Mark 13 32-37 eSerm

When you were a child, did you play the game, Hide and Seek? If you did, you will remember that the person who was "it" closed his eyes while the rest went to hide. To give them time to hide, the child started counting: 5, 10, 15, 20 and up to 100. Then he would say, "Ready or not, here I come!" The point of the game was to hide oneself so well that the leader could not find you, for if he found you, and beat you back to the goal, you had to be "it" the next go-around. The secret of the game was preparing oneself against being found and caught. With excitement we heard the words, "Ready or not -- here I come!"

In today's gospel lesson Jesus is saying to the world, "Ready or not -- here I come." In chapter 13 of Mark, Jesus tells us that he will be returning to the earth "with great power and glory." As in the game, only it is not a game, there is a counting and an accounting going on right now. It is a countdown before the blast of his appearance on earth a second time to judge the world and to gather his faithful to himself. His coming may be soon, for the end of the world seems near. Though Russia and the United States agreed in 1974 to limit themselves to 2,500 nuclear missiles and bombers and permitted themselves to build an additional 1,200 missiles with multiple atomic warheads, by 1991 Russia had 10,877 and the U.S. had 11,602 nuclear weapons. Both sides have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world not once but many times. While hundreds of millions are starving, nations spend annually $220 billion for arms. Leading ecologists warn us that we will suffocate ourselves with pollution. The world seems to be winding itself up. And we seem to know it, too. A cartoon shows a man wearing placards as he walks up and down the crowded streets of a big city. On the sign is the warning: "The end is nigh. Prepare to meet thy doom." The sign carrier says, "The horrible thing is that people don't laugh at me anymore!"

In our text Jesus is telling us to get ready for his second coming. The key word of our preparation is "Watch." He concludes his saying on this return with "And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Ready or not, Jesus is coming. You'd better get ready! But how? In our text Jesus tells us what we need to do by way of preparation.

Watch And Wake Up

He tells us, first, to watch and wake up! The Greek word for "watch" literally means "chase sleep away." No one can watch and be asleep at the same time. If you are watching, you cannot be sleeping. Yet, this is a serious problem in our day. As Saint Francis said, many people are spiritually asleep. George Whitefield in his day felt the same about people, for he said, "The Christian world is in a deep sleep. Nothing but a loud voice can wake people out of it."

Of course, we sleep part of the time, about eight hours a night. But, this is not what Jesus meant when he said, "Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping." "Sleep" is a symbolic word for a state of unpreparedness. It means that many of us don't care what happens to the world. Only when you are indifferent and unconcerned can you sleep. You know that when something is on your mind when you go to bed, you cannot sleep; you toss and turn all night long. You get up the next morning feeling as though you had not been to bed. Many just don't care what happens. The man on the street says, "I don't give a damn!" Another says, "What the hell do I care -- Let the world go to the dogs!" That is the way Jonah felt about God's command to preach to Nineveh. In the middle of a storm at sea, Jonah was found fast asleep in the hold of the tossing ship. One of the things that hurt Jesus was, when he came back from praying in Gethsemane, he found his three closest friends asleep even though he asked them to watch and pray for him. In the parable of the virgins, five foolish virgins missed the bridegroom at midnight because they were asleep and allowed their lamps to go out. It is high time for us today to get awake with concern about the end of the world and Christ's return. "Wake, wake for the night is flying.”

Today we need to get awake to the fact of Jesus' return to earth to bring history to a close, to judge the wicked, and to gather the faithful. There is no question about the certainty of his return. The only uncertainty is the time of his coming. Though religious fanatics seemed to know more than Jesus about the date of his coming, Jesus definitely says that only God knows the exact time of his coming again. Just because we do not know whether he will come tomorrow or 2,000 years from now does not say that he is not coming. As Christians, Jesus has already come to us and we have accepted him by faith. At the end of our lives, he will come to us a second time and take us to himself in heaven. The hour of death is, in a sense, a second coming for a Christian. In addition, Jesus is coming in a cosmic sense. He will come at the end of the world. We believe this because Jesus said he would, and we have no good reason to doubt his promises. Through the ages the church has confessed, "From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." Justice demands his return, because there must come a reckoning time. Reason calls for a settling of accounts. Evil must be destroyed and righteousness and truth must prevail. Satan cannot go on like this forever, and God is greater than Satan. The time must come when Satan is finally and for all time annihilated. The faithful need to be rescued and taken into the mansions of glory.

We need to get awake to Jesus' coming because Jesus tells us that his coming will be unexpected. Just as nobody knows when a thief is going to break into his home, so nobody knows when Jesus is coming again. If his coming is unexpected, then there is no time to prepare after he gets here. It is too late then. The time to prepare is before he comes, and since we do not know when he is coming, we must get ready now. If we are not awake, we cannot watch. If we do not watch, disaster will hit us. Some years ago a tragic accident took place north of Atlanta. A school bus was hit by a train at a crossing. Six little children were killed. In the investigation of the accident following the tragedy, it was reported that the watchman was not at the crossing but was warming himself in the caboose.

His coming will also be sudden. If he comes suddenly, there will be no time to prepare for him. This means that our readiness must be now lest he come all at once. A car accident can happen faster than a twinkling of an eye. An explosion occurs like a bolt in the blue. Birth pains hit a woman all at once. Jesus says his return will be like that -- sudden, immediate! If we could see Jesus coming and his coming would take place in a year or so, or even a month from now, we might have time to get ready. But, that is not the case. You are ready now before he comes, or you will never be ready at his coming. So, it's time to wake up from your sleep of ho-hum, business-as-usual. He is coming -- ready or not!

Watch And Pray!

