Watch!

First Sunday in Advent

December 3, 2023

Mark 13:24-37

“Watch!”

This past week, Rosalyn Carter, wife of former President Jimmy Carter, was laid to rest. Tributes poured in acknowledging her role as First Lady and as a great humanitarian, especially in the area of mental health. Her funeral took place this past Wednesday at the Carters’ longtime church home, Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Georgia. The name of this congregation, Maranatha, comes from the original language of the New Testament (Greek), but is actually based on Aramaic, the language that Jesus himself would have spoken. Maranatha means, “Our Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22; see also Revelation 22:20). The word is also found in the Didache, one of the earliest Christian treastises, dating to the first or second-century. Interestingly, maranatha can mean “a. ‘Lord, come,’ as a prayer for Christ’s return; b. ‘Our Lord has come,’ as a confession of his coming in humility; and c. ‘Our Lord is come,’ i.e., is present in worship” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans/PaterNoster Press, 1985; p. 563). “Our Lord, come!” is our prayer always, but especially during this season of Advent. On this First Sunday in Advent, in today’s Gospel lesson Jesus calls on his children to watch for his promised coming again. That becomes the theme for preaching this day under the theme, “Watch!” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

The Advent season is all about watching – waiting and watching for the coming of Christ. Many people think that this 4-week period prepares us for Christmas, but that’s not the primary purpose of Advent. Yes, Jesus’ first coming – his first advent – was his birth in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, what we celebrate at Christmas. That is true, but what the Advent season is more concerned with is Jesus’ second advent, his coming again. That is what we hear about in today’s Gospel lesson. There are unsettling images in that Gospel lesson that can make us anxious or fearful: the sun darkening, the moon not giving light, stars falling from heaven. Jesus tells us that these are all signs that will precede his second advent, his coming again. The world as we know it will pass away, and there will be a new creation that comes about with Jesus’ second advent. For the child of God who rejoices in Jesus’ first advent – his birth in Bethlehem, his life of service in full obedience to the Father’s will, his innocent suffering and death upon the cross, his resurrection from the dead, all for us and for our salvation – we will also rejoice at Jesus’ second advent.

To watch means to keep awake; to be vigilant and aware; to be on guard. Jesus provides several examples of what this looks like from daily life. Maybe you have a fig tree in your backyard, or your neighbor has one. They grow well in our area here. These were and are widely grown all over the Middle East. “In Palestine, where most trees are evergreens, the rising of the sap in the branches of the fig tree and the appearance of leaves is a sure sign that winter is past” (Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, Rienecker/Rogers. Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, 1976 and 1980; p. 126). So when a fig tree first puts out its leaves, the warm summer season has come. And after the leaves are there, the delicious fruit will come along. If we’re watching, we’ll notice that all of this is happening. Jesus tells us that just as that fig tree puts out its leaves leading into summer, so these signs will indicate that his coming is very near. Or it’s like the man who puts his workers in charge while he’s away. The night watch was divided up into four 3-hour periods: 6-9PM, 9PM-Midnight, Midnight-3AM, 3-6AM. It’s during that middle watch from 12-3AM when the rooster starts crowing – very early. The man in Jesus’ brief parable here doesn’t know exactly when he’ll be back again, but he wants his workers to be ready and prepared for his arrival, whenever that may be. You can’t be ready and prepared if you’ve fallen asleep. Like those workers, we don’t know when our Master will return, only that he will return.

All of this being said, it’s virtually impossible for anyone to be in a constant state of vigilance. You can’t sustain that indefinitely, at least not on by yourself. As we wait and watch for Jesus’ coming, we cannot do this on our own. We become weary and worn down. The words from Paul the apostle in today’s Epistle lesson are an encouragement: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus… so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:4, 7-9). God is faithful, even when we are not. Though we may feel guilt for the evil we have done or the good we have failed to do, for Jesus’ sake, God has declared us guiltless. When we feel weary and worn down in our waiting and watching, God is the One who will sustain us to the end. God’s abundant mercy and grace to help in time of need flow out to us today through his Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments. Through these gifts of God, we are sustained in our weariness and have our joy restored. As we watch, our hope and our joy in Jesus are in what he has told us: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

The words of Isaiah the prophet from today’s Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 64:1-9), “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1a), were fulfilled when Jesus did come down from heaven to be born of Mary in Bethlehem – his first advent. And now, in this time of grace that precedes his rending the heavens and coming down once again – his second advent – Jesus calls us to wait and watch for his promised coming. What a different Jesus the world will see then! The last time the world saw him was when he hung upon the cross, rejected and reviled. But on that great and final day, “they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26). Sustained by the love of Jesus revealed there at the cross, we wait and watch for him with eager expectation, fervent hope, and repentant joy. May these gifts abound in each of our lives in this holy time of Advent. And so we pray: Marantha! “Our Lord, come!” Amen.