Week One of Advent
St. Mary's Cathedral in Lincoln, England
"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It 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. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake" (Mk 13:24–37).
I normally think of Advent as reflecting on Jesus’ birth and entry into the world. It is the time where we slow down to remember the story of a baby born of a virgin in a manger and welcomed by shepherds. If I’m being overly sentimental, I shrink the story down in my mind to a cute little manger scene that I’ve seen on a thousand Christmas cards; baby Jesus in the hay watched over by Mary, Joseph, some shepherds, maybe three kings, and a few farm animals. While Advent is about looking back at the story of God coming to us as a human, which already begins to explode my picture of a serene infant sleeping in the hay when I remember that this child is God incarnate, the one through whom all things were made, but Advent is also a reminder to look forward to Jesus’ coming again to judge the world and set it right.
In Mark 13 Jesus’ disciples come to him to draw his attention to the beauty of the Temple, but Jesus responds with a prophecy about its destruction and the fall of Jerusalem. The disciples’ natural response is "when?" "when will this happen?" Jesus proceeds to give them the signs that will alert them to when Jerusalem will fall so that they can be spared. He’s cryptic but descriptive. He knows that if they take his words to heart, they’ll recognize the clues.
In the last seven verses of Mark 13 Jesus talks about "staying awake" four times, and he repeats it as a command twice. The disciples can’t get complacent before the destruction of Jerusalem. They need to have their wits about them, and they need to be ready to act.
During Advent Jesus renews our call to stay awake, to be ready for his return, to know that the time is short and our salvation is closer now than when we first believed. Advent is about looking back, but it is also about looking ahead. We look ahead to Jesus’ coming again and we wake ourselves up so that we are ready. Our waiting for our Lord isn’t passive. We’re not just sitting with our feet propped up waiting for him to walk through the door, but as obedient servants of the Master we’re getting the house ready, doing the last-minute cleaning, cooking, and preparations so that when he arrives everything is in order. The Master has business to attend to when he arrives and good servants want nothing more than for him to be able to get right to work.
Let’s take this season of Advent to get ready. Let’s get ourselves in a place to be prepared for the Lord’s return. Let’s long for it with all of our hearts because we need the Master to come and handle the problems that are too big for us. We need Sin, Death, and Satan to be dealt their final blow. We need Jesus to come and make the world right. So stay awake!