When is Advent over? Advent calendars begin the season on December 1 and end on December 24. Churches that observe Advent consider the first Sunday of the season to be the one closest to November 30 and finish on December 24. By that reckoning, Advent was over a week ago. Or was it?

Jesus taught His disciples (and us!) to observe a kind of perpetual Advent, always looking forward to His return. The parable of the man going on a journey describes Jesus’ followers as stewards who have been entrusted with the wealth of their master. What is clear from the parable is that Jesus expects us to do more than just wait. During his absence, the man in the parable expected his servants to represent his interests by managing wisely what had been entrusted to them (vv. 16–17).

This is a story about how to wait well. The parable that precedes it is about the wise and foolish virgins who do not know when the bridegroom will arrive. It concludes the warning: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (v. 13). In the parable in Matthew 25, the master does not return until “after a long time” (v. 19). The slave who hid what had been placed in his care is called “wicked,” “lazy,” and “worthless.” He is cast out of the master’s presence (vv. 26, 30). Both parables provide a reproof to the generation that saw Christ’s first Advent and a caution to those who await His Second. As faithful servants of the Master, we are to wait in hope. We are not to be caught unprepared for His return, no matter how long He seems to take. We keep watch as we wait and work for Him.