First Sunday of Advent

As we move into the Advent season, we begin a new church year and a new year in the three-year lectionary cycle of readings. This year the gospel text moves from Matthew to Mark which is the earliest written of the four gospels we have in the canon. It’s believed it was written as the first generation of Christians was passing away, and many of those hearing this gospel would have been expecting an imminent Second Coming of Christ, within their own lifetimes. [i]

In today’s reading, Jesus is concluding his longest teaching on discipleship in this gospel, and as he teaches, Jesus commands his disciples, “stay alert” and “stay awake.”

Hearing his instructions four weeks before Christmas, we acknowledge we hold different expectations than those first Christians, but I don’t believe Jesus’ call to watchfulness is diminished.

We too are looking for the ways that the reign and rule of God's kingdom has come among us.”[ii]

As Jesus was teaching, he told his disciples, “You do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,…”[iii]

And, even with that warning still echoing in their ears,

within days, Jesus was betrayed one evening by Judas;

disappointed by the disciples who fell asleep while he prayed at Gethsemane before his arrest;

denied by Peter three times before the cock crowed; and

tried in the early morning by Pilate and crucified.

As often happens, Mark gives us an example of how those first disciples just didn’t ‘get it.’ Even when Jesus was walking among them and sitting at the table,

breaking bread and sharing wine with them,

the disciples were not ready or watchful,

but overcome by greed, by sloth and fatigue, and by fear.

So, it’s no surprise that it is challenging for us, too, to understand what Jesus means for us.

It doesn’t help that the images of the Second Coming that we have from popular books and movies are dark and troubling and fearful, and, as one pastor noted, even in the gospel, “When [Jesus] speaks of the coming reign of God, [he] speaks in heavy apocalyptic language of the sun being darkened, the moon refusing to shine and the stars falling from heaven. There are signs and wonders and terrors and traumas, angels gathering up the chosen ones and Christ coming on the clouds with great power and glory. There is a violence about these accounts, it’s like an earthquake heavy with threat and menace.”[iv]

In the midst of this, when we hear Jesus tell us, “Stay alert!”, we take his words as a threat or a taunt, like children playing hide and seek who hear the searcher call out, “Ready or not, here I come!”

And, we become afraid that we really aren’t ready, or that we will be caught and punished.

But stop for a minute, and remember what we know about who Jesus is and who God is. Does Jesus taunt and tease? Does God lay traps and gleefully wait for us to mess up?

No!

Jesus words are not a threat, but a reminder and assurance that the Son of Man is near – all the time – not only coming at Christmas, or in some unnamed future apocalypse. They are words that encourage us as disciples to be more faithful,

not more fearful.

We can have confidence that God,

who created us and loves us, comes to us as we are,

in all of our imperfections and in all of our shortcomings, 

and promises us that we enjoy the fullness of new life with God.[v]

Jesus calls us to be eager to encounter God and practice an alertness that isn’t about avoiding something unpleasant or preparing for the worst, but an alertness that is an active readiness and full of anticipation for the wonders that God is doing.

So, instead of being in a place of fear and dread,

may we find ourselves in a place of confident wakefulness and watchfulness,

where perhaps, we will see people who we have not seen before because we kept our heads down and eyes averted, hoping to avoid attracting attention or rocking the boat; or,

perhaps we will hear the voices of people we have not heard before because their stories are too complex to tell in soundbites or they have been silenced or ignored by broken systems and corrupt power.

And, perhaps we will see beyond the stigma or label that the stranger carries and welcome the person that God loves, accepts and redeems.

Let us pray…

Holy God,

Thank you for your abundant love and forgiveness that you come to us even in our failures and mistakes;

By your Spirit, awaken us to the world around us and alert us to the ways you are already near.

Help us bear your grace to the whole world.

We pray in the name of your Son Jesus,

Amen.

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[i] Enter the Bible, www.enterthebible.org/newtestament.aspx?rid=3, accessed December 2, 2017.

[ii] ibid

[iii] Mark 13:35

[iv] Nathan Nettleton, “Fearing your Greatest Hope.” http://laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html, accessed December 2, 2017.

[v] David Lose. “In the Meantime”, Advent 1B, 2017.