We need not only to watch and wake up but also to watch and pray. Jesus says in our text, "Take ye heed, watch and pray..." You might be asking, "Now what in the world does prayer have to do with my readiness for Jesus' second coming?" It must have a lot to do with it or Jesus would never have urged us to pray as preparation for his coming.

Through prayer we keep in touch with God. Prayer is a means of communication. It is fellowship and conversation with God. If we daily keep in touch with God, we will not get careless about our lives. Living in God's presence will make us careful to live blameless lives, that when Jesus comes he will find us acceptable and presentable. When Eisenhower was president of the United States, he once visited Denver. His attention was called to a letter in the local newspaper saying that a six-year- old boy dying with cancer expressed a wish to see the president. One Sunday morning a black limousine pulled up in front of the boy's house. Ike stepped out of his car and knocked on the front door. The father, Donald Haley, opened the door wearing faded jeans, an old shirt, and a day's old beard. Standing behind him was the boy. Ike said, "Paul, I understand you want to see me. Glad to see you." Then he took the boy to the limousine to show it to him, shook hands, and left. The family and neighbors talked about the President's visit for a long time before the father always remembered it with regret because of the way he was dressed. He lamented, "What a way to meet the President of the United States." If we keep in fellowship with God through prayer, we will keep ourselves spiritually dressed for Christ's coming at any time.

We need to watch and pray as preparation for Jesus' coming again, because there are many people still without a knowledge of Christ. While waiting for Christ to come, we can spend our time profitably by praying for those who need to confess Christ as Lord and Savior. If Christ should return and people are without faith, think of the doom ahead for them. It is our privilege and responsibility to prepare them for Christ's return. A boy was once fishing with his grandfather in a boat off the coast. The lad noticed a flashing light from the lighthouse even though it was mid-day. The child said, "I thought they used the light only when there was a fog or a storm." His granddad replied, "No, son, they use it all the time. You can never tell when a fog or bad weather might come up. It's better to be prepared than to miss an opportunity to save someone's life." Prayer is an opportunity to save someone's soul. In good and bad times, in sunshine and storm we need to watch and pray that souls will respond to the love of God in Christ that they might be ready for the Lord's coming.

The early Christians watched and prayed by actually praying for Jesus to come back again. They said, "Maranatha," "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." They wanted Jesus to come back that accounts could be settled. There were hardships and persecutions of the faithful. Evil was rampant and the devil seemed to be loose in the world. They wanted Christ to come and put a stop to it. How far we are from the same concern and same condition in today's world? Have we not the right to pray for the same? Again, they prayed for Jesus' return because it meant their salvation. Unlike many of us the first Christians were not afraid of the Parousia. They wanted Jesus to come, for he was going to come for them and take them to heaven. This is known as the "rapture." It was a union of Christ and the believer, and Christ would gather his sheep and they would go into the kingdom of eternal life. This was the greatest thing that could happen to them. For those in Christ today, the end of the world and Jesus' coming do not mean judgment and condemnation but justification and vindication. Christ returns to rule and we who have faith in him shall rule with him. His victory is ours also. No wonder we are urged to get ready for his coming by praying.

Watch And Work!

Watch and wake up! Watch and pray! Here he comes -- ready or not! You and I had better watch and work! In the parable of the text it says "to every man his work." What are we to do while waiting for Christ's return? Sit and twiddle our thumbs? Stand around and wait? This is what the first century Christians did. It became such a problem that Paul had to write, "He who does not work shall not eat."

When Jesus returns suddenly and unexpectedly, what will he find you doing? Will he find you with your guard down? Will he find you pilfering a money drawer? They say that the volcano which engulfed Pompeii came so suddenly that today they find the remains of people in the very act of doing their chores: baking, sewing, sweeping. When Jesus comes, will he find you taking a nap? Will he find you in sin like the husband who was on a trip to Bermuda with another woman and died from a heart attack?

Once John Wesley was asked what he would do if he knew this was his last day on earth. He replied, "At 4 o'clock I would have some tea. At 6 I would visit Mrs. Brown in the hospital. Then at 7:30 I would conduct a mid-week prayer service. At 10 I would go to bed and would wake up in glory." When Luther was asked what he would do on the day of Jesus' return, he said he would go out and plant a tree. Our text tells us that Christ expects each of us to be about our work so that when he comes, he will find us in gainful and constructive employment, taking care of the world as his trustees. Some years ago a tourist visited the Castle Villa Asconti along the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. Only the old gardener opened the gates and the visitor stepped into the garden, which was perfectly kept. The visitor asked when the owner was last there. He was told, "Twelve years ago." Did he ever write? No. Where did he get instructions? From his agent in Milan. Does the master ever come? No. "But, you keep the grounds as though your master was coming back tomorrow." The old gardene quickly replied, "Today, sir, today."

A Christian watches and works as though the Master would return this very day. He wants Jesus to find him busy about his tasks: washing dishes, mending shoes, running a lathe, teaching school, planting a rose bush. Jesus will be pleased to see his faithful ones working hard to build a better world, a more Christian society.

Ready or not -- here I come! That is what Jesus is saying to us today. If we are not now ready, we have reason to dread his coming. "Who can endure the day of his coming?" for he is coming to judge. On the other hand, if we are ready, we have reason to rejoice at the prospect of his coming today or tomorrow. He is coming to be with us, to bless us, to take us with him to glory. Then we will be like a mountaineer's wife. A preacher asked a man, "Are you ready for Judgment Day?" The mountaineer queried, "When is it comin'?" "Well," the preacher continued, "it might come today or tomorrow." "For goodness sake, don't tell the missus," cautioned the mountain man. "She'd want to go both days."