Rom 13:11,12
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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 1, 2019
In our Gospel, Jesus tells us: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. …stay awake. …Therefore stay awake…lest [the master] come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Four times Jesus tells us to wakefulness—to rouse ourselves—to keep our spiritual eyes and ears open—to be fully conscious—to be ready with our minds and hearts to welcome the day when our Master Jesus comes back.
In our reading from Romans, we have a similar message “..to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near” (Rom 13:11,12a). God calls us to see the present time as the lingering night just before the break of day—a new and eternal day when Jesus comes back to usher in his Kingdom, right ever wrong, and make all things new. Jesus has been gone 2,000 years. Many generations have been born and died. Kingdoms have risen and kingdoms have fallen. There have been 2,000 years since Jesus spoke these words. It has been a long night. It often does not appear that the dawn of a new age is around the corner. The darkness of humanity seems to have grown. My parents grew up under the dark cloud of World War II. My generation grew up in the terrifying shadows of nuclear war. Today we live in under the dark cloud of international and domestic terrorism.
I like how Jesus compares this world to humanity live in his house. The Master appears to have abandoned his house. He has gone on a long 2,000 year journey. Some of our hearts have grown just as empty. The darkness of the night has convinced some of us that the dawn of His return will never come. For many occupants of this house the darkness is all we have known. We have grown so accustomed to the darkness, we believe that the darkness is all that is real. Or the darkness has chased the hope for light away. The deep darkness threatens to choke and smother our faith. We begin to fall asleep spiritually. Our eyelids grow heavy and our limbs are weighed down. Our eyes itch with the desire to close and shut out. Our hearts sink in the dark void of the house without a master. Under these conditions, why should it surprise us that we grow weary and tired in this two thousand year night? The lack of hope and light threatens to drain the life out of us.
Jesus asks us not to succumb to the night. The Master cries out, “Stay awake!” “Wake up!” Jesus the Light of the World cries out to us through the darkness: “The night has lingered on so long that My coming back sounds like a far-fetched dream. But the Day is coming—and it is coming quickly—when Day will Dawn. “The light of that New Day will be so bright that the Sun and Moon will pale in comparison. The light of the Son of God will radiate into your being like a bright, cloudless day does after weeks of gloomy skies. The darkness of my absence and the memory of a broken world will become a distant memory. The light will shine in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome the light.”
Think of what it is like to fly in an in airplane. We may lift off the ground under dark clouds. But soon we leave the clouds behind. What a wonderful surprise to break through to the blue sky and see the sun shining so bright. We know that the earth is spinning on its axis. At night we know it will spin out of its own shadow soon. Dawn is coming. The promise of a new day will come quickly. The Master is about to come back the same way.
So Jesus tells us. Wake up! Stay awake! He is giving us an opportunity to live in light of eternal truth and eternal reality. We do not need to live the lie that the darkness is permanent. God wants each of us to live each day with our eyes fixed on the Eastern Horizon knowing that the Son of God will appear in His blinding glory! Stay awake! He will not let us down! The Son of God will arise and shine! He stretches his almighty hand, takes us by the shoulder, and shakes us with his Word—“Stay awake!” Scripture has the power to stir up strength and alertness within our hearts, minds, and souls. He splashes us with the water of Baptism—waking us up to the reality of our adoption and forgiveness of sins—in the Name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. He comes in his Body and Blood—a heavenly feast in the Lord’s Supper—a holy meal to give us the energy and faith to get through the night—strengthening and preserving us in body and soul until life-everlasting. Holy Communion is like an early morning breakfast just before the dawn of our new and eternal day.
We long for the Son of God to rise and fully shine on us and the world he made. And so we pray, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
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