The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Mark, the thirteenth chapter:
“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.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
What are you waiting for? Stay awake! In the Scriptures, the idea of being awake has particular significance and it’s important we figure this out. Jesus isn’t just talking about not falling asleep during the sermon, though that’s most assuredly part of it. But, Jesus says to stay awake. What else does He mean?
It might come as a surprise to you, but I am not a morning person. My wife standing above me clanging cymbals likely would do little more than make me roll over in bed. My son coming in to jump on me doesn’t really do it. Mornings and I don’t get along. I like to sleep. In fact, most of the time, and I do go to bed late, but most of the time regardless, I fall asleep fairly quickly. But, when something big is happening, like I have to leave the house at 3 am for a 5 am flight, or we’re driving out to see family, or my wife is out of town and I have to get the kids to school at the right time, I have trouble falling asleep. I know my weaknesses and I know it’s going to be hard, so when I’m laying there at two o’clock, watching the minutes tick off on the clock, I just get to thinking that I should just get out of bed and keep myself up for when the hour comes. Sometimes I think that I can make it the rest of the day on no sleep, and sometimes I’m right. Sometimes I think that I’ll be able to catch a nap later. And that’s what Jesus is talking about.
Jesus isn’t really all that concerned I get my kids to school at the right time, but He is concerned that I see what’s happening around me and be awake. Jesus tells us something we all plainly know as Wisconsinites: we know when winter is coming to an end. It’s something we all check the trees for every March and April. We wait to see the buds on tree and bushes start to come out. We wait for the branches to lose their winter dullness. We wait for the grass to get a little more green. We find our cars don’t have as much frost on them in the morning. It starts to get a little warmer, a little brighter, a little less cloudy. We don’t need the news stations or a calendar to tell us that the spring and summer are upon us; we just know because we’ve learned. We’re aware of it. We’re awake to it.
But Jesus tells us His analogy to give us the opposite, something we’re also well-awaited with: winter is coming. It’s getting colder, darker. The leaves have fallen. We’ve had a couple snows. And so it will be at the end of the world. Things will get darker and colder, not necessarily in the sky, but in the hearts of man.
Hear what our Lord says in the passage right before today’s text:
[When the end of time is approaching,] many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.It’s not pretty, is it? Not at all. And when these things begin to happen, you know that the end is near. It’s coming. It’s big. Don’t be asleep for it, but stay awake. And the reality is, all of these things happened right after the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Think about it. People proclaiming to be Christ, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, turning people over to die in the synagogues, families betraying one another. All of these things have already happened. And we’re supposed to see them and know that the end is near. Stay awake.
The opposite of staying awake is sleeping, right? And to what does the Word of God compare to sleeping? Death. To be asleep is to die. Not in the sense, really, that you actually are going to die, though you will unless Christ returns first, but that you will die apart from Christ. These signs have been given to you to keep you awake, keep you alert, keep you in the faith. Every other religion out there seems to tell us that things are going to get better, the world can live in harmony and peace. Don’t believe them. This isn’t what our Lord says. Even of the faith He has given to the saints, He tells us He has not come to bring peace but a sword, a sword that pierces the hearts of man and divides families. This isn’t because it pleases Him to cause division, but, if by causing division He might save one, He will do it.
And so He shall. We are divided from the multitude of unbelievers. We have been separated from the world that we might live at peace with one another, all while the world goes to hell around us. And it will. We don’t preach that the world is going to get better, but that it’s going to get worse. There are more Christian martyrs today than there have been in any age coming before us, even put together. Persecution of Christians is on the rise, with them being imprisoned and murdered in China, in Pakistan, in India, in Egypt, Nigeria, the Sudan, and North Korea. We in America have been blessed in many ways, most specifically that the faith we claim from Christ has been accepted by the culture for many centuries. But that time may be coming to an end. We are seeing, more and more, calls to eliminate the voices of Christians from the public marketplace of ideas; how much longer before they become calls to eliminate Christians?
Now, I’m no prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but I can see the writing on the wall. We may be entering a time of persecution for our churches here in America. And that’s okay. It really is. We shouldn’t be thinking about taking up arms, or banning the Muslims, or even that God hates us if our least favorite political party takes over. Instead, see this for what it is: a sign that Jesus is coming back soon.
