‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.     

Matthew 24:36-44

Keep AWAKE!

How many people have ever dozed off in a church service? 

Confession is good for the soul!

I feel asleep once while studying in my seminary’s library. I was in a chair reading when I heard a loud groan. I remember thinking, “What was that?” And then I realized that I had been asleep and must have groaned out loud. I opened my eyes and the student in the chair next to me said, “Are you okay?”

I also had a professor of theology who dozed off in the middle of his own lecture. He paused in his discourse and then drifted off….

This morning’s text tells us to:  “Keep Awake! …Be ready!

This is the First Sunday in Advent. Advent marks the start of the Christian year and serves to complete the cycle of the Christian year by drawing attention to the promise of Christ’s return which is described in passages such as Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21. 

These Gospel passages emphasize that we should always be watchful and alert, continually being faithful to our calling as followers of Jesus Christ.

Last week I mentioned the term “apocalyptic imagery” in reference to the parable of the sheep and the goats.

This week’s scripture in Matthew informs us that we do not need to concern ourselves with “apocalyptic speculation” about the day and the hour of Christ’s return.

The Left Behind series written by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye has made one interpretation of the return of Christ a very popular subject. Millions of copies have been sold!

There are numerous biblical/theological interpretations of Christ’s Second Coming. The Left Behind series has popularized a “Rapture Theology,” which is the interpretation that Christ will first come and “rapture” or snatch all the Christians off the face of the earth before a great seven year tribulation occurs. I believe this is a distortion of the Christian faith without firm biblical basis. It is not part of our Presbyterian tradition.

(For a summary of “rapture theology” see “Rethinking the Rapture,” by Bill Tammeus April 17, 2004, Kansas City Star. You can find it on-line or call the church office.)

For an excellent discussion of this whole topic see The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation by Barbara R. Rossing, Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. She presents the viewpoint that a secret “rapture” of the Church is an interpretation based on a psychology of fear and destruction and that the Bible does not teach a 7-year tribulation culminating in war in the Middle East. Rather, the message of Jesus is a vision of God’s healing love for the world – a love that will not leave people behind.

ARE YOU AWAKE!

Barbara Rossing writes, “Yes, Jesus will return—once. Until then, we are always with Jesus and he is with us—Emmanuel…”GOD WITH US.” Our life is in God’s time and God’s hands.” We are called to KEEP AWAKE! To engage in deeds of mercy and acts of love, or as St. Francis of Assisi said, “Wherever you go preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”   He also said, "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

God wants to turn our hearts toward the vision of justice and generosity for all people.

The point of passages such as Matthew 24 is to encourage us to stay awake in our faith…to be alert for ways to serve God through loving others.

Christ is living his life through us. Jesus continues to come into the world through us!   

Keep awake for opportunities to serve.

 Listen to the following story told by the late Bruce Thielemann, former Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. I heard Bruce relate this story over 20 years ago:

“I think of a Presbyterian elder in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who got a phone call one night – it was not an ordinary night – Pittsburgh had undergone a terrible ice storm making travel almost impossible.

This elder got a call from the pastor of his church. There was a family in the church whose little boy was very sick and suddenly had taken a turn for the worse. The family had called the hospital and was told to bring the boy in. No transportation was available. The family didn’t own a car. The pastor’s car was in the shop. So the pastor called the elder who lived near the family. The elder said he would go and started out for the little boy’s home.

It was so slick that he could not stop for stop signs or stop lights. He had three minor incidents on the way to the family’s house. When he reached the home, the parents brought out the little boy wrapped in a blanket. The mother got in the front seat and the father in the back. Ever so slowly they drove to the hospital. They came to the bottom of a hill and as they managed to skid to a stop, the elder was trying to decide whether he should attempt to make the grade on the other side, or whether he should go to the right and down the valley to the hospital.  As he was thinking about this, he happened to look over and see the face of the little boy. The youngster’s face was flushed, and his eyes wide with fever and with fear. To comfort the child, he reached over and rubbed his hair. It was then that the little boy said to him, “Mister, are you Jesus?”

Do you know in that moment the Presbyterian elder could have said “yes,” because that elder lived by Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…”   “For him to live was Jesus Christ.”

Keep awake!

Be alert to the opportunities around us to serve Christ…to be Christ to one another.

Christ comes to our world…………….. through us!