Keep Awake

My grandfather had a remarkable ability to fall asleep anywhere at any time. No doubt his age helped. He was already in his late sixties when I was born. By the time I was old enough to remember him, he seemed ancient.

When I was in my teens, I went to my first church convention. My grandfather was there, too, for he never missed one. He sat in the row in front of us, and routinely fell asleep at the beginning of every speech. When the applause at the end startled him awake, he would sit up straight and say, “Marvelous speaker. Just marvelous!” I still think of him with envy when I attend conventions.

For those whose worries keep them awake at night, sleep is a great gift. But there are those who choose not to sleep. The ancient monks of Egypt were famous for their all-night prayer vigils. They chose sleeplessness because they took literally the admonition of Jesus to “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.” They didn’t want to be caught napping when Jesus returned in his glory.

This Sunday begins a new church year, and paradoxically we begin the year by contemplating the end of all time. In church logic that makes sense. Soon we will move toward the coming of Christ at Christmas, but first we reflect on the Second Coming of Christ, the time when the resurrected Jesus will return to make all things new. The renewal part sounds great, but we are also told that Christ comes as judge, to show us where we have fallen short.

Some rightly look forward to the day of judgment – those who have been wronged, or cheated, or oppressed. The prophet writing in Isaiah’s name was one. He knew the “awesome deeds” God had done in the past. He wanted God to do them again, so that the adversaries of Israel might tremble. He wanted things to be put right. At the same time, he knew how much Israel itself had sinned, and so prayed for God’s mercy. He realized that God’s judgment falls on everyone, not just those on whom we would like to see it fall.

That’s the part we tend to forget. We want God to step in and make things right by changing someone else. Maybe God could start with Congress, so that there is no longer gridlock in Washington. After that God could move on to our enemies. We forget our own complicity in saying “no new taxes” and “don’t touch Social Security.” We want God to defeat our enemies without considering what we might have done to make them hate us in the first place. We dream about what will happen when God comes, overlooking the fact that we are asleep when we dream.

That’s why Jesus says “Keep awake.” He did not mean that we should be sleepless, in Seattle or anywhere else. In a sense, he meant that the Christian is never off duty. We go about the ordinary business of living, but always with the awareness that at any time we may be called to account by God for what we have done.

Yes, I do envy my grandfather’s ability to fall asleep anywhere. Maybe that will come as I age. Yet if I live as Jesus commands, mindful of how he desires me to live and leaving the rest to God – well, I just might sleep a lot better at the end of the day.

[Advent 1: Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37. With a new year and a different Gospel, I’m using a different volume in The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Mark by R.T. France.]