Romans 8:37

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors [hupernikomen] through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Stay Awake: Embracing Advent’s Call to Vigilance and Hope

For the audio version of this lesson, click on the link below:

Stay Awake Podcast

Well, one thing that you will discover, if you spend very much time in a liturgical church, or a church following the liturgical traditions, is that we observe a different calendar than the rest of the year. For Christians, for the Church, today is New Year's Day. It's the first day of a new year. We have rewound the clock, if you will. Last Sunday, we completed the Sundays in ordinary time with the great crescendo of Christ the King, celebrating Jesus' rule over heaven and earth, over all the principalities and powers.  And that was the culmination of all the lessons on discipleship during what we call “ordinary time,” which has gone through all of the summer until last Sunday.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. And Advent just simply means Christ's coming, that He is coming.  And so, there is this time of expectation, and there is a time of penitence, which is just one of those churchy words for repentance, for self-examination.  And that's why the colors and the liturgy might remind you of Lent, because we have these two penitential seasons in the year, the first one being Advent, as we're waiting for Christ's incarnation, and the second one being Lent, as we await Christ's resurrection.

So, there are two appearances, if you will, of Jesus that are celebrated and magnified in the Church year.  The incarnation at Christmas and the resurrection at Easter.

These are two fundamental points in the life of a disciple and in the celebration of who Jesus is.  Because of the importance of these two events, the Church calls herself to self-examination and repentance.

And so, in this season of Advent, we are preparing ourselves for the incarnation, for Jesus, God becoming man, God incarnate in his son, Jesus Christ, at Christmas.

And so, as we prepare for this great revelation, this incarnation, this appearance of Jesus as the one and only begotten Son of God the Father.  The Church says, "Wow, we should prepare ourselves for that moment.  We should prepare ourselves for that meeting, for that encounter of Jesus at Christmas.  That's what this season is about.

That's why it's penitential.  It's self-reflective.  A time to take stock of how we're doing in our relationship with Christ; how we're doing in our relationship with God.  And we’ll see that theme reminded to us, presented again at Lent, as we then prepare for his resurrection.

So, in these lessons that we heard this morning, there is this current, this theme of judgment following Jesus' return.

It's an ominous set of lessons, isn't it?  The kind of lessons that, maybe if you were sitting at home and pulling out your Bible off of your coffee table thinking about what you might read, this might not be the one that you would choose to read. This is kind of frightening, isn't it? And a lot of attention has been given, particularly among Christian pastors, to try and figure out in detail the symbolism of these lessons, particularly of Mark's gospel and the similar gospel in Matthew and Paul's reflection on it in 1 Thessalonians, as we heard a few weeks ago.

This desire to figure out, you know, who is 666?  Who is the Antichrist?  When will these things happen?

And in his understanding and knowledge of us, because he created us, Jesus right from the front says [paraphrasing], "Stop it. Don't try and figure it out. No one knows. I don't know. The angels don't know. Only the father knows. So don't focus on those details."

And you might think, "Well, they're kind of scary details. I'd like to focus on them." And I think that's why so many people perseverate over it and launch into these predictions that lead to embarrassment because they're always wrong.

So, let's bypass that mistake.

Let's not make that same mistake and look at what Jesus calls His disciples to focus on.  Because He makes it really clear: Yeah, there will be signs like the fig tree.  You'll understand that the end is coming, that things are getting bad.

And you know that the Church, Christians, have looked at those events for centuries and thought, "Ah, this is the time. This is it.” And time just keeps cranking along.

So, there must be something else in this that we are to understand, that we are to grasp.  And Jesus presents it. And if we don't get stuck on trying to figure out dates and times and the specifics of the name of the Antichrist and watching the news thinking, "Oh, that might be him."

I remember once, when Ronald Reagan was president, somebody went, "Ronald Wilson Reagan, yeah, six letters in each of his names. Maybe that's the guy, you know."  

I mean, people have done that.  I'm not picking on Reagan, but people have done that for years, trying to figure out who he [Antichrist] is.  And He [Jesus] says, you won't know. You won't know the time. In fact, there are many antichrists, but that's another lesson.

So, when we look at Mark 13, beginning with verse 32, he says, "No one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father."

So, Jesus dismisses that pursuit in the mind of the disciples, as we said, and then He goes on to tell him what they ought to do.  He says (I'm reading from the ESV)… he says, "Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come."

Okay, we don't know for sure when the time will come. So, what are we to do?

He says, “be on guard, stay awake.”

Mark uses three different [Greek] words for “stay awake” in this gospel lesson. There's a tremendous emphasis on the Christian, on the disciple, being alert and awake, and on guard during this period.

Now since we don't know the time or the hour, when should we stay awake?

When should we take heed?

