Keep Awake

Mark 13, 33-37
Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

Being the father of four young children, I am discovering that sleep is precious. I am also discovering that it is very hard to come by. Over Thanksgiving, I had some of the best sleep I have had in a long time. I slept until about 8:00 a.m. each morning, that’s at least 2 hours more sleep than I normally get. I have determined that I am just about continually sleep deprived. If I get too calm and rested during the day, I am likely to doze off for a few seconds. This wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to do things like drive a car!

I know the causes of my sleep deprivation. I know what could make it better. It’s just finding the time to make it happen. It’s deciding that sleep gets a primary focus in my life.

As for the admonition in today’s text to Keep Awake, well, I have to understand that it’s not talking about physical sleep. It’s talking about a spiritual form of awareness that too often gets clouded in our day to day lives. Too often we forget, the promised return. We forget that we don’t know the day or the time and that God could return at any moment. We forget—we’ve been waiting now for 2000 years—what’s another hour going to matter? What difference can a day make? Will a year really matter? What will we be doing when Jesus comes again at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet? What will happen to us when we see the dead in Christ rise from their graves? Will we also rise to meet him in the air, or will we be caught unaware?

Advent is the time to start thinking again about these kinds of questions. Even as we begin the story cycle over with His promised first coming and birth, we must never forget that we have his second coming still to occur. Will we be ready, or will we be asleep?