Advent 1 - November 27, 2005

Mark 13:33-37

This is a sermon preached by Seminarian Scott Troemel, the Seminary student sponsored by the Ladies' Aids of both Zion and St. Peter Lutheran Churches. This was his first time to proclaim God's Word in a congregational setting. As you can see, he had no title for it.

Grace, mercy and peace to you in the name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent and it is also the first Sunday of the church year, now is the time we begin looking toward the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Or are we? The sales have begun, the decorations are going up, the children are making lists as their parents check them twice, and, perhaps, groan at some of the things on that list. There are catchy slogans in advertisements which try to appeal to all members of society; “50% off selected items”, “Jesus is the reason for the season”, “Put Christ back in Xmas”, “Buy one, get one free”, and so on. So we look to Christ and we look to the sales fliers and we prioritize, we are *NOT* budgeting at this point, we are prioritizing our time and our money.

There is a rehearsal at church, but there is a *HUGE* sale at the mall, can you drop the kids off, go to the sale, have time to shop and still get back in time to pick the kids up? Or, perhaps more often, who can I get to pick the kids up after the rehearsal so I don’t even have to worry about it. And what *about* that sale, that sale causes more grief than just scheduling, doesn’t it? The deals are so good that you may find yourself wondering if you can short your church offering this week in order to buy a few extra items. You set your priority and you may even justify it by saying the gift is for your kids and since they are a precious gift from God, surely it is OK to buy for them. Sure, we all mean to make up the difference but we don’t always get to it no matter how well intentioned we are.

Soon enough, the shopping, and the damage, will be done, the time will have passed, and the first fruits that should have gone as thanks to God for the past year become nothing more than leftovers from the budget we chewed up catching the sales. After all, it is Christmas time and God surely understands.

So Christmas arrives and finds some of us staying home, some of us visiting friends and family and some of us on a journey out of the state or possibly even out of the country. The further you travel the more you wonder about your home while you are absent. And so it is in the gospel lesson for today. From Mark, 13 as read earlier, Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It is like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (vv. 33-37)

Now we may not have servants to watch our house, but we have family, neighbors and police to help with that, but what do we see in the gospel? We see a man going on journey, we see him assigning tasks to his servants and we see him commanding the doorkeeper to keep watch. The tasks are not specifically mentioned so they may not be important, but keeping watch *IS* mentioned, by name and is therefore the most important task. What we have is one man, one journey and we have the command about keeping watch THREE TIMES. Certainly all three things are important, The one man, Jesus Christ, the one journey, to the cross, to hell and, finally, to heaven, all for our salvation, and a seemingly simple, but emphatic, command to keep watch, for we do not know when the master, Christ, will return to judge both the quick and the dead.

Certainly keeping watch seems like a simple task, after all how many are out keeping watch in a deer blind at this very minute. The problem is that this is not what we mean when we pray DEER Lord. This is not how we remember the Sabbath day nor is it keeping it holy, unless, of course, you count the deer that are made “holey” by buckshot. I know, I know, there are 52 Sundays in a year and surely God understands that only two of them fall within hunting season, so there isn’t really any harm, after all, it’s only two Sundays.

What is the big deal? How about looking at the same lesson, but from Luke chapter 21, beginning at verse 34; “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-37)

Or, maybe Matthew 24; “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Mt. 24:42-44)

There it is again, KEEP WATCH because you do NOT know the hour when the Lord will come. We only know that He will come and at an hour when we don’t expect it. Certainly an hour is not a long time to watch, and equally certain an hour, once a week, is even less of a burden. What was it Christ said in the Garden of Gethsemane after asking Peter, James and John to keep watch? “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Between Zion and St. Peter you can worship at 8 am or 10 am on both of the Sunday’s during hunting season. After all, how many deer have actually been shot between 7:30 and, say, 9:30? Or, more to the point, how many have *NOT* shot, or even shot *AT* a deer in that same time frame, the time for worship. HEY! Maybe we can just change the church year a bit. After all, we don’t really need two last Sundays of the church year; we can make the second last Sunday into the last Sunday and make what is now the last Sunday into the first Sunday of hunting season. The first Sunday in advent (today) would then become the second Sunday of hunting season and then we simply have three Sundays in Advent rather than four. Of course, we would need a fancy Greek word for it like Blastos, which would mean to shoot. But that is not likely to happen any time soon and even if it did, you should still be in church. Keep watch and tell them they should be *here* with all of us keeping watch. Tell them they can come in their orange; just leave the guns in the trucks and then go from church to the deer blind.

