“Jesus is Coming, Look Busy!” – Lenten Reflection for March 8 by Matt Laney

“Surely I am coming soon.” Jesus in Revelation 22:21

This verse, one of the very last in the Bible, makes me think of two bumper stickers: “Jesus is Coming. Look Busy!” and my favorite: “God is coming …and she’s pissed!”

It’s silly to think of God as a nitpicking boss, watching and waiting for us to slack off, check our Facebook page, click over to solitaire, or take a power nap in the youth lounge as a pretext for kicking us to the curb. It’s also cartoonish to make God into an angry parent yelling, “Don’t make me come down there!” to kids-gone-wild in the basement playroom.

On the other hand, scripture repeatedly forecasts a day when God will come to earth and “clean house,” end injustice, cast out evil and make things right. That good news is the theme of Revelation. I don’t know if God will be “pissed” when it happens but I suspect it won’t help to “look busy.” In fact, I think we’re supposed to “get busy” right now.

Because maybe God’s renovation project is already underway. Maybe, when the writer of Revelation said it would happen “soon,” he meant “now.” If that’s true, all baptized disciples are called to roll up their sleeves and join Jesus in cleaning house. Even as new messes pile up, we can whistle as we work because we know how the story ends.

Prayer

Lord, I will have countless opportunities to right some wrongs today. Help me see, and do, at least one.

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United Church of Christ Stillspeaking Devotional Published by Pilgrim Press. Shared with permission of the publisher.