Watch

Lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Advent year B

Isaiah 64:1-9               Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19                1 Corinthians 1:3-9     Mark 13:24-37

Lo, he comes with clouds descending, once for favoured sinners slain; thousand thousand saints attending swell the triumph of his train: Alleluia! God appears on earth to reign.	Every eye shall now behold him robed in dreadful majesty; those who set at nought and sold him, pierced and nailed him to the tree, deeply wailing, shall the true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of his passion still his dazzling body bears, cause of endless exultation to his ransomed worshippers: with what rapture,  gaze we on those glorious scars!	Yea, Amen, let all adore thee, high on thine eternal throne; Saviour, take the power and glory, claim the kingdom for thine own: Come, Lord Jesus! Everlasting God come down!

One of my favourite times when we were allowed in the art studios at school was to be allow to make something out of clay (oh, yes, we made piggy boxes!)  There is something very physical about shaping and moulding clay and one of these days I will treat myself to classes!

Isaiah 64:8 describes God as a potter:

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

It is a call during the days of Advent, for God to come and shape us; for God to come and shake things up; to form us as disciples to bring good news into our communities.

A prayer for divine intervention

It is a call to God, because the preceding verses are a reminder of a geopolitical situation: the Israelites had been in Exile in Babylon, and now a remarkable opportunity opens up for them to return to their homeland.  Many travelling south, would have been children or even grandchildren of the original exiles, raised on stories of a land flowing with milk and honey.

Did they travel home excited at the prospect of freedom and a place to call their own?  Did they have any idea of what would await them? The temple destroyed and the city of Jerusalem in ruins.

Modern media reports news of devastation by earthquake, flood and war but unless you have experienced this, it would be difficult to know how the exile felt.  

Except, isn’t there a sense of living in exile under lock-down, when we long for the freedoms we previously took for granted, and yearn for ways to show practical love and cherishing of family and friends once more?

O that you would open the heavens and come down, 
so that the mountains would quake at your presence …

The Israelites longed to see God (a theophany) as their ancestors saw the signs and wonders at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20) when they promised to have no other gods before the Lord Almighty.  They beg to meet God once more.

Mark’s Gospel has no nativity stories; the story begins in the wilderness with a strange prophet. the son of a priestly household (and of course cousin to Jesus) calling for repentance. With those who come to the Jordan to meet John the Baptist, the reader is introduced to Jesus and this very short, and easily missed sentence:

And just as he was coming up out of the water, 
he saw the heavens torn apart 
and the Spirit descending … (Mark 1:10)

For those who acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord, the prayer for God to come and intervene was being answered.

The writer of Isaiah 64 knew that the people were far from God.   They had sinned and rebelled and even their best deeds were described as filthy rags (literally a used sanitary towel – not the kind of thing you hear mentioned on a Sunday morning in church).   And, like a withered autumnal leaf,  the merest breeze is ready to blow them away.  Walter Brueggemann beautifully brings this prayer into the midst of our Advent longing:

These verses are a prayer to God by a people that is powerless and under oppression. The prayer exhibits the two main features of genuine Advent hope: on the one hand, a deep sense of desperation about a situation out of control… On the other hand, a bold and confident trust in God is voiced, addressed to a God who can intervene (if God will) to make life peaceable and joyous.

Walter Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching, Year B, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox 1993), 2

Oh, to be shaped like clay to be renewed to bring good news into our communities.  Sounds good; but having once experienced an earthquake in Cyprus, it was really scary when the hotel seemed to turn to jelly, so I am not too sure about asking to be shaken up with the violence of an earthquake (64:1).  Or maybe we really do need a fresh and vigorous awakening to respond to strange times?

First Century Jerusalem

By the time St Mark was writing Gospel, life in Jerusalem was once more difficult; it must have felt as though the Day of the Lord was at hand.

But in those days, after that suffering, 
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.

The suffering referred to was a real event under the emperor Vespasian when the whole region experienced unrest, which culminated in an unsuccessful uprising.  Vespasian troops harshly quashed this uprising with the slaughter of thousands of Jewish people and the destruction of the temple in AD 70.  And it was said that blood ran for miles…

Prophets are usually those who watch the signs of the times and can interpret what they see.  So, Jesus gave those early Christians a threefold message from our Lord Jesus Christ: watch, wait and remain calm.  Good advice, given in a short story concerning an estate owner who goes away leaving his employees in charge.  Each worker has a specific task, but the doorman is left on watch.  Everyone is expected to continue their work as though the employer were there present.  It always strikes me that it is a bit like when the teacher leaves the room on an errand and comes back when the children were not expecting it.  Some classes are good and work hard unsupervised, but others are about to find themselves in deep trouble.

So Jesus counsels watchfulness:

Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” Mark 13:35-37

This is not a reference to natural sleep, but spiritual watchfulness, so that we are ready to welcome Christ when he comes.  And it is probably worth remembering that this conversation is not with a large crowd of people, but with Peter, James, John and Andrew – in other words, that inner circle, whom Jesus trusted most.

Watching and waiting

The greater responsibility is always laid upon the followers whom  Christ has called.  It is a call to stand in solidarity with the human family in dark and difficult times.  To channel God’s grace to a dry and thirsty land.

Jesus is teaching the disciples when he quotes Daniel 7:13 – both here with the disciples and later in front of the high priest during his trial.  ‘Are you the messiah?’  the high priest will ask Jesus after he remained silent to an earlier question (Mark 14:61).  And Jesus will affirm that as the Son of Man he will come on the clouds with power and great glory.  

Charles Wesley wrote that great affirmation, Lo!  He comes with clouds descending in the full knowledge that throughout the Old Testament the clouds indicate the presence of God (Exodus 34:5, Leviticus 16:2 & Numbers 11:25).

And finally

There is nothing mawkish or unnatural about this looking forward to Christ’s return, we stand as sentries in troubled times, faithfully reminding the world around that this is God’s world and we defile it at our own peril.  Why do we watch?  Well doorkeepers, bouncers, concierges have the responsibility for protecting the property.  God created the world, God entered the world in human flesh, but God entrusts this property to us.  So we watch, strengthen by the Holy Spirit to bring comfort, and wisdom, however dark the days may be.

Lord, shake us from our complacency,
from the comfort of the known,
into new ways of being your people
in this perplexing world.

As we look watch for your coming,
help us to see you in our neighbours
at home and distant places.

For all who seek shelter, food, safety,
we pray a blessing on all who work tirelessly
to bring relief.

For all nearing the end of life, 
grant peace and a good departure.

For all who mourn, give the comfort
of knowing your love and grace
through the darkest night.