“Keep Watch” Isaiah 64:1-9
November 30, 2008 – First Sunday of Advent (B) Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Henrietta United
Rev. Martha Koenig Stone Mark 13:24-37
Today’s gospel text comes after
several passages in which Jesus speaks of desperate times—times of natural
disasters like earthquakes; times of interpersonal disasters like betrayal and
desertion and families breaking up; times of political disaster and national
turmoil. This section of Mark is
sometimes referred to as “the little apocalypse.” Some Christians understand it to be about the
“end times,” the destruction of the world as we know it and the beginning of a
new age when Christ will reign. And the
gospel writer seems to have expected that those end times were right around the
corner. Scholars point out that these passages might refer to the turmoil that
has already taken place in the time of Mark—the destruction of the temple and
the persecution that followed. In a
sense, the world as Mark had known it was already beginning to crumble.
How might Jesus’ followers respond
in such times? Jesus cautions them not
to rely on false messiahs. Then he offers the words of today’s lectionary
text: (read Mk 13: 24-37).
Twenty years later, the church in
Well, it’s now 2000 years later,
and we’re still waiting for the return of Christ. We can’t say for sure what Mark believed
about when and how Christ might come. But
we know all about disaster! We’re
familiar with that! It doesn’t take long
for anyone who is human to experience some kind of desperate situation, and to
wish for a savior to come and take us out of it.
Pastor and writer Maren Tirabassi
describes the kinds of problems we face in this way: “Friends and relatives in
war zones, crashing destruction of personal security, health crises, family
disasters, layoffs and unemployment—even the cultural stresses and expectations
of Christmas—feel like chaos. During chaos times, it is so easy to grasp for
what Jesus calls false messiahs and false prophets. Some of them have names—“perfect gift"
or "vodka bottle," "too-busy-to-think," "credit
card," "depression," "do-it-all," "photo-card
family."(1)
Sound familiar? We know in our hearts that these supposed saviors
don’t really save anyone from anything.
And so we are left with the same question as before: how might those of
us who seek to follow Jesus behave at times like these?
Toady’s text offers a challenging
answer: “Keep awake,” or as some translations
put it, “Keep watch.” I have sometimes
felt afraid when I read this passage—afraid that, if I didn’t do things just
right, something bad would happen, and afraid that I would miss out on
something good if I didn’t look in just the right place. I heard the words “keep awake” as a warning.
But this week a different message emerged for me—a message of hope, and a call to a special kind of response. In desperate times, Jesus tells us, the Son of Man will come. Messengers will be sent out, and God’s people will be gathered together. This is the fundamental message of the text: we are to keep awake, to stay alert and watch in hope for the coming of Christ. We are to keep watch, not to ward off some evil attack, but so that we can bear witness to his coming, and join together in community.
Keep alert! Watch for it!
Christ will surely come. No one
knows when the end of time will come, but we do know that Christ comes to
us. Again and again and again he comes! Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, he
is there in the midst of them. And it’s
our job to spread that news.
So what might that involve? I started to play with the meaning of the word “watch.” It seems to me that this idea of staying awake, of keeping alert, must have something to do with taking care of things. Like when it’s your job to “watch” the kids…you’re there to watch over them so that you can help them when needed, to guide and instruct and correct and feed and care for them. Otherwise, there’s no point in watching!
Last week’s scripture reading
reminded that Christ is with us in the faces of folks in need—that when we feed
and clothe and visit others, we are feeding and clothing and visiting
Jesus. I don’t think this call for us to
keep awake is about just sitting back and watching things unfold. And I don’t think it’s a message of “watching
out!” so that we can defend ourselves against some terrible enemy. I think it’s about staying alert to the needs
of God’s world and taking care of the things that need tending to.
This week I saw a movie that
plays with the idea of human beings as caretakers of the earth. It’s called “WALL E,” and it’s about a time,
far in the future, when the earth has become uninhabitable. It seems that human beings have gradually
filled the earth so full of “stuff” that there’s no more room for any living
things. So they’ve gone off into outer
space to live in a space station, where they sit and watch TV, waiting for the
earth to regenerate itself and support life again. To help in this process, they’ve left
robots—trash compacters—whose mission is to gather up the garbage and squeeze
it into little blocks, gradually making room for life to emerge again. But some 700 years have passed, and there’s
only one robot left—WALL E.
WALL E goes about his work of cleaning up, compressing mountains of cast-off metal and garbage and piling it up, block by block. As the movie unfolds, you feel a kind of sadness, both because the world is so desolate, and because WALL E is all alone. But as you get to know him better, you see that WALL E has an amazing ability to look for meaning in the world around him. As he sorts through the metal, he finds all kinds of little treasures along the way. Whatever he finds interesting, he stores in his “home” – a storage shed where he rests at night. He even finds a little cockroach, who becomes his constant companion.
Each day, WALL E does more of the
same. In the morning, he recharges his
battery by soaking up solar energy, and then he goes to work. Every night before he goes to bed, he watches
an old videotape of a musical play. He
especially likes the love songs in the show.
Gradually, WALL E begins to take on a personality. You begin to feel proud of him, as he works
so diligently and so carefully on this massive, impossible project.
Then, after centuries of work,
after careful attention to the smallest of details, WALL E finds a small green
plant—it looks like the beginnings of a tree.
He lifts it up gently in a clump of dirt, and puts it in an old boot for
safe-keeping. As you watch him, you
begin to feel that there is something holy about WALL E’s role as caretaker of
the earth and his loving engagement with everything he encounters. And you begin to wonder what the future might
hold, for him, for humanity, and for the earth itself.
“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…be aware, keep alert; for you do not know when the
time will come.”
As we begin the season of Advent
today, I believe we are called to stay alert, to watch for those places in this
world that need tending, and to pay attention to the people of this world who
need care. Advent is about keeping
watch, about watching over God’s earth, about watching for the movement of
God’s Spirit, and about participating in that movement.
Sister Joyce Rupp, a member of
the Order of the Servants of Mary and a wonderful writer, shares a poem about
Advent that expresses this kind of waiting and preparation:
looking high into winter trees
I see the distant nests
cradled in arms of branches
nests: round, full
of warmth,
softness in the welcoming center,
a circle of earth’s tiny goodness,
flown from the far corners,
patiently pieced together,
and hollowed into a home.
nests: awaiting the treasure of life,
simple, delicate dwelling
places
from which song will eventually
echo
and freedom of wings give
flight.
advent has been on my mind.
prepare the nest of the heart.
patch up the broken parts.
place more softness in the
center.
sit and warm the home with
prayer.
give the Christ a dwelling
place. (2)
The world waits for Christ, who
has already come, who is in our midst, and who will come again in glory. As we watch for him, let us also watch over
his beloved world!
Let us pray:
O, Emmanuel, you are God-with-us, and
God-yet-to-come. Help us to be alert to
your coming and attentive to your creation, so that your life may spring up
among us and all around us. Amen.
_____________________________________
1.
Tirabassi, Maren. “Learning to Listen
and to Ignore,” from the Stillspeaking Daily Devotional: Saturday, November 29,
i.UCC Community Newsletter.
2.
Rupp, Joyce. Fresh Bread: And Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment. Notre
Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, p. 149.