How Awake Are You?

​1st Sunday in Advent – A                                                         LSB #’s 515, 663:1-2, 5; 644:1, 3-5
Text – Matthew 24:42
 
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
 
HOW AWAKE ARE YOU?
 
 
Flying in a plane on a clear night, when low enough to see the ground, there’ll be lights scattered across the landscape.   It can be a fascinating,   beautiful   & peaceful scene.   If you’re on a red eye flight, in the homes down below, many of the residents are sound asleep.  After a long day’s work, in the stress of a broken world,   rest is an absolute necessity. 
Our heavenly Father even set the pattern for His children by making one day just for rest: “And on the 7th day God finished His work that He had done, & He rested on the 7th day from all His work that He had done.  So God blessed the 7th day & made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.”  (Genesis 2:2-3 ESV) 
Due to our need for rest, it may sound troubling when we hear these words of Jesus, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”  (Matthew 24:42 ESV)    Clearly, Jesus can’t expect us to be awake at all times.   Staying up for Santa Claus is one thing.  He comes every year, & we know on what evening he will arrive. 
Isn’t the season of Advent supposed to be about preparing for our celebration of Christmas?   Isn’t the Gospel reading jumping the gun with its focus on the end of time?  The answer is yes & no.  Advent is a creation of the Christian Church, & has been used to point us to Christ in at least three different ways.  Jesus came to Bethlehem & He is coming on the Last Day. 
However, Jesus also comes into our hearts repeatedly as long as any of God’s children are alive.  Those advents are key to our recognition of the other two.   Jesus Himself stated, “I am the vine;   you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me & I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me   you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5 ESV)    In other words, apart from Christ abiding in us, you & I cannot recognize His first coming at Christmas, nor His final coming on Judgment Day.   How are God’s children supposed to stay awake, as Jesus commands?   You know the answer, even if you do not realize it.   Let me help you connect the dots.   How do God’s children, who’ve sinned all of their lives, survive Judgment Day? 
We survive because the Holy Spirit has placed Christ’s robe of righteousness on us.  Christ’s holiness covers all of our sin, the original sin we inherit from our parents & all of our own actual sins.  When our time comes to be judged, God will not see our sins because they’re covered by the robe of righteousness given to us when God’s Spirit brought us to faith. 
How then are God’s children supposed to constantly stay awake, as Jesus commands?  We do so by wearing the robe of righteousness the Holy Spirit has given us to wear.  Constantly staying awake is that simple, & because of our sin it is that complicated.  Sin makes everything in this life complicated.   Satan constantly urges us to take off that robe of righteousness. 
In the Epistle reading from Romans, St. Paul calls that robe the armor of light: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.   For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness & put on the armor of light.”  (13:11-12 ESV) 
The repeated commands of Jesus to stay awake, to keep watching & to be ready, assume this truth.  It is spiritually healthy & beneficial for those who follow Jesus to be actively looking for His return.   His commands also assume that it is spiritually dangerous to neglect such attentive expectation. 
Stay awake, keep watching, be ready – those are a dramatic way of speaking about abiding in Christ.  They are about developing an awareness of what Yahweh is saying & doing in our present time.  They are to take a God perspective on the struggles & the challenges of our day.  Each of us is here on earth for a God-given purpose.  There are many things in this life that discourage us.  Behind the beautiful & peaceful scene of lights scattered across a landscape, our world is dark & evil in so many ways.   Yet, being a follower of Jesus is not about just surviving or toughing it out until you die.  Jesus tells us:
“You are the light of the world.”  (Matthew 5:14a ESV)   As St. Paul wrote: “So then let us cast off the works of darkness & put on the armor of light.”  (Romans 13:12b ESV)   Being in God’s house,  & studying God’s Word,  are two ways of abiding in Christ  that result in our bearing much fruit.  Is that fruit always visible to us?   No, but Jesus says it is there. 
Do we often fall asleep?  Yes.  That’s why Jesus calls us to stay awake.    Are we often afraid of following the promptings of the Holy Spirit?   Yes.   That’s why Jesus tells us, “Do not fear!”  How do we stay awake?  How do we not cower in fear?  We do so by remembering how the Holy Spirit covers us with Christ’s robe of righteousness. 
We do that by remembering our baptism.  We do that by hearing & studying the Word of God.  We do that by receiving the Body & Blood of Christ at communion.   Yet, even as we are “doing” these things, they are all means by which Christ Jesus comes to us.  The means of grace are actually Advents of Christ, & through them we actively look for His return. 
As Jesus comes to us through those Gospel means, we begin to learn & appreciate the tremendous significance of His birth in Bethlehem.  We begin to learn & appreciate the fearsome divide that will occur on Judgment Day.  Though Jesus tells us that we cannot know when He will return, at the same time He encourages us to always be ready. 
When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, He became part of His own creation.  The end times of this world began as the reign of God broke into time & space.  As we move into the beginning of a new church year, we are experiencing three different advents of Jesus.   We experience them differently, but in God’s realm, all of them are occurring at once.  Faith is born or renewed as Christ comes to any one of His human creatures.  His creation is being renewed as God’s Son takes on human flesh, along with the dust from which Adam was made.  A separation of souls occurs, to heaven or to hell, whenever one of God’s human creatures departs this life. 
As Holy Scripture tells us, “…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow…”  (Philippians 2:10 NASB)   In this life, one believer is healed yet another dies too young, & we get used to being hardened against hope.  We suffer all manner of disappointments & evil, such that cynicism poisons our heart, mind & soul. 
Still, the promises of God urge Christians to lean forward toward the future   in its entirety – here on earth & there in heaven.  Jesus warns us to stay awake, to stay connected to the Vine, because Satan wants to break into our house.  If we don’t stay alert, the Devil will cause all kinds of destruction in our lives & in the lives of our family members. 
Jesus certainly is able to overcome that, but not without our suffering the consequences of our indifference.  It really is spiritually dangerous to neglect the attentive expectation of Christ’s return.  Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion.  As we continue to abide in Christ, He will help us to stay awake, & in so doing we’ll better understand His other two advents. 
I hope these song lyrics will help you to consider Christ’s first & last advents, as you struggle with staying awake in the brokenness of this world.  I heard this last night for the first time while working on this sermon.  I think it does well in highlighting the tremendous significance of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem.  
When A Child Is Born
 
A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land dawns a brand-new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born. 
A silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds of change whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble tossed and torn
This comes to pass, when a child is born. 
 
A rosy hue settles all around
You got the feel, you’re on solid ground
For a spell or two no one seems forlorn
This comes to pass, when a child is born. 
 
And all of this happens, because the world is waiting
Waiting for one child; Black-white-yellow, no one knows...
But children that will grow up and turn tears to laughter
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone’s neighbor
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.[1]
 
Amen. 
 
 
Rise, my soul, to watch & pray; from your sleep awaken!  Be not by the evil day unawares o’ertaken; for the foe, well we know, is a harvest reaping while the saints are sleeping.             But while watching, also pray to the Lord unceasing.  God protects you day by day, strength & faith increasing, so that still mind & will shall unite to serve Him & forever love Him.  Amen.  LSB 663:1, 5.


[1] The English lyrics were written by Austrian composer Fred Jay.