Deceptively Ready

Luke 17:20-37
In this passage the Pharisees are asking Jesus when the kingdom of God will come.  He tells them that it will come suddenly and without clear and obvious signs (vs. 20-21), as it was already in their midst and they had missed it.  So too, unless prepared, would they, along with us, miss it again.  We are so certain that we are ready for the second coming, having filled our heads with knowledge of the end times, thinking this is preparation, thinking that it will be obvious when this time has come, ignoring Jesus continued exhortations that his second coming is as sudden and unexpected as lightning (vs. 24).  It will not be obvious until it is too late (vs. 29-30, 34-37).  Why do we think it will be so clear, when he tells us otherwise?  Why do we think our head knowledge has prepared us for this?  Did not the Pharisees have knowledge of the birth of the Savior and yet missed it?  Did they not have knowledge of the Messiah and yet missed it?  And we have this same intellectual knowledge and think we are so different.  Hear Jesus' warnings.  Just as lightning suddenly flashes and spreads and then is gone, so too will his second coming be.  Just like in the days of Noah and Lot, people will be going about business as usual, doing the same things they have always done, anticipating what they will do tomorrow and the next day, and suddenly it is all over and they missed it (vs. 27-30).  They did not see it coming.  Total destruction, however major and catastrophic, was not obvious, and will not be obvious, so Jesus says.  But, we say, although we are going about business as usual, we, unlike those, have knowledge and awareness of these end times so although we go about routine, we are prepared due to this knowledge.  The same prayer the Pharisee prayed (18:11-12).  However, regard the parable of the wise and the wicked servant in Matthew 24:45-51.  This wicked servant, just like the wise servant, knew that his master would return, he was not ignorant of that fact.  He knew what it was his master wanted him to do also.  And yet this knowledge led him to a false sense of readiness that led to complacency, which led to his being totally unprepared for the anticipated return of his master, and then it was too late.  Simply being aware of Jesus' return is not to be prepared for it.  In fact, being aware of it is more dangerous because there is a false confidence that arises within us, telling us that this knowledge has prepared us, when in fact we are deceived.  Look at the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to pray (18:9-14).  It was the Pharisee that was so sure he was ready for the return, due to the fact of his holiness and self-righteousness.  His religion, he reasoned, had well prepared him for heaven.  And yet it is the tax collector, mourning in his own wretchedness and unworthiness, confessing his lack of readiness, that was truly prepared for the kingdom to come.  Those of us who are so sure we are ready, are most likely the ones who are the least ready (I Corinthians 10:12).  Our certainty and arrogance in knowing we are ready is our downfall.  We lose dependence on the Father to keep us ready, as only he can (18:7-8).  The Pharisees desperately wanted to be ready for the second coming, so they turned to religion to due so.  They looked to their "fruits" and adherence to a religion as proof of their preparation, and yet it was all in self-interest.  They wanted heaven, to preserve their own lives, to live on, and this is not salvation and readiness (vs. 33).  True preparation is to know you are not prepared and cannot get yourself prepared.  This is the work of God through Jesus, only.  The widow persisted in crying out for justice, knowing there was only one who could give it to her, and it was not her (18:2-8).  Jesus is coming back, we all know that.  But knowing that is not to the same as being ready.  If we think we are ready, then be very, very careful.  Those that are ready tend to grow complacent and lazy, since they were "prepared" some time in the past.  When he comes suddenly, after it is too late, they realize that in being "ready" they have actually divided their hearts among the things of this world, and have missed his coming, being deceived by their "readiness", it leading them to complacency (vs. 31-33).  They have prepared to be ready for his coming out of self-interest and self-preservation.  Their religion is nothing more than a means to preserve life in heaven, not for the glory of God and love of Jesus.  No wonder as he is delayed in coming they turn to other means to satisfy self.  The ones who are truly ready are overcome by their own sinfulness and wretchedness, leading them to continually cry out to God and lean on him and him alone (18:7-8, 13-14).  To be prepared is to know you can never be prepared, and this keeps one watchful and dependent.  It is those who are "ready" who lose that dependence, instead relying on their religious works as proof or some past experience or conversion, not realizing they have become divided and deceived.  When Jesus returns, what will he find?  People putting full trust in past works (18:11-12), with divided hearts (vs. 31-32), whose goal is to preserve their own life in heaven (vs. 33), who have lost their sense of urgency and dependence, instead turning to the things of this world to enjoy until the end times (vs. 27-30)?  Or will he find those who have turned to him continually, crying out day and night for justice and mercy (18:7-8, 13-14), depending only on Jesus to do the work that only Jesus can do (vs. 18:8), fearing lest they be unready (Matthew 10:28)?  If you are ready then you are not ready.