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36 “Concerning those days and hours, no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son, but only the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah. 38 For in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying, until the very day when Noah entered the ark. 39 They were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Son of Man will be likewise. 40 Then two men will be working in a field and one will be taken while the other will be left behind. 41 Two women will be grinding flour in a mill and one will be taken while the other will be left behind.

42 “So keep watch, for you do not know the day when your Lord will come. 43 Know this: if the master of the house knew the hour when the thief would come, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. 44 For this reason you must be prepared, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man will come.

45 “Who is the faithful and prudent servant whom the master has set in charge of his household to distribute food to his fellow servants at the proper time? 46 Blessed will that servant be if his master comes and finds him doing this. 47 Amen I tell you that he put that servant in charge over his whole property. 48 If however the servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to abuse his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards, 50 that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and hour 51 and cut him to pieces and give him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Comments

Jesus warns his disciples that not even he knows exactly when (“days and hours”) these things will take place, so they must be vigilant. He uses three images to illustrate the situation: the flood coming upon unsuspecting people in the days of Noah, a homeowner whose house will be broken into, and a servant waiting for the return of his master.

In Mt, apocalypticism takes on an ethical dimension. Christians do not know when Christ will come again. They do not know when some cataclysmic change will occur that will reshape the global order. Individually, they do not know the day of their own death. Therefore, they have no choice but to live in a state of existential readiness. What exactly this entails will be explored by Jesus in the next chapter.