Watching the Signs (Reflections on Advent 1, Year B)

“And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37)

Truth be told, I really don’t like the lectionary gospel for Advent 1. When I was first called as pastor of Faith Lutheran in Philadelphia on Christ the King Sunday of 1998, I was told I’d have the next Sunday (Advent 1) off as the substitute pastor had already arranged pulpit supply for that date. Hey! Fine with me. I just don’t like preaching all of this apocalyptic stuff. It makes me thank of the 1970’s when everybody was reading Hal Lindsay’s monumental load of steaming crap, The Late, Great Planet Earth, and waiting for the Rapture. For years I’d invite guest preachers to come and preach Advent 1 so I wouldn’t have to do it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’m up to bat this year, so I better come up with something reasonably meaningful to say about Mark 13:24-37. The best I can do, I think, is to try and put it in some kind of historical and Biblical context. If you go back to the top of the chapter, you’ll see that Jesus and his buddies are in Jerusalem. He’s just predicted the destruction of the Temple, and goes on to explain that some other really nasty stuff is definitely in the forecast. The political and cultural fecal matter is about to go SPLAT! against the rotary air conditioning system (metaphorically speaking), and it’s not going to be a day at Disneyland for anybody. But not to worry: God is near, and the Word of God will not pass away. The righteous will be vindicated in the end.

Smart Bible history guys suggest that Mark (whoever he really was. A first and second century bishop named Papias of Hierapolis claims that Mark was a disciple of Simon Peter’s in Rome.) was writing around the years 64 to 70 of the Common Era when official Roman persecution of Christians was in its heyday and the Roman Empire was busy putting down a Jewish revolt with all the ruthless brutality we’ve come to know and love. This revolt resulted in the Temple of Jerusalem being destroyed, thereby crushing the Jewish sense of identity. This defeat, as you can imagine, really sucked. In fact, for some, it was the end of the world.

But here’s the thing: stuff is always ending, because stuff is always changing. Mark ends this chapter by gluing together two parables. In the first, Jesus tells his followers to look at the fig tree. If you see it’s starting to bud, you know the seasons are changing and it will be summer soon. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to figure out that something is coming to an end. The question is: how will you accept the change? You see, your spiritual life isn’t going to be about what happens to or around you. It’s going to be about how you embrace it.

For my own parable, I think of my beloved Borders Book Store. I used to love Borders. I’d browse in there for hours. But there aren’t any Borders Books anymore. I guess the folks who ran the chain never figured on Jeff Bezos and Amazon stealing their business by selling books, movies, and music on line—even developing that nifty little device, the Amazon Kindle, on which we bibliophiles can shop and download our books for a lot less cash. Barnes and Noble, on the other hand, recognized the signs of the changing times, adapted themselves to e-commerce, and have lived to tell the tale.

Do we in the American church see the signs of the changing season? Or are we too much in love with our own cultural preferences—do we fear the pain of loss too much—to accept what God might be doing?

The second parable mark uses is that of the master who goes on a journey and leaves his servants in charge of the house. Will the servants be alert when the master returns, or will they be caught napping? It’s possible that Mark figured the resurrected and ascended Jesus might come back during his lifetime, and he’s admonishing everyone to be in as close to a state of pure grace as they can be when that day comes.

But what if Jesus doesn’t make a return trip during your watch here on earth? I’ll still bet you dollars to doughnuts that something will happen which will shake and rattle your world the same way the destruction of the Temple shook the world of Mark’s time. And that will be the time when you’ll have to keep awake for what God is really doing.

Someone may come into your life. Someone may go out of it. Your health may (and eventually will) change. You may lose a job. You may take a new job. Your home may be damaged or destroyed. You may have to move. You may face bankruptcy. You may hit the lottery. A natural catastrophe or a horrible criminal act may impact you out of nowhere. Where will you see Christ when that happens?

I guess I see this gospel lesson as an admonition to keep awake to the changing times and to keep open to new possibilities—God’s possibilities, which may be at odds with our own desires. Things will change, and they won’t ever be the same. But they might be very good nonetheless.

A blessed Advent to you all.