Vigilance

 

Text: Mark 13:24-37

Focus: Hope

Function: Advent 1

²⁴“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven,
    and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶“Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷Then he will send out the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It 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. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Keep awake. A command in the imperative form. It is something for us to focus on while we are living here on planet earth.

And it is a great way for us to start the Advent season this year. Jesus is speaking here, and like Matthew 25, when he speaks of the foolish servants who didn’t prepare for a long time coming by the master, he calls for us to remain vigilant until Christ’s return.

In the bible, one needs to do a lot of study to discern what is to be taken literally, and what is to be taken symbolically. Jesus used a lot of symbolic language. In John 8:12, he calls himself the light of the world and yet, he never really explains what that means. He speaks in mystery and trusts that the Holy Spirit will help us understand the symbolism in the message.

He speaks here, what appears to be literally, of a physical return where the sun is darkened, the moon doesn’t give its light and a third of the stars cannot be seen. And then, he says, the son of man will come in the clouds. We talked a lot about that the last month or so. And we look forward to the time when Christ does return.

And as it says in a parallel passage in the book of Matthew, and Paul’s writings in Thessalonians that we just studied, there will be signs like wars and rumors of wars and other things and that is not the end. It is not the end. It is the precursor to the end. But it is not the end.

In this passage, the end is described as what appears to be the end of the planet with the sun and earth lessening their light.

But as we studied, this is the event where Christ returns in the clouds, not the event where we are taken to heaven. All of this takes place right here on planet earth and we believe that it is God coming back to earth to set things right.

One of my favorite hymns is “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations.” And it describes the second coming of the Lord in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition.

And those traditions believe that this second coming is manifested in the way that Christ Jesus rules in hearts of humanity.

The line in the chorus goes like this “for the darkness shall turn to the dawning, and the dawning to noon day bright and Christ’s great kingdom shall reign on earth, the kingdom of love and light.

The light shines in our hearts and quickens us to be followers of Christ. The song refers again to the symbolic nature of Jesus being the light of the world.

And when I think of advent, I think of how that light dawns on me.

I really love Christmas lights. I love it when neighborhoods are lit up, almost in defiance of the long winter evenings with no light. And not in defiance of God or of nature, but in hope for the pleasure of beauty and love and all that is good, we resist the darkness with the lights as a symbol that we too are looking to be the light of the world.

Advent starts for me in the heart where during the season I am reminded of the goodness inside of humanity because I believe that the light of God shines inside of everyone. As Richard Rohr puts it, the Spirit created everything, so everything is divine. And according to Ephesians 4:6, another symbolic passage, God is all and in all.

I believe that we have to look for the light. Again, in Matthew 25, Jesus, speaking of what appears to be a delay in his coming, describes the wise servants as those who prepared and kept vigilant while they were waiting.

So, what can we do this advent season to shine the light and be vigilant?

Well, today we focus on hope.

Hope keeps us encouraged. Hope, I believe, is something about which we we have a choice. We choose to have hope or we choose despair.

We walk by faith trusting in the reality that we are God’s children and God cares for us. It gives us hope. Hope builds our faith and give us the power to love sacrificially.

I could not forgive if I did not have the hope that God forgave me. It helps me to see the other as just as valuable to God as me.

So, we don’t know when Christ is coming. But then also, we realize every generation had a hope that perhaps the time is now.

And that is true. Christ is indeed, always coming into this world to transform it.

Last week we read that we are the body of Christ. We are Christ on earth. So Christ is indeed here on earth to redeem it. It happens when we ourselves, individually practice the Christmas spirit of love and peace all year long. But during advent, we get to take the time to remember the importance of having that perspective while we are living here.

That perspective helps keep us vigilant as we practice the love of God when we work with God through conflict and struggles with people.

As Christ is always coming, Advent is always here. We are always hoping in the light of the world casting out the darkness.

Close with reading from Advent: “Take time, in the busyness of this season, for quiet reflection, for the light of God’s love is discernible everywhere. Welcome Christ into your heart this season and go forth with the knowledge that Christ is coming and is our Hope.”