“THEREFORE STAY AWAKE”
Mark 13:32-37

I recall, some years ago, that I was suffering from a terrible cold. It was so bad that I ended up going to the doctor and he gave me some kind of super antihistamine, which had the side effect of knocking me out. So, I waited until just before bed to take it. About midnight , the phone rang, and it was the family of a parishioner asking me to come down to the hospital because their mother appeared to be close to death. I can't tell you what a struggle it was to drive down to the hospital and then sit with the family keeping vigil at the bedside of this woman.

After about an hour and a half of waiting there, it appeared that her condition hadn't worsened any, so the family said that I should go back home, (an invitation for which, to be honest, I was quite grateful) and when I finally made it home and crawled back into bed, I think I was asleep in about a second. As it turned out, the woman didn't pass away until the following afternoon.

As difficult as it was to stay awake physically and mentally that night, it occurs to me that that experience is nothing compared to the Lord's imperative that we should all stay alert, spiritually-speaking. Jesus tells us in our text, “ 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 cock 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.”

Stay awake. Just how do we do that, spiritually-speaking? We realize that that imperative presents a number of challenges to us from many different points of view.

First of all, there is the matter of our need for physical sleep. How does one possibly maintain spiritual alertness if our conscious minds are switched off while we are fast asleep? Or there's the matter of our daily responsibilities which require every bit of our concentration so that we are incapable of meditating on spiritual matters at the same moment when we are attending to worldly matters. And then there's the honest admission that, even when we do turn our attention to spiritual things, like we are during this hour of worship, it is still all too easy for our minds to drift so that our thoughts and devotion is not as pure as it should be.

It seems that, no matter what, we will be failures at abiding by the Lord's instruction to, “Stay awake.” Which from that conscious, dedicated, effort-filled viewpoint, is entirely true. WE can't stay awake; not according to our own dedication or efforts.

Rather, the alertness, the readiness, that Christ calls for is based upon our trust in what He has done for us, and not in what we ourselves are able to accomplish.

For, let's face it—even if we could forgo sleep and willfully concentrate all of our thoughts upon on spiritual things around the clock, we are still, by nature, sinful and unclean. That corruption runs through every fiber of our being. And it is something we can't change. While we might be able to confess certain sins, and by the strength of God's Spirit, overcome a few wrongful habits, we cannot conquer what we are through and through—poor, miserable sinners, who deserve nothing but temporal or eternal punishment.

Our only hope is to cling to the promises of God's grace through Jesus Christ, which assures us that Jesus died to take away ALL of our sin. His blood has taken away the guilt—not only of the things that we have done or have failed to do—but it has also washed us clean of what we are.

And that is precisely what it means to be alert, to be awake—that we be mindful of that fact that Jesus has done it all. There is no more rousing, thrilling, jubilant state for our spiritual lives than to know that Jesus is our only Savior.

“Therefore, stay awake,” for there are so many things in this world that would lull us into the drowsy slumber of unbelief. Today's Epistle spoke of some of those things.

First of all, it says, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith.” The way our faith is built up is right here, where God blesses us with His faith-building gifts of His Word and Sacraments. The danger is when we opt for physical sleep over against Sunday morning worship, or any other excuse or priority that takes us away from returning to the Lord's house again and again to listen to His promises and to be nourished by His body and blood.

Next, it says, “Pray in the Holy Spirit,” which is to say, pray in the Spirit of Christ Himself. We do so, not in mindless, repetitive words, imagining that the longer our prayers the more effective they are but, rather, we pray in the name of Christ Jesus. It is His mercy, His blood, which avails before the throne of the Father. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. And that's how we know that our prayers are Spirit-led; when they focus on the person of Christ.

The text continues, “keep yourselves in the love of God.” Once again, the place where God shows His love most clearly is in the cross of Jesus. And the place where the benefits of Christ's crucifixion become ours personally is in the promises of His Word and Sacraments.

“Waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Don't be lulled into thinking that this world is all that there is. Christ redeemed you to be His own so that you might be with Him forever. The focus of our faith is Christ and the goal of our faith is eternal life with Him.

“And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire.” To put it another way, don't ever think that there are those who are beyond our love, beyond our forgiveness. You may very well be mistreated by some people in this world. But what kind of message would we be conveying to them if we refuse to let them off the hook for what they have done to us? What does that say for our own belief in the mercy and grace of God? God snatched us out of the fire, in spite of our own faults and stubbornness. Shouldn't we also forgive those who have trespassed against us, as God has freely forgiven us?

And, finally, “To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” This is an important one, people, especially today when we hear in the headlines about individuals getting away with murder, about homosexual rights be foisted on our culture, about celebrities advocating false religions like scientology, and so on. Like an ice cold splash of water in the face of a sleeping person, we have to be awakened to the fact that what so much of the world now deems normal, acceptable, or even admirable, is, in fact, deviant, destructive, and demonic.

Yes, we certainly need to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world, but not without emphasizing His role as the Savior from sins—the redeemer from what is detestable and corrupt before God. Listen to what the apostle Paul said: “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised,” (2 Cor. 5:15). We are not to conform ourselves to this world, pretending that unrighteous behavior is irrelevant to God, or that He has changed His own view on certain moral issues but, rather, we are called to holy living, in recognition of the holiness that Christ gave us at the cost of His life. To put it simply, each of us is to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.

To be spiritually awake means to recognize our frailties, our weaknesses, our susceptibilities in the face of so many things that would do harm to our saving faith. Whether it's our tired apathy concerning our need to feed our faith here or whether it comes in terms of that sedating temptation to quit fighting against the corruption of this world and simply relax and go with the flow—in either case, the results will be deadly.

But, we can take great comfort in the fact that there is One Who has kept the vigil for us, and will continue to do so in our behalf. It is our Savior, Jesus. He is our strength in the midst of weakness. He is watchful when we are weary. He clearly sees the truth when our minds are clouded with confusion. And, most of all, He knows how to safeguard His own for the glorious day of His return.

So that, at that instant, whether we are sound asleep in our beds or awake and preoccupied with the tasks of the day, and the Lord returns with the suddenness and alarm of a midnight telephone call, we need not worry that we will be caught unawares and with no time to gather our wits together.

For our readiness for heaven is not dependent upon our preparations. It is all dependent upon Jesus Christ, Who made us ready through faith, and has made all the necessary preparations for us in heaven.

Isaiah 51:4-6

"Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Jude 20-25

But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Mark 13:32-37

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