Sermon Advent Sunday 30th November 2014

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches on this, the first Sunday of Advent.  The reading is from Mark 13 verses 24-37.

Watch!

I have a contender! Actually, I have two contenders; but it’s one for each church. However I am sure that if ‘amazeballs’; ‘humblebrag’; ‘listicle’; ‘vape’ and ‘YOLO’ have each made it into the 2014 on-line Oxford database then there has to be room for my new words too. OK, so this is their public debut; but hopefully from today onwards each will become a fully established part of Herne Hill vocabulary and maybe even beyond! So let me give you at St Saviour’s BOWBABOG / at St Paul’s BOGBAKEW!

Of course I will explain, for those who haven’t worked it out already (and you can always search for the meanings of those other new words). But first I’ll say why I hope this one will stick in the mind: which is because this is Advent Sunday; and that matters. Back in 1980, when the Church of England introduced all sorts of changes to its worship, this became the day when people are especially encouraged to focus on Jesus’ promised return. So if you have heard an Advent Sunday sermon before, you will probably have heard this said. We can’t prepare for the birth of Jesus at Christmas without also remembering these truths: Jesus is coming back; and that that reality is meant to shape our entire lives.

In concluding his teaching about when and how he’d return, Jesus made 3 key points. At the end of Mark 13 he used a parable to do that. Jesus’ main focus was on how we should live while we wait for him to come back. The 3 vital things that he said we are to do are to:

Be On Watch; Be Alert; and Be On Guard – BOWBABOG

Be On Guard; Be Alert; and Keep Watch: BOGBAKEW

And of course the hope is that this new word will help us to live, and to shape our entire lives in the light of Jesus’ return. That could happen at any moment, and so we need to be constantly ready for it.

Now if you’re not sure you agree with that in principle, think about how much time you put into preparing for any major project. How long will you take to stage a party? How much time would you spend on getting a work presentation ready? Or in your garden? How about Christmas Day: how much effort do you put into readying that? Well, what about Jesus’ return? How much have you prepared for this most crucial event? The consequences of our preparation, or lack of it, are eternal. That’s why we do need to think BOWBABOG / BOGBAKEW. And if you’re not already doing that, then today is when to start.

It’s true that I may have begun at the wrong end, as it were. But this still seems the best way to tackle what’s often described as the biggest problem in the Bible! Mark 13 has been the subject of almost endless scholarly speculation: about exactly what Jesus meant; what specifically he was talking about in each section of his teaching; and just how he saw the future unfolding. I won’t bore you with the details of the learned debates that I’ve refreshed my memory of this week. I’ll just remind you of the headline: however we look at it, this passage poses problems!

That’s true whether you’re a Bible scholar or an ‘ordinary’ Christian trying to live the way Jesus wants you to. Whoever we are, God doesn’t expect us to suspend our brain and just accept that we won’t ever understand certain things. So, let’s try to unravel some of the complications. It may help to have a Bible to hand for this, because we’ve got to go back a way.

So: today’s reading picked up Jesus’ words in the middle of his teaching. It’s at the start of Mark 13 that we find out what specific question Jesus was responding to. We’ve got to go further back again – to chapter 11 – to see where this incident fits into Jesus’ life. There we saw Jesus enter Jerusalem in triumph; so this is all in the last week of his life. And, in 13 v1, we learn Jesus had been teaching in the Temple. He’d just come out with his disciples; and they’d commented on how wonderful a sight that building was.

By all historical accounts they were right too: Herod had spared no expense in rebuilding the Temple. As they said, it was magnificent – and it must have looked solid enough to have stood for centuries. But, Jesus said, it wasn’t going to last. He predicted that no stone would be left on top of another. And, not surprisingly, his disciples wanted to know what he meant. In their Mount of Olive camp that evening they also asked Jesus when this amazing event would take place.

This is where the complications begin. Almost everyone agrees that Jesus had 2 things in mind when he replied to the disciples’ question. It’s Tom Wright who takes a radically different view on this, but we’ll stick with the majority. They say that Jesus began by talking about when the Temple would be destroyed – as it actually was, in 70 AD. He even gave the disciples signs to look for that it was about to happen, as they’d asked him for. But, at some point, Jesus began to speak about his own return. The trouble is that nobody is sure exactly where in this passage that dividing point is!

