Grace/Gloria
Dei Lutheran Churches
November
27, 2011
Mark
13.24-37
In Anne County Maryland, “Stay awake!” is what 911 operators were being told. About 3 years ago at 3 a.m. in the morning, someone dialed 911 to report an emergency and to request help right away. But instead of talking to a 911 operator and telling them who they were, where they were, and what was going on, for nearly two minutes all the caller could do was to sit there and listen to the sound of the 911 operator snoring. Fortunately a supervisor at the 911 center eventually noticed what was happening, woke the operator up, and got the person they help they needed. That operator definitely needed a wakeup call!
We too have all been
there before. We’ve all needed a wakeup
call sometime in our lives. Be it at
work after a busy morning right after we eat lunch. Be it at school after a long night of
studying for a test and writing a paper.
Or be it at home after getting up with the baby several times in the
night or waking up worried about different stresses. We have needed a wakeup call to stir us up
and get our blood flowing again so that we may keep alert and watchful for what
is to come.
However I would argue that we not only need wake up calls for our physical selves, but even more importantly for our spiritual selves. Be it that we’ve attended church all our lives and attend more out of duty than delight. Be it that we’ve seen conflict and brokenness in faith communities and become disillusioned with the Christian life. Or be it that we’ve just gotten too busy, too distracted, too overwhelmed with the day-in and day-out tasks that we don’t take time to pray, to read, to stop and know Christ’s presence with us. We need a wakeup call to stir us up, open our hearts, and peel open the closed eyelids of our faith so that we may keep alert and be watchful for what is to come…Christ coming again.
Yet as believers we do have a wakeup call and it’s better than any alarm clock there is! Right here on the first Sunday of Advent, the first day of the church year, we have a wakeup call that stirs us from our drowsy prayer life, our sluggish serving hearts, and “back of the eyelids” seeing. Our wakeup call comes in the words of Jesus Christ…words that will never pass away…words that will be the only thing that will last. We have words of hope…of life…of joy…of promise. We have the words of Jesus Christ that come us through the scriptures, through the water…the bread and the wine, through the love of a neighbor, through the gathering of believers…through the presence of God with us in this world. Christ’s words are our wake up call. They are the words that keep our faith alert. They are the words that keep our eyes watchful. They are the words that keep our faith filled hearts awake as we await Christ’s return…a return that we know neither the day nor the hour.
So then without knowing the day nor the hour, how can we prepare for Christ’s second coming? We know that Advent is a time to prepare. We indeed know how to prepare for Christ’s first coming, when he came to us as a babe born in Bethlehem. We know how to anticipate this coming as we prepare for our Sunday School programs, our choir cantata, and our candlelight worship services that will all celebrate our Savior’s birth. But how do we prepare for Christ’s second coming? How do we anticipate a coming that Jesus says will be marked by signs of the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from heaven, and the powers in heaven being shaken?
Preparing and anticipating certainly does not mean that we are to spend our time trying to predict when Jesus is coming again. Unfortunately this has occupied the time and minds of so many people for centuries, including many Christians, apparently even since shortly after Christ’s ascension. Jesus had to warn his followers of this a few verses earlier in our gospel, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and wonders to lead astray.” Unfortunately so much of Christianity today is plagued by this obsession with prophecy and prediction of the end times. You can find whole shelves of this types of books in local Christian bookstores. Yes it is true that Jesus himself has given the signs of what these “end times” will be when he comes again as the text tells us as “ ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory.” However, Christ makes it very clear that those signs are not to be predictors of Christ’s second coming. For Jesus even says that he himself does not know the day or the hour when he will return, only the Father knows. Nor are Jesus’ signs meant for terrifying or condemning. Rather these signs are to be promise.
These signs are filled with promise of what is to come. These signs are filled with promise that awakens us to prepare. So then we are to prepare for this second coming and we do so in two ways according to the two illustrations Jesus gives us. First Jesus tells us again of a fig tree whose branches become tender and puts forth its leaves. When we see this, we know that summer is near…a season of new life and new growth. Jesus calls us to be alert and be watchful so we too may live in this new life, in the growth of God’s Good News spreading its branches throughout the world. Secondly, Jesus tells us of a man going on a journey who puts his slaves in charge, each with their work and who also commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Because Jesus’ words of promise that will never pass away have been given to us, Jesus has given us work to do. He has commissioned all of us to make disciples, to share the Good News, to love our neighbor. He has told us to build each other up and strengthen each other and to help out anyone who is in need. And Jesus gives each of us the job of doorkeeper to keep watch for his return. Keep alert, be watchful, keep awake! Do not fall asleep and miss the signs. Do not fall asleep miss the promise of what is to come!
I remember a story of “keeping awake” that my dad told me more than once when I started to learn to drive. My dad told me about a time that he had worked all night long to get flowers ready for three funerals and two weddings. He worked right into the morning hours when he needed to deliver to the churches and funeral homes. After dropping off and setting everything up, my dad drove his last bit of 7 miles back to our hometown. At one point, all my dad remembers was the shaking of the van bouncing over the rumbling bars ingrained into the pattern of the road. Because of those bars, he woke up. He did not miss the sign ahead. He stopped and was saved.
Here at the beginning of the church year, we begin with the end. We begin with the rumbling…with the shaking…with the stirring that comes and awakens us so that we will not miss the sign that Christ came not just for one Silent, Holy Night, but for span of all time—the time that will end with Christ gathering us all. Of course in this season of Advent, we will move to the Christ child in the manger, but by beginning with the end, our faith is given a wakeup call again that as we look at the manger, we know that with the cross, there will be a day beyond all days. There will be a day that we will experience the incredible joys and eternal peace of heaven that Jesus paid his own life to give to us. There will be a day when tears are wiped away and hearts will sing. There will be a day when the world will turn and Christ will return with great power and glory.
Wake up brothers and sisters! Your wakeup call is coming! Christ will come again!
And all of God’s people say, “Amen.”