1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word this First Sunday in Advent is taken from Mark 13:24-37 (read the text in bulletin), it’s entitled, “Keep Watch,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. In our text today from Mark 13 Jesus desires for us to watch. But, the question is, “How do we watch for the return of Jesus?” Prepare.” “Keep watch.” These are the words of Advent because Advent is a season of preparation. They are also the words of our gospel reading. In our reading from Mark, Jesus repeatedly calls upon His disciples to “watch.” How important watching is to Jesus can be seen by how many times He repeats it. The command to watch or an activity related to watching is referenced in each of the five verses that close this reading. Jesus says in Mark 13:33-37, “33Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or in the morning— 36lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
3. To put flesh on this activity of watching, Jesus tells a parable. A master leaves his home and puts his servants in charge, “Each with his work.” As they work, they wait. Whether it is evening, midnight, dawn, or morning, the servants are to be watching and waiting and working so they are engaged in the things of their master until he returns. And this master who returns isn’t Santa Claus in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, as you wait for him to appear with your presents with his milk and cookie sitting next to you. No, this is Jesus Christ our Lord and Master who promises to return.
4. Jesus is speaking to the servants He will put in charge with the different work He will give to each, Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “11And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, “12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” The work of these servants will be in service of the one thing that doesn’t pass away, the words of Jesus, which is the Holy Gospel. The prophetic language of the Old Testament that Jesus uses to speak of the doom that will come upon the temple and Jerusalem, He also uses to speak of what will literally happen to Him on the cross. For at that time, the sun was darkened, and Satan fell from heaven forever. Jesus’ resurrection reveals the enduring nature of His words, for He is the Word made flesh, made death, and made alive forever for us for our salvation.
5. The Christian life, then, is to be one of service. Jesus calls us to engage in the things of God as we await His coming. There is a beauty to this divine design. Have you ever noticed how you gain a deeper appreciation for people when you are asked to do their work? Imagine you were asked by someone to do the things he or she does. I remember the first time I was asked to cook for my wife, I had to call my mother just to know what to do. Don’t even ask me what it was like changing my child’s diaper for the first time, let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Think of the man who works at a grocery store, bagging groceries. The woman who staffs an on-line call center for consumer complaints. Or, the father who tries to raise three children under 10 in a time of on-line learning during this pandemic. The daughter who cares for her father who has the beginnings of dementia.
6. If you were to work like these people work, you would discover things about them and the way in which they do their work. It may be how he set priorities based on the needs of his children. When guiding three children in on-line learning, the father has realized that not every child learns the same way. Although all three of his children are learning on-line, Kim has more difficulty than Kyle and Shiloh. So, when you do father’s work, you would soon discover how you watch Kim’s engagement more closely, encouraging her and helping her adjust.
7. Or, it may be that you will discover how she shows concern. When listening to consumer complaints all day at the on-line call center, she tries to empathize with each customer. She hates it when she calls a company and they treat her like a number, so she tries to treat her customers as people while she handles their complaints. In this case, when you do her work, you discover her compassion for people in need and how she goes out of her way to make a formal process less rigid and more personal.
8. When you do the work of others, you begin to learn their loves and priorities, their values and sacrifices, the subtle joys of service, and the humble delight in a job well-done. Though in one way, the person is far from you, in another way, that person is closer than he or she was before. When we enter deeper into a person’s service, we grow deeper in our relationship with that person.
9. Jesus calls us to watch for His coming by serving in His Kingdom. He does this because He knows the power of His love. When we serve others with His love, we are drawn closer to Him. We discover the mysterious ways of His Kingdom and the incredible power of His self-sacrificial love.
10. Christians engaged in the work of Jesus discover how He loves the unlovable. Jesus doesn’t find those people who fit His qualifications and bring them into God’s Kingdom. No, He finds that which is unlovable and loves it into life. This is what He did with me and you. We aren’t worthy to be members of His Kingdom, but through His death on the cross, He forgives our sins, and through His resurrection and the bestowing of the Spirit, He empowers us for service. We need not limit the vision of His Kingdom to people we think qualify. Instead, we bring the Kingdom to people who do not. By doing that, we are daily reminded of the love of Jesus which brought us into His Kingdom. Jesus finds that which is unlovable and loves it into life.
11. Christians engaged in the work of Jesus discover His priorities. Worldly success isn’t the way of Jesus. He doesn’t seek glory or to get ahead. Instead, He seeks out those who have been left behind. Seeking the lost, caring for those who can’t care for themselves, encouraging the weak, lifting the humble, these are the priorities of Jesus as He extends His Kingdom of grace to all.
12. Because our Master has gone away and we await His return, it’s easy at times to be discouraged. It looks like the Church is failing. We watch as more and more people turn away from God. But this is God’s Kingdom, not ours. Jesus doesn’t call us to fix it. He simply calls us to serve in it. He promises someday He will return and bring about the fullness of God’s reign. Until then, we live in humble, hopeful service.
13. To watch and wait for Jesus isn’t to spend our time trying to figure out the signs of the end and predict His return. No. To watch and to wait is to engage in faithful service and find ourselves being drawn closer to the heart of Jesus as we share His love with His world. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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