Always being alert

30 November 2008

Mark 13:24-37

As Christians, we should avoid the temptation to collude with the secular Christmas which begins so early in the year. Now, I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I believe that Advent of itself is so important and actually begins the Christian year.

The word ‘Advent’ means literally ‘to come to’. It is a special season when we celebrate the bold assertion that the God of the whole universe has come among us in human form in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The roots of the season stem back to the fourth century. It was originally a seven-week period and, in the course of time, has been condensed to four. It is meant to have about it a feeling of penitence and, in the earliest days of the Christian community, it was observed with a sense of strictness, with daily fasting and worship. You couldn’t say that Advent today is attended with very much fasting!

In the early years of the Christian Church, there is evidence that the terms Advent, Epiphany and Nativity were employed interchangeably to denote the season. This is certainly true today and, where Christian icons and pictures are used, it is often in this gathered sense.

Advent precedes Christmas and in the same way that Lent adds to our celebration of Easter, so Advent should bring meaning and purpose to the way we will celebrate his coming. It involves anticipation, fulfilment and preparation.

The season of Advent can be described as being a season defined by its mood. If God is coming to us and this gift is the most stupendous ever known, then our mood will be one of excitement, anticipation and joyful preparation.

The current world situation will perhaps, this year, draw us back from the usual unhealthy tumble into Christmas, which sees everything in terms of possessions and gifts. When Christmas is stripped of all its fripperies, there will be the opportunity to discover or re-discover the real meaning of the season.

This time also affords the opportunity to reach out to those in need and look beyond ourselves. I am certain that Christmas becomes all the more meaningful in the lives of those who become less self-concerned and more actively involved in the care of others. It is not a once-a-year activity, but becomes the plumb-line for how we should live all year round.

As Christmas draws near, many people pick up the excitement and joy which is all around them. When we come to church, we don’t want the preacher to throw a wet blanket over all our celebrations … but it is true that this season is much more serious than is often realised.

For two thousand years, a Hebrew people had faced endless troubles; four hundred years of cruel Egyptian slavery; forty years of wandering in the desert; centuries of civil war, invasions, famine, poverty and God’s sense of judgement. Life was far from easy … it was in this atmosphere that a hope developed. Hope can always look forward, despite its present circumstances.

Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote:

Totally without hope one cannot live.
To live without hope is to cease to live.

Phillips Brooks struck a balance when he wrote, “The glory of the star, the glory of the sun – we must not lose either in the other. We must not be so full of the hope of heaven that we cannot do our work on the earth; we must not be so lost in the work of the earth that we cannot be inspired by the hope of heaven.”

The message of advent can be summed up in three phrases: Jesus has come; Jesus is come; Jesus will come again as Lord of all. It is important to discover what each has to say to us.

I want to turn to Mark 13. This is an entire chapter which is concerned with eschatological material … and one verse captures the thought I want to share with you today:

Text: Mark 13:33 -

“Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know
when that time will come.”

This text contains a clear warning against setting timetables and reminds the faithful follower of Jesus that they must constantly be alert and ‘watching’.

The Lord has come - we must be alert to its meaning and significance

The emphasis here is upon what God has accomplished through the birth of Jesus Christ. It was into time and space that God came in Christ. What we celebrate when we reach Christmas is that the long hoped for promise materialised at a point in time. The whole story of Bethlehem is bound up with the nature of this coming.

The Lord of the Christian community is not a figment of our imagination, but One who actually came and entered our humanity and as such -

Entered into the pain and suffering of this world.
Entered into the vulnerability of living life alongside the fragmented aspects of our broken humanity.
Entered into the hopes and dreams of a people who long for something better.

The attitude of readiness will appear and reappear in all three aspects of his coming. As Christian people we are called to be constantly alert. For us, this can mean many things, but it does remind us of –

The value of being ready – you can seize the moment.
The consequences of not being ready – disaster strikes.
Being ready for the coming of Jesus in everyday experience.
Being ready for his final coming – which breathes meaning into present experience.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. It should not surprise us that the New Testament writers struggled to find words that would fully describe this unparalleled event in history. It is unmistakable in that it affects for all time the interactions and responsibilities of the human race.

As we soon begin to recount the stories of shepherds and wise men, the danger will always be that we will so distance these images – and make them a Christmas card experience – that we will fail to grasp the great interruption that has occurred in Jesus Christ.

Two characters were standing at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street in New York City; it was the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and one of them was irritated by having to wait for the heavy traffic to clear so they could cross the street. He said, “This town is totally disorganised; look at this traffic. Something ought to be done about it.”

