Watching and Waiting
Advent 1 – November 27, 2011
It's funny the things you remember. But every time I read this gospel passage, I remember a bookmark my Aunt Renie bought me a LONG time ago, back when I was in elementary school, I think. It was your standard bookmark, with a white background and a kind of yarn-y tassel, with a funny little cartoon figure on it. “Be alert!” it said. “The world needs all the lerts it can get.” A silly little bookmark, but it cracked me up. It still makes me smile, and I really can't help but think of that phrase when we hear Jesus say to his disciples in the middle of this passage, “Beware, keep alert!”
It's strange to start off the Advent season with a reading like this. It's the beginning of a new church year, with a different gospel as its focus, and we are all primed to hear stories leading up to the birth of Jesus. People are putting up their Christmas decorations and getting their Christmas cards ready to go, Christmas shopping (for many) has begun in earnest – and then whack! In comes this story, with Jesus as a full-grown man, nearing the end of his life, talking about “those days” when “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”. We hear Jesus encouraging his followers to “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come... keep awake – for you do not know... And what I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake!” It's a bit more than we bargained for on this Sunday after Thanksgiving – so mysterious and dark and foreboding. There's such urgency in Jesus' words, an urgency that goes far beyond the Christmas countdown and making sure we are ready for the big day with presents and food and decorations and everything that has become such a part of our society's celebration of Jesus' birthday. “Wake up!” Jesus is saying. “There's more at stake here than the perfect presents and parties and pictures. Be alert!”
For early Christians, the ones who were the first to read Mark's gospel, this sense of urgency was palpable. It was a tangible part of their every day living. Jesus speaks of what sounds like the end of the world, and to them, it probably seemed like the end of the world was upon them. Rebellion against the Roman occupation was rising up, tension was in the air – and history tells us it ends with the Roman troops coming into Jerusalem, crushing the insurrection and destroying the Temple. The future was uncertain – what would happen next? Where could they turn? Mark, writing down these stories of Jesus as Christians had begun to face persecution and early eyewitnesses were beginning to die, frames this story to speak to them and their situation. And though they may seem frightening and dark to us, as with all apocalyptic writing, these words were intended to bring comfort and encouragement and hope to people in distress & living under oppression. They looked forward to Jesus' return – they hoped it would be soon.
We have a hard time hearing Mark's words that way. Sure, we've been through our fair share of struggles, and the past few years with all its economic turmoil have brought our own anxieties and uncertainty to the forefront of our minds more than we'd like, but for the most part, we live in security. We don't worry about being invaded. We kind of scoff at the idea of the end of the world &; the people who try to predict when it will happen – just this year, according to 1 group it was predicted twice: 1st in May and then in October. There were some folks who believed so strongly that Harold Camping was right that they sold all they had and went on a mission to convince others to get ready, working it out so that their last cent would be gone the day the end was to come. We can dismiss them as gullible or naive, but I kind of have to admire their conviction, their willingness to put their money where their mouth was.
But I don't really think that's what Jesus was getting at when he told his followers to keep alert and awake. It wasn't for them to go stand on street corners with “The end is near” signs hung around their neck. No, the call of Jesus, the call we hear every Advent, is to prepare, to get ready – not out of fear for the end of the world, but with joy that Christ will return. The reason we celebrate Christmas is that in Jesus, we see God coming near, God coming to be one of us. Jesus reveals the God who has already begun the hard work of redeeming God's whole creation, who is already actively working to reconcile the whole world with the divine self. We see in that baby in a manger whose birthday we are waiting for the love of a God who comes down to us, who intervenes in our messy, messed-up human history to set the world right. This God is not someone to be afraid of, and his return is not something to be worried about – it's something we should look forward to. And when we do, keeping awake becomes not so much a duty as something we can't avoid – like the little kids in that Disney commercial from I don't know how long ago, where the little boy goes into his sister's room. “Are you asleep?” he says. “No.” “What do you think it will be like?” “Mom says it will be even more magical this time...” And just then they are interrupted by their mom, who tries to shoo them off to bed, but the little boy just throws himself back on the bed, exclaiming, “We're too excited to sleep!”
“We're too excited to sleep!” - because we are longing for the day when Jesus will return, when the powers of this world – the powers of sin and death – will be destroyed once and for all, when hurts will be healed, and hope will be restored.
And so we wait, with eager longing. And while we wait, Jesus reminds us we have work to do, for, “It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.” Engaged in our work in this world here and now, but always with our eyes open and our ears listening for signs of God on the move in this place, staying awake to witness the ways God is already among us, and then joining hands with the one who has called us into relationship, reaching out our other hand to a world desperate for some good news. So be alert. The world needs all the lerts it can get.
Amen.
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