Now, that could be in five minutes, which would be wonderful, or it could be in a million years, which is just as wonderful. Whether He comes back now and judges the living and dead or, by His mercy, allows this world to continue on for millennia, Jesus is still coming back soon. What’s a million years in light of eternity? When you have infinity years to spend with your Jesus, what’s 80 years of suffering? Think about this. Imagine you’re a dust mite looking up at the man changing the bed sheets. A giant, you think! He goes on forever! You cannot see the top of his head; it may even bend back behind his body, you don’t know. You cannot see his feet; he may stand a million feet tall. All you know are these sheets, this time, this place. You cannot imagine the enormity of God, nor can you imagine eternity in His presence.
Thus it is that we cannot understand why Jesus seems to be delayed in His coming again when all that needed to happen happened as soon as He bodily left this world. Yet, if He had returned right away, would you be here? This is a great mercy. I don’t know why He has waited for you and for me, but He has, and I don’t know who else He’s waiting for to come to faith, but He is. And this is mercy.
So it is we should stay awake. If our Lord were to return today, at this moment, we would have an outward of appearance of faithfulness. But, later? Will we be found lazy? Yelling at our kids? Watching a dirty show? Drunk? High? How would you feel if our Lord returns, and in that moment you are busy doing some kind of sin that you know better not to do. Stay awake; He’s coming back.
See that you don’t fall asleep, that you don’t die away from the faith. I’m not saying that every sin you commit takes you out of faith in Christ, but, added up, they may be leading you astray. Stay awake, you know the end is coming. Don’t fall asleep.
And how is it that you stay awake? Well, as Christians, we get what we need to stay awake, to live and not die. We get the forgiveness promised to us in His Word, each and every time it’s offered to you. You receive the promised gift of Baptism, which washes away sins, delivers faith to you, and this is something of which you must be reminded constantly. You hear the Word of God and keep it, taking it to heart, meditating upon it. You sing praises, give thanks, offer prayer. And you receive the Sacrament of the Altar, where Jesus feeds you with His true body and blood, giving you the food that will keep you alive, keep you awake.
Falling asleep looks like sleeping in, forgetting church, forgetting your Baptism, keeping your kids away from the Word of God and place where it’s heard with other believers, not receiving the Sacrament. Falling asleep is bad; staying awake is blessed.
People who fall asleep, by the way, will indeed miss the coming persecution. Do you think that many of the pastors out there, and their congregations, will be following Christ when it comes to facing down the end of a barrel or the tip of a knife? Do you think they’ll follow Christ when they have to pay a tax to live because they’re Christians? Do you think they’ll follow Christ when they’re threatened with prison? I don’t. I know many will, but I know many more will forsake the faith given to them. And why? Because they already have.
They don’t preach the Word, they don’t give Law and Gospel, they don’t administer the Sacrament. They seek God in their hearts, not where He’s promised to be. They’ve fallen asleep, and so have the people under them. They’ve been lead astray by false promises and lulled to sleep by the world. But you need to stay awake, stay busy with the things of God.
Why? Why? Because the very God who died in your place, to forgive your sins, is coming to bring you to Himself forever. He has already given you faith to believe in this life, even as you travel through this vale of tears, but soon, the promise given to you in His resurrection from the dead will come to fruition, and like the budding branch in spring, your grave will bud and spit you out that you may rise from the winter of death in sin forever. He is coming to raise you from the dead, and when you see all these things happen, you know that His promise is coming true.
The end of time isn’t pretty; it’s going to get worse. But Jesus promised us that just as it gets worse, we shall see the dawn breaking over the hills and see Him descending in the clouds to come and judge us. And shall we be awake? We will. We will see Him and bow down as He judges us faithful, not by our works, but by His gifts that we are called to steward, called to administer, called to receive. If you have stayed awake, you shall receive your due reward: life eternal, no longer a dust mite, no longer tempted by sin, but a life which is lived in the glory of the Son of God, returned to earth to live with you, His beloved child, forever and forever and forever. May it be so now! In Jesus’ name, amen!
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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