By now you are likely thinking that I stand here before you as one of those environmental folks who are opposed to hunting those poor, innocent animals as they wander about in the wilderness God created, or maybe I am some over zealous seminarian who just doesn’t appreciate hunting. Well, you would be wrong, dead wrong, on both counts. Today’s lesson is not about hunting, it is about keeping watch, it is about when you forsake God and skip church to hunt, it is about when you shortchange God to take advantage of great deals, it is about when you compromise Christian values and see unmarried couples living together as okay, it is about when you see homosexuality as simply an alternative lifestyle; it is about when you seek the ordination of women in order to get with the times; and it is about when you keep silent about any of those things, and a host of others, that are going on around us when you know better. Those things are each of us when we are *NOT* keeping watch. When we are not keeping watch we are letting the thief into the house when the master is away. Okay, Mr. Thief, here, take the silver, we have plenty, and, after all, stealing is nothing more than an alternative lifestyle anyway and I wouldn’t want to upset you. It is about keeping watch until the master returns, until *CHRIST* returns. And let there be no mistake, it is not a matter of *IF* He will return, it is a matter of *WHEN* He will return.

Right now He remains on the journey God set Him on, for our sake, over 2,000 years ago, a journey that will not be completely finished until His inevitable return. Every Sunday that we worship here we are reminded of that journey. Every Sunday we have communion here He joins us to Himself on that journey and we are strengthened in the faith that God has given us. Every baptism welcomes, and joins, a new soul to journey along with us. Every funeral is more than just a physical death; it is a celebrating of the next step for us on that same journey. Advent, Christ’s birth, marks the beginning of Christ’s journey. The servants have been given their tasks and the master has given to us the task of watching and being alert in His absence.

Nowhere in scripture does it promise that this will be an easy task. It was only a few weeks ago when the Gospel covered the beatitudes where we heard, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Keeping the Word of God is not an easy task at all; from the gospel read earlier, “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. In the evening, or when the rooster crows, and interesting choice of words for Christ to use, isn’t it. After all, what would he say to Peter only a few days later? Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.”

And it came to pass that Peter *DID* deny Christ three times, he failed to keep watch. We look upon this and we wonder how someone as close to Christ as Peter no doubt was could fail to keep watch and at such a critical time. If Peter can fail to keep watch, so too can we, do you remember what did Peter do when that rooster crowed the second time? He wept. He wept because he knew he had failed.

Just as Peter, James and John were told in the Garden we have been told to watch – THREE times we are told to watch. We have been told by the Father, by the Son and by the Holy Spirit to WATCH. So we watch, we worship, we commune, and we look to the cross as the only toll booth on the journey Christ is on for our behalf. The Cross, where Christ’s death was the payment for the toll of our sins.

The cross, which has detoured us from our journey toward eternal death and now, sets us on a journey with Christ, toward eternal life. The cross, which rests on the same altar where we receive the benefits of what happened on the cross in the form of the body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He commanded that we do this in order to strengthen and preserve us in the true faith and to life everlasting. Through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper we journey with Christ and are given the strength to stand watch until He comes again in glory to bring us eternal life and to the end of our journey.

As Christ Himself said in the Garden, Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” He knows. Christ knows it is not an easy thing to keep watch, not even for an hour. And that is why He tells us, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Every Sunday, no matter what the lesson, should be a reminder that it is the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son who reminds us of Christ. Every Sunday no matter what the lesson, we should see Christ as the savior of us all. He is keeping watch over us as we watch for Him. He is the one who brings us on His journey and He is the one who forgives ALL our multitude of sins. Yes, Jesus IS truly the reason for the season. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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