Years ago I attended a seminar in Bellingham. I forget what the topic was, but I never forgot the speaker’s opening line. He made the rather bold claim that there are only two statements using the verb, “must,” that are true. He then asked us to name them. I spoke up and said, “What goes up must come down.” Throwing his keys up in the air to demonstrate the point, he agreed. Others offered their ideas but one by one he refuted them. Finally, someone said, “You must breathe.” “Not necessarily,” the speaker replied, “But if I quit breathing, what would happen to me?” We then realized that the other true statement is we must die. That is one reality we cannot escape.
Someday we will all die, but as Jesus notes, we do not know when. This passage from Mark’s gospel is seen by many as his parable on the second coming of Christ but our odds of witnessing that event in our lifetime is rather slim. The lesson Jesus shares becomes more practical when we keep in mind that some day our lives will end and when that day comes, will Jesus find us “sleeping” or being watchful?
It is easy for us to be lulled into a routine that can draw us away from being watchful in the manner that Jesus is calling us to be, that is, living each day as though the next sunrise we see may be our last.
Be on guard is Mark’s Advent message, but it is a message that the world we live in tends to ignore. How ready are you to die? I suspect a fair number of us would beg for a reprieve. Not so for one man, named Foster Walker, who walked into a store while a hold up was taking place. The gunman pointed his pistol at him and demanded his money. Walker said, “Go ahead and shoot. I just got through reading my Bible and I’ve already said my prayers.” The robber was dumbfounded and Walker just walked away.
I don’t know if I would have been courageous had I been in his shoes yet that is what Jesus is telling us to do. Prepare yourself. Be alert. Be watchful. Be ready to cross that threshold for you and I do not know when he will come. This Sunday I want to help you capture that sense of urgency that Mark is presenting in the gospel. Because we live in a “feel good” culture, we cannot imagine how people in biblical times felt about meeting God. For them, the thought of meeting God caused awe. They recognized a plain fact that many of us ignore about ourselves. Namely, we are sinners. We have distanced ourselves from God, even telling him that he is not welcomed in certain parts of our lives. Be honest with yourself. Just how important is God in the course of any given day?
The odds are, you and I have not turned away from God in dramatic ways. We may not have committed adultery or abortion, or denied Jesus or renounced our faith. Still, we have done smaller things that when added up; they could amount to a subtle denial of God in our lives. I am thinking of the small sins we commit that can have enormous consequences: the little lies, the resentments that fester, the unchecked temper, impulsive decisions, a certain laziness, a lack of courage to stand up for what you believe in. Alone, these sins are like dust particles. Hardly noticeable, but when left unchecked, they can leave behind a dirty sight. As CS Lewis said, “The surest road to hell is the gradual one.”
Face it, we are creatures of habit and quite likely some of our habits are not all that healthy. When it comes to our physical well being, doctors urge us not to smoke, watch what we eat and to exercise more. For some of us, that means breaking old habits that would otherwise kill us.
Taking on new healthy habits, however, doesn’t come easy. The same could be said for our spiritual well being. Many of us have become creatures of habit with our faith. Over the years, the dust of routine has been falling silently. Perhaps we are only going through the motions, taking part in rituals that have somehow lost freshness and meaning. We don’t hear the gospel anymore, as though it goes in one ear and out the other. How meaningful is our relationship with God?
Advent calls us to wake up and shake off the dust from our routine and let Christ come alive in our lives once more. We should reflect back on the past year and evaluate our daily habits and routines and ask ourselves if they have drawn us closer to God or away from God. There is no reason why we cannot make New Year’s resolutions right now, for this weekend marks the start of a new liturgical year. We should ask ourselves what we can do to make our relationship with God even more intimate than it has been, and then resolve to make that our new habit.
Each of us is the gatekeeper of the house of our souls. This is why Jesus is warning us to watch out for his coming at the end of the world or at the end of our lives, whichever comes first. He is warning us that his coming could catch us off guard. Since our remaining time is precious and limited, he is urging us to begin living in such a way that if he came tonight, we would be ready and prepared.
This could be your last Advent. What I say to you, I say to all: be watchful! Be alert! The moment God has in store for your divine encounter may come when you least expect, but when it does, may you be ready!