“Stay Awake and Wait”

Michael D. Powell November 30, 2008

Mark 13:24-27,32-33 First Sunday of Advent

This morning is the First Sunday of Advent, a word that means "coming." Obviously, what's coming is Christmas. And what’s Christmas? It’s the birth of the Christ child, God’s Light of the world. These last four weeks before Christmas are called Advent, and they are a time of preparing for the coming of the Light. Each Sunday has a word that describes our attitude of expectation. Our key word for this morning is "Wait." The Light of the World is coming, breaking forth through the darkness. May God grant us the grace to see the Light.

But there's also another association with the word advent, and that's what’s referred to as the Second Coming of Christ. It’s often referred to as the Second Advent, and this association explains the liturgical colors of the season and our scripture this morning.

The color isn't the bright red of Santa Clause or the green of Christmas trees; it's the deep and somber color of purple. Purple is for royalty because, as we talked about last week, Christ is our king. But it's also a color that's often associated with passion and with death, because of the manner in which Christ died. Likewise the context, or back-story for our scripture this morning isn't the cheery story of angels or new born babes, it's a dark story about heavenly signs and people in agitation and terror as they watch for this so-called Second Advent, the return of Christ who will be coming in the clouds. The Light of the World is coming, but those who focus on this Second Advent believe that it’s going to get a lot darker before it gets brighter.

You need to know something about this scripture. As you may remember, there’s no Christmas story at all in the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is actually a war gospel, written at a time when the Jewish world as it was then known was coming quite literally to an end. The darkness and the terror of this scripture may actually be describing a catastrophic tragedy that most scholars believe had either already happened or was eminent at the time the gospel was written. It’s referring to the bloody siege and historical destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple, which happened in A.D. 70. A Roman general by the name of Titus had a statue of Caesar erected in the courtyard of the burned out temple. Surviving Jews were driven out of Jerusalem and a group of them fled to a mountain top fortress called Masada. In time the Romans built an earthen ramp and stormed Masada, only to discover that the defenders had committed suicide rather than be taken alive. Anni and I, along with Karen and Dee and about 30 other United Methodists traveled from Jerusalem to Masada and stood on that mountaintop among the remains of that once mighty fortress, looking down upon the earthen ramp that the attacking Romans had constructed. Those Jews who had survived the destruction of Jerusalem and had not fled to Masada were scattered to the four winds, to be without a homeland until after the terror of the Nazi holocaust, when the modern state of Israel was established by force in 1946. (1) The rest, as they say, is history, and history continues to be written. There have been wars and rumors of war ever since and there are those who continue to believe that the cosmic and apocalyptic events described in this passage are yet to come. So, they wait, but their waiting is tinged with fear and dread. That doesn’t sound like Christmas to me.

The end of the world, at least as we know it, may come some day, but Jesus himself tells us that it’s not for us to know the day or the hour. In any case, the historical background of this dark and scary scripture is a bit of a downer as we decorate our homes and prepare for the birth of the Christ child. There’s got to be another way to interpret it, don’t you think? Let’s look for something a little more hopeful and comforting to focus on as we wait.

Anni and I have a doctor friend who works in the Corvallis E.R. His job is saving lives. He’s often there through the dead of the night, just waiting, staying awake and being prepared for whatever happens. What he’s learned from working those long graveyard emergency shifts is that we're all just hanging by a thread. Life is precious and fragile and the world is coming to an end for every one of us at some point. So perhaps the lesson of Advent is to stay awake as you’re waiting, to be prepared because you may be called upon to save a life, and the life your awakeness saves just may be your own. Seen in that light, this is a passage of comfort and of hope. It's a teaching about how to live life to the fullest.

For many people these are hard times, and some of those people are sitting right here in this congregation. I know some of your stories, and for every one that I know there are a dozen I don't know. For many of us these are dark times. So I want to offer a word of hope on this first Sunday of Advent. I want to point to the signs that indicate a birth of New Life in the Light of Christ. We are gathered to wait, to watch, to prepare and to offer up our praise that the Son of God breaking through the darkness of our times.

The promise of Advent is that the Light of Christ is coming. Just as the King of all Glory came in dark and dangerous times as a helpless baby born to impoverished parents in a most unexpected manner, so the miracles of God are still being birthed and God is still coming in unexpected ways, even in the darkest of our hours.

I'll close with a story. Down in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, there's a diamond field right in the middle of a state park. You can go there, so I'm told, and find diamonds simply lying around on the ground. Thousands of people go there every year. They are allowed to pick up any diamond they can find. But, obviously, there’s a catch. The fact is, very few people ever find the diamonds. They just don’t see them. It’s said that those who are able to find the diamonds have a method. They sit and they wait, and they watch, very carefully. It’s actually a kind of meditation, a prayer of promise, if you will. And, as the sun moves across the sky, suddenly, for those who are waiting and watching, the rays of the sun will reflect off the surface of the diamond and there will be a dazzling glint, a brilliant sparkle. And the one who is prepared, the one who waits and watches is the one who will see the diamond. (3)

Advent has begun. There are dark clouds and ominous signs and yet, beyond the clouds, the Light of Christ is shining. The clouds will clear. The light will come. That’s the promise. The Light is shining in the midst of the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. May God bless your holy anticipation, your prayer of promise, your diamond of hope and healing, of comfort and of grace. In the powerful name of Christ we pray. Amen.

(1) Charley H. Bayer. "When It Is Dark Enough"

(2) Online Homiletics, "Today In The Word"

(3) Mark Trotter. San Diego UMC