Stay Tuned

Mark 13.24-37

November 29, 2020

As I sat and wrote this sermon, I had Christmas music playing in the background. It made sense to be listening to this music on the day after Thanksgiving. After all, are we not now in the Christmas season? Since we are not out and about as much, you might not have noticed the decorations that are all around that tell us that the season is indeed upon us. So, what is this about Advent? What does it mean?

Advent is the looking toward the coming of Christ. It is a time of reflection and longing. Donald Wilson in The ABCs of Worship describes Advent in this way:

It is similar in purpose to Lent and was modeled on it. Christians remember their own need for God to come again in their lives, confessing their sin and separation from God, and expressing deep longing for what God alone can give, the gift of new life and salvation.

Advent is a time to remember that we also wait for Christ to come again. We are still sinners in need of redemption. The whole world longs for peace and justice. We continue to look for Jesus Christ to come save us.

2000 years ago, this time was not just a time for celebrating the birth of Christ. It is also a time in which we look forward to the coming again of Christ to set things right in the world. This is why we celebrate this season of Advent. We light the candles to show that the darkness will not overcome the light. That the light of the coming one will drive back the darkness that surrounds us in our world. And because we believe this, we wait and we watch. We stay tuned. If we jump straight to Christmas, we miss that longing and the anticipation of Advent.

Imagine with me for a few moments a few scenarios:

You are watching television and a news update comes on during a break in your favorite show. They anchor announces a breaking story that they will continue to give updates about throughout the evening. They tell you to stay tuned to the channel to make sure that you get all the details of what is happening. Stay tuned. You don’t want to miss it.

Now go back with me a few years. It is 2011. Harold Camping is telling the world that Jesus is coming back. And not just coming back, but on a certain date, May 21st of that very year. People flocked to hear this man tell how he knew that Jesus would return on this very date and that they needed to be ready. There were many who believed this news, including Camping himself. Those who did believe sold all their belongings, quit their jobs and waited patiently, some even traveling around the country to spread this news. They did not want to miss the coming of Jesus. They stayed tuned. (FYI, Camping was wrong about this, if that was not already apparent.)

Go with me back about 176 years to 1844. A man by the name of William Miller was proclaiming that Jesus was going to return that year. That the tabernacle where his meetings were being held would ascend to meet Jesus in the air. Thousands heeded his call, sold all their belongings and land and went to meet on a certain hill in New England (see a pattern forming here?) to await the coming of Jesus on October 22, 1844. They wanted to be ready and waiting for when Jesus would return. They experienced what became known as the Great Disappointment. (They later became what we know today as the Adventist denomination.)

These two little stories tell us a lot about human nature. We want surety. We want to know. We want to be certain. Throughout history there have been those who have told people that Jesus would return at a certain time only to be bitterly disappointed when there was no appearing. And yet, if they listened to what Jesus said, they would have known better; that there would be no knowing of the time of the return. They would have known that despite not knowing, or maybe because of not knowing, that Jesus called and still calls on us to be ready, watching and working when he returns for the second Advent.

The text for today is really three separate sections. The first two are Jesus telling of the events that will precede his return. Some of these include: “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”[1] When these things occur, then be watching. One can understand those who make predictions that Jesus’ return is just around the corner. We have all seen events that are just like what Jesus was telling his disciples. And they would have even thought this when back Mark’s Gospel was being written. That was during the time of the rebellion against Rome when the temple was razed and the nation was crushed under the armies of the empire. Surely, this would have been the time for Jesus’ return. If ever there were the signs that he had given, this would have been it. But there was no return.

The disciples had to remember the words that Jesus spoke in verses 32-33 that begin the third section of the text: “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.[2]”

Jesus told his disciples that he would return but that they had to be ready for him to come back at any time. They would not know the time because even he did not know the time. But they were to be working. They were not to be speculating about the time of his return. They were to be taking care of the sick, helping the poor, ministering to the downtrodden, and more. They were to be like the servants of a household owner who left on a journey. Each servant was given a job to do and they were expected to do that job while the owner was away. They were expected be doing those jobs when the owner returned, whenever that would be.

Jesus told them that they needed to stay awake or keep alert. We could say that they needed to stay tuned. They would not know when in the night that Jesus would return. It could be during any of the four times that the Romans mark their time. But they are not to be idle, they are not to be found asleep. They are to be working and to be alert.

These words would have given hope to all those in this time. They hoped that Jesus would return and that they would see him in his glory. But that did not occur. One wonders how they felt about all this. Surely there were some who turned away from the faith because they lost hope in the coming of Christ. But for all those who lost hope and turned away, there were many more for whom the hope burned bright when the darkness seemed to overpower everything.

And here we are today. We have heard sermons on the coming of Jesus and most of us listen politely or are embarrassed by them. What does all this mean when we have been waiting for almost 2,000 years. But what about Advent? At Advent we talk about the coming of Jesus. Most of the time this refers to people looking for the baby that was born in Bethlehem and finally Christmas. But what about the rest of the year? Are we looking for the return of Jesus? Or are we coming to hear a message about expectation, and then go out the door into the hustle and bustle of the “real world” where there is not any hope of the return of Christ? Where do we find the hope that we so long for at this time of Advent?

We find hope in the words of Jesus. We turn to the Scriptures for the message that we received. There we are told that the elect will be gathered from all over the earth, that the Son of Man is near, and that heaven and earth will not pass away until his words are fulfilled. We are told that the return of Jesus is certain. That what he told his disciples 2000 years ago still applies to today. That no matter how long we have to wait, when Jesus returns it will be worth the wait. What hope that gives!

But while we are living with this hope, there is still the waiting. We have been waiting a long time. Sometimes it seems like the hope of the expectation is based on nothing. We look for hard evidence and some clue about when the time will be. But Jesus tells us that not even he knows when that time will be. During the time of waiting he tells us that we are to be on the lookout that his coming could be at any time. When that happens will we be surprised and “asleep”? This is the time of expectation. Are we expecting the coming of the Lord or are we so dulled by the lights, the music, the commercials or just plain life that we forget what this season is all about? Has our waiting lulled us to sleep? The final words of the passage are “Keep awake”. When we keep awake, we are doing the work of God in God’s service and for God’s kingdom. When we keep awake, we watch and live our lives as if Jesus is coming any moment. Are we keeping awake? Do we have hope? Are we staying tuned for the coming of Jesus? Come again Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.

[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.