing nigh"
* "Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus"
* "Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water"
Those weren't just pretty spirituals—those were coded messages about staying awake, watching for the moment, being ready to move when God said move!
Harriet Tubman said, "I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger." You know why? Because she stayed awake! She watched the North Star. She listened for the dogs. She knew every sound in the forest. She was vigilant because liberation required wakefulness.
Frederick Douglass stayed awake—reading by candlelight, teaching himself, preparing his mind for freedom before his body was free.
Sojourner Truth stayed awake—preaching truth to power, never letting folks forget that God made Black women in His image too.
Our people have always known: you can't sleep your way to freedom.
The Sleep of Today
But church, I'm worried today. I'm worried that we've fallen asleep in a different way. We're not physically enslaved anymore—thank God!—but some of us are spiritually asleep.
We're asleep when we accept systems that were designed to keep us down and we don't challenge them.
We're asleep when we see our young people dying in the streets and we say, "That's just how it is."
We're asleep when we forget that the same God who delivered our ancestors from Egypt and from slavery is still in the deliverance business.
We're asleep when we're so busy trying to get ours that we forget about our neighbor who doesn't have theirs.
We're asleep when we trade the radical gospel of Jesus for a prosperity gospel that makes us comfortable with the status quo.
We're asleep when we think the American Dream is the same as the Kingdom of God.
Jesus says, "STAY AWAKE!" Because something's coming. Change is coming. Judgment is coming. The King is coming. And when He comes, He's going to ask, "Were you watching? Were you ready? Were you working for My kingdom, or were you so caught up in this world's kingdom that you forgot about Mine?"
THE TURN (5-7 minutes)
Two in the Field, Two Grinding Grain
Look at what Jesus says: "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left."
Now, a lot of folks have preached this text and made it scary—like Jesus is going to snatch some folks and leave others behind for punishment. But let me give you another way to hear this text through the ears of our ancestors.
Two men in the field—that's slave labor, field work, backbreaking labor under the sun. Two women grinding grain—that's domestic work, the constant grind, the work that never ends. These are the laborers, the workers, the ones at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
And Jesus says one will be taken and one will be left.
The question is: which one do you want to be?
In the days of Noah, the flood "took them all away"—that's judgment language. They were swept away in destruction. But Noah was left—preserved, saved, delivered into a new world.
What if being "taken" isn't always the blessing and being "left" isn't always the curse?
What if Jesus is saying: "Stay awake because when I come, I'm going to separate those who were just going through the motions from those who were actually watching and working for the kingdom. Some will be swept away by judgment, and some will be left—preserved for the new thing I'm doing."
Our ancestors understood this. When they sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," they weren't just talking about death—they were talking about deliverance! "Coming for to carry me home" meant the Underground Railroad was coming. It meant freedom was at hand. It meant stay awake, watch for the signs, be ready to move!
The Liberating Christ
Jesus isn't coming back to maintain the systems of this world. He's coming back to overthrow them! He's coming back to reverse the order! The last shall be first! The first shall be last! The humble will be exalted! The exalted will be humbled! The poor will inherit the kingdom! The rich will be sent away empty!
That's why the enslaved loved the book of Revelation. Because it promised that Babylon—that oppressive empire—would fall! The beast would be defeated! The dragon would be cast down! And a new heaven and new earth would emerge where God wipes away every tear and there's no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain!
Our people stayed awake because they believed in a God who shows up! A God who delivers! A God who parts seas and tumbles walls and breaks chains and opens prison doors!
THE GOSPEL: WHAT IT MEANS TO STAY AWAKE (10-12 minutes)
1. Stay Awake to God's Movement in History
Staying awake means recognizing that God is at work in history, and history is moving somewhere. It's not just going in circles. It has a destination. And that destination is the kingdom of God—full liberation, full justice, full shalom.
Our ancestors stayed awake to what God was doing. They saw the contradictions between the slaveholder's Christianity and the gospel of Jesus. They saw through the lies. They knew that a God who delivered Israel from Egypt would deliver them from slavery. They watched for God's hand in their circumstances.
Moses stayed awake for 40 years in the wilderness until God showed up in a burning bush.
David stayed awake as a shepherd boy until God called him to be king.
Mary stayed awake, pondering things in her heart, watching God work through her ordinary life.
We must stay awake to see what God is doing right now. Where is God at work in our community? Where is the Spirit moving? What injustices is God calling us to confront? What liberation is God calling us to participate in?
You can't see what God is doing if you're spiritually asleep!
2. Stay Awake to the Systems That Bind Us
Jesus says stay awake because there are systems in this world designed to keep us asleep, to keep us distracted, to keep us numb.
The system wants you to think that if you just work hard enough, if you just pull yourself up by your bootstraps, if you just follow the rules, everything will be fine. But that's a lie designed to keep you from questioning why the system is set up the way it is in the first place!
