Read Matthew 24:36-44 with your family.

Last week was the last week of the old Christian year, where we concentrated on the stories from the Gospel of Luke.

This week is the first Sunday in the new Christian year, a year where we concentrate on the stories from the Gospel of Matthew.

The first reading of the new Christian year is always what we call ‘apocalyptic stories’. Apocalyptic stores are not the stories we see in movies that are all doom and gloom. For the people living in Jesus’ time, apocalyptic stories were full of hope. They promised that the bad people, the horrible governments, those who exploit the poor and vulnerable, would finally be punished, and the people of God would live a good life again, just like they had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This was the promise they believed in and shared with each other.

We begin every Christian year with an apocalyptic story because we remember the promise of Jesus’ birth and God living with the people. Advent means waiting, and we are waiting for the good things that God has promised. Jesus shows us how God wants us to live so we can help God create the new world of peace and sharing.

In this story Jesus tells his followers to always be ready because no one knows when God will come. Two people might be working together, but one is ready for God and one isn’t, and the person that is ready will be there to help God’s world.

Jesus didn’t want anyone left out so he told everyone to believe and be ready.