Stay Awake!

“Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42

I heard Bishop Barron say in one of his homilies that “much of our Western culture today is like the Decapolis.” He said it was  “not a culture shaped by the word of God, but shaped very much by secularist influences.” 

But what was the Decapolis he was comparing Western culture to? The word itself is derived from ancient Greek words déka which means ten and pólis which means city. It was a league of ten cities, which was the center of Greek and Roman culture. Jesus and His disciples also went around this region inhabited mostly by Gentiles, not Jews. 

In Israel, there were many who gave importance to God’s Word and His ways. But in the Decapolis, there were many dissenting voices, there was a lot of materialism, temples to different gods, individualism, and the search for meaning apart from God. We can see in today’s world there are many views drowning out the Word of God too! 

Jesus said, “Stay awake!” In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Lions hunt by stalking quietly like a cat, they stay hidden for as long as possible. The devil and his minions are like that too. They prefer to work in the dark, nothing blatant so they catch us unaware. They see our weaknesses and work tirelessly until we are already caught in their claws. But God is also on the hunt. His quest is us, each one of us, and He won’t rest until we see the light and reach out for Him. Yes, He will come for us! We can depend on it!