There are those days when I can’t wait for the end of the day and to get up to my room and just put my feet up. And I know we all know those kinds of days. Can’t wait for the end of the day.  

Today Jesus talks about the end, but he’s not talking about the end of a day, but the end of times. And that is something none of us Really wants to hear about or think about. 

In some respects it’s very scary stuff. But once people heard Jesus speak about these things, they immediately began to wonder when all of this was going to take place. And that’s what they were focused on. And clearly Jesus tells us no one knows the day or the hour. We’ve been doing that very thing for the past 2,000 years. 

Just think back at the year 2000, all the predictions of how the world would come to its end. And Jesus again makes it very clear, no one. No one but the father knows the day or the hour. 

Now typically when these readings are listened to, we think about the end of time and being prepared, taking each day as if it were our last. But I’d like us to consider something a little different today. Let’s think about how God is with us always. 

Think about how God is present to us always, hoping to encounter us always. Do we notice? 

And so Jesus uses this beautiful image. He says, “learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that the summer is near.” 

What Jesus is describing are signs that Jesus, that God in Jesus is near. He is about to make this presence known that he is about to come to us. And these are gentle signs that something good is about to happen. 

And it’s meant to be a flip side to the images used 

Moments earlier when we hear about the sky darkening and the stars falling from the sky and the powers of heaven being shaken. These words of Jesus are meant to teach us something today important about our faith, not just solely for the end of time, but something that has meaning for us at this very moment. 

And this is the lesson. If we want intimacy with God, we have to pay attention. We have to do our best to recognize these moments of grace that come to us in all different kinds of shapes and sizes, and in so many unexpected ways. 

I remember not that long ago I was having just a bad day. Nothing seemed to go right. I didn’t feel right. 

And then the doorbell rang at the rectory and I thought, do I really want to answer this? I knew I should and I had to. 

So I went to the door and there was a woman, a kind elderly woman, and she said, Father, I’ve just been thinking about you. I know that you and our priests work so hard. I made this cake and I want to share it with you and the other fathers living at the rectory. She made my heart smile and she made my day.  

And I share that story with you because, yes, we know that the Son of Man is going to come one day in the clouds. That fact we know for sure. But in the meantime, he will show up, as I suggested in my story, in these little moments of grace, these unexpected moments of grace. 

Pay attention and take notice of those moments of grace that God will provide for you.