The system wants you to think your problem is personal when it's actually structural. It wants you to blame yourself for poverty when the system was designed to create poverty. It wants you to think racism is about individual prejudice when it's about institutionalized power.
Staying awake means seeing the principalities and powers that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. It means recognizing that our struggle isn't just against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness.
Our ancestors saw this! They understood that slavery wasn't just about individual mean slaveholders—it was a system! Sharecropping wasn't just bad contracts—it was a system! Jim Crow wasn't just prejudiced people—it was a system! Mass incarceration isn't just tough on crime—it's a system!
And Jesus says stay awake to these systems because when He comes back, He's going to dismantle every oppressive system. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. Every crooked place will be made straight. Every mountain will be brought low. Every valley will be lifted up!
3. Stay Awake and Work for Liberation Now
Here's where it gets practical. Staying awake isn't passive. Jesus doesn't say, "Go to sleep and wait for Me to fix everything." He says, "Stay awake! Keep watch! Be ready! Be about My business!"
Our ancestors didn't just wait for freedom—they worked for it while they waited! They organized. They resisted. They taught each other to read even though it was illegal. They preserved their families even when the system tried to tear them apart. They built institutions—churches, schools, mutual aid societies. They didn't wait for white folks to give them freedom; they seized freedom wherever they could!
Staying awake today means:
Working for justice now. Don't wait for the kingdom to come to fight oppression. Fight it now! Advocate for policies that lift up the poor. Challenge systems that criminalize Blackness. Support organizations doing liberation work.
Building beloved community now. Don't wait for heaven to love your neighbor. Love them now! Create spaces where all of God's children are valued. Build tables where everyone has a seat.
Living as free people now. Don't let this world define you. Don't let systems of oppression tell you who you are. You are a child of God! You are made in the image of God! You are royalty! Live like it!
Mentoring the next generation now. Pass on the truth. Teach our children their real history. Help them stay awake. Don't let them be lulled to sleep by a system that wants them to forget who they are and whose they are.
4. Stay Awake With Hope
And here's the good news: we stay awake not out of fear but out of hope!
Some folks preach the Second Coming like it's bad news—like Jesus is coming back angry and we better watch out. But church, for the oppressed, the Second Coming is good news! It's the best news!
For those who are comfortable with injustice, yes, Jesus' return is terrifying. But for those who are crying out for justice, who are longing for liberation, who are watching and waiting—His return is our vindication! It's our deliverance! It's our hope!
Our ancestors sang, "My Lord, what a morning when the stars begin to fall!" Not because they were scared, but because they knew that morning meant freedom! That morning meant justice! That morning meant every wrong made right!
We stay awake with joy because we know how the story ends! We've read the last chapter! Revelation 21 says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'"
The old order is passing away! Stay awake and watch it happen! Stay awake and participate in it! Stay awake because the King is coming and He's bringing liberation with Him!
THE CHALLENGE (3-5 minutes)
So church, my question for you today is: Are you awake?
Are you awake to what God is doing in your life, in your community, in the world?
Are you awake to the systems that are still trying to oppress and diminish God's children?
Are you awake and working for the kingdom, or have you fallen asleep to the ordinary rhythms of this world?
Are you watching for the King's return, or are you so comfortable that you've forgotten He's coming back?
Jesus says, "Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."
Our ancestors stayed awake through slavery—will we stay awake through freedom?
Our ancestors stayed awake through Jim Crow—will we stay awake through integration?
Our ancestors stayed awake in the midst of oppression—will we stay awake in the midst of comfort?
You can't fight for freedom if you're asleep. You can't work for justice if you're asleep. You can't see the kingdom coming if you're asleep.
So stay awake!
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning! Keep watching! Keep working! Keep hoping! Keep believing! Keep pressing! Keep fighting!
Because the King is coming! And when He comes, He wants to find us awake—watching, working, ready!
CLOSING
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You that You are coming back. Not as a baby, but as a King. Not to maintain the systems of this world, but to overthrow them. Not to keep things as they are, but to make all things new.
Wake us up, Lord. Wake us up to Your presence. Wake us up to Your work. Wake us up to the injustices around us. Wake us up to our calling as Your people.
Help us to watch and work, to hope and act, to believe and do.
And when You come—whether in our lifetime or in generations to come—find us faithful, find us awake, find us ready.
In the name of the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Amen.
Benediction
Go now and stay awake!
Watch for God's movement in your life. Work for God's justice in your community. Wait with hope for God's kingdom coming.
The Lord who delivered our ancestors from Egypt, The Lord who delivered our ancestors from slavery, The Lord who delivered our ancestors through every trial— That same Lord goes with you.
Stay awake! The King is coming!
Amen and Amen!
