Keep Awake! - Advent 1 Sermon Mark 13:24-37

Mark 13: 24-37

But in those days, after that suffering, 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.  Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. “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.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 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. Therefore, 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, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” 

For some reason the first text in Advent always seems to catch me off guard. I suspect a lot of it is my own expectation.  I tend to over anticipate of the Advent and Christmas story.   I’m so anxious for Christmas that I want the nativity story.  The decree for all to be counted.  I want the Wise Men, shepherds, Mary’s song... the magnificat.  Rather, on the first week of Advent we’re given another text with apocalyptic overtones.  “Beware!” “Keep Alert!” You know not the day nor the hour!

There is also the secularization of Christmas.  The radio, the lights, the tree lightings, the festivals, shopping, Santa rolling into to town.  We’re inundated with Christmas and it has me yearning for Silent night by candle light.   Our world is covered with Christmas cheer and consumerism.

And I suspect another part of me is exhausted from the last few weeks of the church year with parable after parable regarding the end-times and judgement day.  The bridegroom shuts the door on bridesmaids, a landowner casts slaves into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And by goodness...After all that, it’s Advent. I want or rather I deserve my Christmas story!

Alas, the lectionary and the Spirit give pause this first Sunday of Advent and offer us a different message than I or we might expect or prefer.  In the 13th chapter of Mark, which is our primary Gospel account for this church year, Jesus is in the middle of some apocalyptic teaching.  He is offering insight and instruction to his disciples and crowd regarding the “inbetween times.”   What is familiar, and striking about this passage is the command to “Beware” to “Keep Alert” and to “Keep Awake for we know neither the day nor the hour.”

Even more significant, in fact is the purpose this passage holds within Mark’s audience.   Mark is writing his Gospel account about 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it is around that time the Temple is falling and Jewish people are revolting.  And within Mark’s audience there is a significant number of false prophet.  Deceivers.  People who either claim to be there return of Jesus or they preach messages counter to the resurrection and end-time promise.

Jesus’ message to “Beware” to “Keep alert” and “keep awake” lands not so much as a preface to the return of Christ, but rather a present day posture.  Christ is advising the Christians to be alert and beware of false teachings.  To Keep awake and beware of deceivers.  To watch out for dissention and deception.  To watch out for behavior counter to the Gospel message.  To watch out for the very things in life that distract one from a relationship with God.  To watch out for the things that distract them in their waiting.  Keep Alert! Beware!  To Wake Up and be centered on what is important.

It seems that every year as Advent and Christmas roll around, I am caught by surprise.  Even with my excitement for holidays, and my love of the liturgical season I am always caught off guard, and I find myself in the middle of Dec thinking, “wait, it’s Advent? And it’s almost Christmas?”

There is this subconscious routine that happens once I pass the Halloween season.  My calendar is marked with holiday benchmarks and traditions.  There are themed to-do lists involving decorations and food.  I get caught in the customs and traditions of the seasons….the lifetime of routines the every year I am some how surprised to find out that it’s Advent.  It is as though I do all of my waiting and anticipation in the weeks leading up to Advent, rather than let Advent be the season of anticipation and anxious waiting.

Perhaps the secular influences, the flashy lights and parties, the shopping and music, the traditions…perhaps it has made me or us a bit numb to the liturgical season.  Perhaps, Advent has come to feel more like arriving at a destination rather than the beginning a journey.

It is precisely in that moment that today’s text shouts “wake up!”  “Keep alert!”  Watch out for deception and false prophets.  Don’t be lured by ancillary tasks and engagements.  Today’s message from Jesus is uniquely and precisely timed as a reminder, an alarm, a wake up call so that we might become centered on the promised Messiah and the very journey of Advent itself.   To be alert from the secular influences, and traditions and customs, to put it all into perspective.  To be rooted in the gospel promise of God with us - Emmanuel.  To keep our eyes fixed on the light shining in the darkness, the star that bids us come and worship.  To be prepared for the journey and the prepare the way of the Lord.  Make our gifts ready, for in the stillness of the night a savior is sure to be born and we are called to be alert.  Waiting with great anticipation.

Martin Copenhaver, A Wesleyan  pastor in Massachusetts described waiting in Advent in this way:

Think of a woman who stands on a street’s edge waiting for the public bus to arrive.  She knows the bus will come and then take her to her destination. She is passively waiting.  But what if that same woman, standing on the same street’s edge heard the sound of a parade that is just out of sight.  The parade is making its way down the street and will soon pass her by.  This is a different kind of waiting, one full of expectation, a tiptoe waiting.  Active waiting.

You see friends, Jesus reminds us today that we know neither the day nor the hour of his return, and in the meantime, in our waiting, we are called to wait actively with great anticipation -- journeying through this precious life together.   To wait in humble service and love.  Wait in the presence of the Spirit and in the promise of the resurrected Christ.  

More importantly this day we are reminded to be spiritually awake.  Alert to the power and glory of the Gospel and the coming Messiah.  Alert to the grace and peace extended in the community of worship.  To beware of outside influences distracting us from the journey.  To beware of temptation, greed, self-centeredness, deception, and false proclamations.  To center ourselves on the word of God and the body and blood of the feast to come.  To remain focused on the one who offers us grace upon grace, hope on hope, Jesus Christ - The Messiah.  

Earlier in the service we prayed,

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. By your merciful protection awaken us to the threatening dangers of our sins, and keep us blameless until the coming of your new day, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Advent is a season that stirs us from our spiritual slumber, awkening us to the promise of a Messiah.  The Spirit  empowers us to remember and re-embrace our waiting in Christ.  The Spirit continues to stir, and the question isn’t if the Spirit will stir within our lives this Advent, but when, how, and where!

Advent serves as the beginning of something new, rather than the completion of journey.  It is the beginning of a new church, yes, but also the beginning of a new journey in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a season the bids us center our lives within the narrative of Jesus.  To be alert of the world’s deceptions and distractions.  To keep awake, spiritually awake, and be-aware of the Spirit’s stirring in our midst.

© Pastor Daniel Locke Dec. 3, 2017 @ St. Mark's JAX