WATCH
Mark 13:24-37
There is a difference between watching and waiting. Watching is more active. It is being aware of everything that is going on around you while you are waiting. Watching is actively seeking that which you wait for. The picture I get of watching is when I person is waiting for someone who is late for supper is looking out the window every few minutes to see if there is a sign of their coming. Watching is the kind of activity that if there is something that you can do to help what you are waiting for to happen. It’s not just waiting for something to happen but being pro-active. At this time of the year, the stores don’t wait for “Black Friday” to happen. They have been preparing for “Black Friday” for some time now. It is often referred as the busiest shopping day of the year in North America. When you think of Christmas, the stores don’t just wait for it to happen either. They prepare. They organize their approach to the consumer. Why? because they want to have a good fourth quarter economically. Don’t you notice all the extra flyers that you get at your door or in your mailbox, and the decorations in the malls. They are ready and they are watching, and they are doing all in their power to have you, the costumer, come and do your shopping. They are not leaving it to chance. It seems that their preparations get earlier every year. Someone recently was pointing out that they read about a woman talking to her daughter some time in the future. It was July and she was saying, “Look at that, all the Christmas decorations! I remember when they use to wait until after Labour Day.” These businesses are pro-active. These businesses do it with every season. I remember one year in June my son was so elated that school was finally over for the year, looking forward to two months of vacation, and went into store and a huge sign greeted us “Back to School Savings”. It burst his bubble, “Hey” he said, “I just got out of school”. They were being pro-active.
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In the Gospel today, the word that comes to my mind is “Watch”. Other phrases that are connected with “Watch” are “keep alert” , “stay wake”. I’d add the word “pro-active” . The idea I get is that if you do not watch, if you are just waiting, you might miss the coming of Christ.
Although this passage seems to be talking about “the last days”, “the end of the world”, “the second coming” I believe that there is much more to it than that. Apocalyptic material in the Bible always seems to be talking about the present and past, as well as the future. When it says “watch”, “prepare” , “stay awake” in apocalyptic passages such as this one, it means many different things, the most important of which is to seize the opportunities of the present moment.
Comments on this passage in Andrew Greeley’s page has this:
…prepare for Christmas, prepare for death, yes, surely. But also, and more important, prepare for the kingdom of God whenever it explodes into your life. In Jesus’ view of the kingdom, it is always near, ready to break through the barriers of every day and seize us, impel us, embrace us, challenge us – and especially in Jesus’ view of things the kingdom appears with God’s sweeping love in ordinary daily events: a confused child, a sick friend, a discouraged spouse, a troublesome person on the phone, a demand that seems unfair but where we can do much good with little effort. These are the places to look for God’s loving power.
In our experience:
– So much of our life is “like grass”, it withers and decays.
– So much of what we see in our life are the failures to live up to the promise that life has given us.
– So much of what we experience in life is pain and disappointment.
If we watch
– we will see the Kingdom of God breaking always bringing new life to wither and decay
– we will see forgiveness of God and the chance to begin again in our times of failure,
– we will see us being raised on Eagle’s wings above our pains and disappointments.
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I find myself always looking for Christ in the ordinary events of life, in my family, in my job, in my friends, in my daily activities. I know that if I seek I shall surely find. It is amazing what I find when I truly watch or when I am sincerely reflective:
There is a little piece I was reading this week, entitled Things I Think I Own
Today I stood at my window and cursed the pouring rain.
Today a desperate farmer prayed for his fields of grain
My weekend plans were ruined, it almost made me cry
While the farmer lifts his arms and blesses the clouded sky
The alarm went off on Monday and I cursed my work routine.
Next door a laid-off mechanic feels the empty pocket of his jeans.
I can’t wait for my vacation, some time to take for me
He doesn’t know tonight how he will feed his family
I cursed my leaky roof and the grass I need to mow.
A homeless man downtown checks for change in the telephone
I need a new car, mine is really getting old
He huddles in a doorway, seeking shelter from the cold
With blessings I’m surrounded; The rain, a job, a home,
Though my eyes are often blinded by the things I think I own.
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We don’t reflect enough. We don’t watch enough. We miss what’s going on in our own lives. We are not alive. We are walking around half dead, or half asleep or something. We are like the person who gets up but is not really awake, like the person who says they get up at 7 and wake up about 11. They barely get themselves dressed; their movements are un co-ordinated. Their judgement is clouded and they seem to be unable to react appropriately to external stimuli. They burn the toast. They spill the coffee. Everything goes wrong. That is the way a lot of us spend our whole lives. Advent is a wake-up call. Wake up and watch!
You have probably all seen the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
In it the main character, Emily, dies giving childbirth. In the afterlife she is allowed to revisit one day in her life. She chooses her 12th birthday. The spirit’s warn her not to go, but she goes anyway. She discovers why they warned her not to go. As she watches her family and herself live out that day, she is shocked how they do not enter into the experience without sufficient awareness and appreciation of how precious a moment it is. She shouts at her family but they can’t hear her. She shouts at herself even though she can’t hear herself. She says “Don’t you understand? Do you understand that you wont have this moment for ever.” And then she shouts at the audience, “Do any of you live life when you are alive?”
That’s what it means to watch!
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