When should we be on guard?

Always!

The idea, this is an attitude that the disciple is supposed to have all the time.

In Mark's Gospel, chapter 13 marks the end of Jesus' ministry of teaching and healing. And after this lesson, He then, in Mark's Gospel, moves towards the Passion Week. He moves into the Passion Week, and a full one-third of Mark's Gospel is spent on the Passion.

So, this is a transition point in Mark's Gospel where Mark is remembering this teaching of Jesus.  It's the longest teaching in Mark's Gospel – the longest single theme teaching in Mark's Gospel, this is it.

So, it's very important, as it marks this transition, as it ends the teaching in Mark, ends Jesus's teaching in Mark.  So, Jesus begins his teaching in Mark with what? (I know we didn't read it.)  Do you have an idea? 

“Follow me.”

He chooses the disciples, and he begins his teaching in Mark with “follow.”

Now they have followed, and they're preparing to go to the… to go through Passion Week.  And so, then Jesus says, “Watch.  Be on guard.  Take heed.  Follow and watch.”

You know we have this great example in Ezekiel where God describes Ezekiel as a watchman.  In Ezekiel 2, I'm sorry, Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 17, God speaking to the prophet Ezekiel says, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.  Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me."

This is the same theme that Jesus picks up as He's telling His disciples to be on guard, to be alert, to be vigilant, to watch.

You see, it's not passive.  It's not passive watching, because what does he tell, what does God tell Ezekiel?  He says, "Son of man.”  (He's talking about Ezekiel.  It's another way of saying, human being.)  “I have made you a watchman for the House of Israel.”

Well, in Ezekiel's time, the House of Israel was God's house, God's people.

In our time, God's house is the Church, it’s still God's people, and He's made us watchmen, and what does that mean?

He says, "Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me."  I believe that's the same thing that Jesus has instructed the disciples as He says, "Be on guard.  Watch.”

Not passively.  Not sitting in fear in their closets, waiting for the end to come.

And it's obvious, because they don't do that.

We go through and read the Acts of the Apostles. We see that they are active in preaching the gospel.  They are hearing the Word of God and they're presenting it to a lost and frightened people.

My friends, when we hear disturbing things on the news, when we see people broken and hurting and in need, being watchful implies listening for a word from the Lord and sharing it to a lost and broken people.

When Jesus tells the disciples to take heed of the signs, it's not to be in fear.  It's not to run and hide.  It's not to try and predict things out of the calendar, but it's to receive a word from the Lord and share that with those who have no hope.  Because we have hope.  If you have been baptized and received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have hope and you need not fear the signs of disaster and the end of time.  But instead, to share the good news of Christ's salvation, so that anyone listening to you who receives that word need not fear either.

Let us conclude by looking at that passage that we heard in First Corinthians.  First Corinthians, beginning with verse four.  First Corinthians, verse four, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, who live and worship and in an environment much like our own. And Paul writes to them, he says, "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.”  Their faith in Christ has imparted grace to them. “That in every way you were enriched in Him and all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that…” listen this “…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.”

Your presence, your identity, your adoption in Jesus Christ, means he has imparted grace to you for a season and a time such as this, that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

What is this purpose of the spiritual gift?  It is to serve Christ and to share the good news about His salvation.  As you wait for the revealing, or the advent, the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, as we're waiting, as we're in this Advent season, preparing for the coming of Christ, we have every spiritual gift given to us for whatever he calls us to do. “Who will,” verse 8, "…sustain you to the end"?  

You don't even have to worry about sustaining yourself. You don't even have to worry about coming up with the stuff to endure to the end. Whatever that end it may be.  He will sustain you, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the exclamation point on this whole lesson.  He will sustain you guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we see the Day of the Lord presented in the Old Testament, it's a frightening day of judgment.  It looks like destruction.  It looks like condemnation.  And Paul is telling the church in Corinth, he says, "Jesus Christ will sustain you guiltless on that day, because He has imparted His grace to you through His Holy Spirit.”  

Friends, that means we have nothing to fear.  No matter how bad the days get, no matter how horrible the news is, no matter how bad the days become, Christ has promised us, through the washing of his blood and our redemption, [correction] washing in his blood and our redemption, that he will not charge us as guilty on the Day of the Lord. On that last day, when he comes in judgment, He will see us guiltless.  And that's not a message just to hold tightly onto.  That is a message to share.  When our family and friends, strangers, start talking about the news and how bad it is, how frightening it is…  Yes, but if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, He will sustain you and you will be guiltless on that final day. That is good news. And that is what Advent is preparing us for.

Let us pray…

[This is a transcript of a recorded sermon, preached by Fr. Van McCalister on Advent, November 30, 2014]

No comments:

Post a Comment