The scholarly assumption has always been that Jesus did not see the fall of the Temple and his own return happening at the same time. If he did, the mere fact that we are here today proves he was wrong: the world clearly didn’t end in 70 AD! And Christians do generally assume that Jesus knew what he was talking about – and that he wasn’t mistaken about it.

The way that most people see it is as being like two-dimensional painting. Jesus did have both those events in mind: the fall of Jerusalem; and his own return. What can’t be told from any two-dimensional image is how far apart they are. It’s like looking at a painting of two mountain peaks: on canvas you can’t see how many miles there might be between them – but they are both there for us to see.

Regardless of how that explanation works for you, it still leaves questions about the dividing point in this passage. The fact is that nobody knows; because Jesus didn’t say! His focus was on the need to be ready at all times for his return. Jesus himself didn’t know when it will be. But he certainly knew how it’ll happen. Look at vs. 26-27. It’s not like this can be missed: Jesus will come in clouds, with great power and glory. He’ll send his angels out to bring his people in from the ends of the earth. That image in itself may give you an idea why this is worth preparing for. On that day the world will end, and we’ll each face God’s judgement. Are you ready for that? No, it hasn’t happened in the centuries since Jesus died. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow! So are you ready for it? Jesus repeatedly told them to Watch for his return; be Alert to it; on Guard for it? BOWBABOG / BOGBAKEW! Are you? If not, it’s time to start!

Throughout Mark 13, and in the parallel passages in Luke and Matthew, Jesus told his disciples about signs that would indicate he was about to return. Most generations since then have believed that Jesus would be back in their life-time. There are parts of Paul’s letters that clearly suggest he didn’t expect to die before Jesus returned. Martin Luther rushed his translation of the Bible into German to be sure that he finished before Jesus appeared. Those are just two, of many examples – and they all have plenty to teach us.

Now of course we should learn the lesson from the fig-tree that Jesus referred to in vs 28-29. The fact is that today we are one day closer to Jesus’ return than we were yesterday. We should note the signs – and heed them. I’d  say that’s part of the watching that Jesus told us to do. But we’re not to get obsessed with the signs, or what they mean about just when Jesus might come back – even if other people do! When one group trumpeted that Jesus would return on 21 May 2011 their website was wecanknow.com. It listed all sorts of explanations of why they were sure that was the day; all of them were wrong, of course, because we can’t know the hour or the day!

The signs that Jesus spoke of – natural disasters, wars, and all the rest – aren’t the same as a sign that says, ‘End of motorway 1 mile’. Rather they’re more like hazard signs we might see on a motorway. They tell us to look out for danger. That’s why BOWBABOG / BOGBAKEW is such an important word. We must Watch, be Alert, and on Guard. We don’t know when it will happen, just that Jesus will be back; and that we must be ready for him when he returns.

That was the main point of the parable Jesus told at the end of this reading. He is like the owner of the house who has gone away for a while. Jesus has put his servants – us – in charge. He has given us each our tasks to do while he’s away. What we don’t know is when he’ll be back. It might be in the evening; or at midnight; or at dawn. If he does return suddenly what will he find you doing? Will you be asleep? Do you think that you have got time to sort things out, with God or some other person, when you’re ready? What if you don’t? What if the owner comes back today? Are you doing the things that he has told you to? In other words, are you ready now for what is going to happen?

We really are fortunate, you know. God is very graciously giving us another Advent Sunday to bring back to the forefront of our minds what may have slipped from them during the past, busy year. We all have one more opportunity to get ready for what is to come. Yes, today we can choose to keep on pretending that we are in control of our own lives. Or we can choose to hear, and respond to, God’s renewed warning about the end that certainly is to come. Like it or not; ready or not; Jesus will return; in God’s time. The choice about what we do with that fact is, as ever, ours. The word BOWBABOG / BOGBAKEW can stick; if its actions do. We can prepare and be ready for that day: by Being on Watch for Jesus; by Being Alert; by Being on Guard / by Being on Guard; by Being Alert; by Keeping Watch – and then living accordingly; each day. Or we can not. What do you choose today? Let’s pray …