Theme: God's reliable unpredictability

Exegetical note
This passage comes toward the end of Matthew's version of the "Little Apocalypse" in Mark 13 and, like its source, emphasizes the unpredictability of the expected and desired parousia, and the consequent need for watchfulness and readiness. For Advent, the passage provides an excellent reminder that, despite the reliability of God's promises, God acts in God's own good time, and therefore predictions and pronouncements about when (or, for that matter, how) God may or may not act in the future are, at b…