The other was much more philosophical and said, “You know, it’s just amazing. Think about it. There was a baby born of peasant parents in a little out-of-the-way place – half way around the world. The parents had no money, no social standing. Yet two thousand years later, that little baby creates a traffic jam on Fifth Avenue. Amazing! That irritates you; it should fascinate you.”

Just a week ago in our congregation here in the Wesley Theatre, we shared with two friends from the Solomon Islands, who were taking part in a Peacebuilding Course at our Alan Walker College of Evangelism here in Sydney. One was a Minister of the Word and the other a leader in women’s ministry on one of the islands. I shall not forget Loveley’s testimony – that she would return to bring people together to find ways of building peace.

On Advent Sunday, we recall the fact that Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace – that the Messiah, expected by the Hebrews, was to be a peacemaker who would reign in righteousness and peace. This Lord has come!

The Lord is come - we experience his coming in the present

One aspect of our Advent celebration which is dangerously insular is that we celebrate the Incarnation as though it is something that is only in the past. The fact that God took on human form in Jesus Christ is something we can experience in the present.

We link this coming to what we understand by resurrection and by the gift of the Spirit.

Old Testament prophecy had clearly pointed to the coming of One who would redeem people and open up all the possibilities of the future. That coming occurred in Jesus Christ. The long-expected Day of the Lord brings with it the fulfilment of God’s promises.

Here in the Wesley Theatre, we have looked together at the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and caught something of the flavour of the expectation of the final coming of Jesus that filled the life of the early Christian community.

At the heart of Advent lies the gnawing concern that things are not really right with this world and that only the hunger for something better can bring about a new beginning. Touching off that concern is our Advent theme. It heightens the anticipation of his coming as we realise that what we celebrate at Christmas is not an unmitigated excuse for an orgy of selfishness, but the celebration of the birth of hope into this world.

As we consider the purpose of Advent, we recognise that one purpose must be to awaken us to a real sense of his coming into the world. We live in a world of injustice and inequality, but the kingdom of God promises justice to the poor and the downtrodden. For Christians, ‘Justice and Peace’ are not just related … they are concepts which belong together. “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10)

A guest on a chat show said, “The world around us is so familiar that we just don’t experience it anymore.” He went on to suggest that the world has to be revealed all over again in the shock of the first surprise; perhaps the way you experience it first as a child.

This is one of the purposes of Advent – a season to awaken us to the surprise of his coming.

Even those of us who are Christians have to be sure that we are not drawn into a secular and God-free Christmas. In a Family Circus cartoon, a little boy is sending a Christmas card to his grandmother. He says: “I know Grandmother likes only religious cards, so I’m sending her this one with Saint Nick on it.”

In an almost pathetic sense, even religious people who appear to be at great pains to celebrate a real Christmas miss the spiritual power of the season. The religious Christmas may not necessarily be any more awake than the secular one.

Here in Advent, we remind ourselves that he has come and that his coming is a call to action. Jesus compares the kingdom to the one who goes away, having put his servants in charge. The doorkeeper is especially assigned with the responsibility of keeping watch for the return of the Master. (v.34) We too are doorkeepers and must be awake and never caught asleep on the job!

Time and time again in his parables and teaching, Jesus talks of one who goes away, but who will return. It is a call to the followers of Jesus to be constantly alert –

Alert – because of the fragility of human life.
Awake – for to be asleep is to deny ourselves the opportunity of making a difference.
Alive – to the needs of those around us.
Active – engaged in the world to which we have been called by Jesus Christ.

The Lord will come again - the future tense of Advent

It is this thought that introduces the penitential aspect of Advent. When Jesus comes again it will not be as the Infant Lowly, but as the Judge of all the earth.

All around the world, in suburban communities in particular, ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ schemes have developed. The community is organised to watch for and report events and persons that look suspicious.

The programs heighten people’s awareness and vigilance as residents of a community. There is a sense in which the coming of Jesus calls us to be ready at all times to receive the good news … and also to be ready for his future coming!

Once again, the spirit amongst his people must be one of anticipation. There are numerous parables of Jesus which warn us not to be caught off our guard or unprepared. We must be sure not to see this as discomforting or anxiety-provoking; it is rather a call to action –

It should challenge the way we live (1 John 3:1-3)
It should spur us on to live more closely to Christ (2 Peter 3:10-12)

In the words of Augustine, “He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms it far off, nor is it he who says it near; but rather he who, whether it be far off or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope and fervent love.”

While on a South Pole expedition, the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Contemplating their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, ‘It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!’ They replied, ‘We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, “He may come today.”’

This coming of Jesus will make all the difference to the way we live our lives now! It is this hope which will transform our sense of purpose.

Christian Life