Mark 13:24-37

First Week of Advent
November 27, 2005


Let’s begin by putting this to rest – Jesus was absolutely specific that no one knows when the Messiah would be returning, not even Him. So, my commentary and thoughts on this passage won’t be taking a Preterist, Partial-Preterist, Dispensationalist, or any other sort of position on the End Times. And you thought you could draw me into THAT discussion. Fat chance you have with that… I have long resolved to not worry with such silly arguments to prevalent amongst eschatological conversations. Jesus told us to watch and pray, and pretty much told us not to bitch, moan, and argue about who’s right, who’s the elect, and when He’s coming back again. We only watch the events to back up our pre-determined positions and we certainly don’t pray. So, on with the show… **stepping off my soapbox**

In the 23 verses before our reading, Jesus discusses and lays out a variety of signs that will foretell His Return. Some concern families, some are about global politics, some are warnings about what will happen to those who believe in Jesus, and some detail the arrival of false messiahs. However, our passage begins with Jesus describing His arrival – “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Mark 13:24b-25) Not a very pleasant image, but it’s the one that Jesus said would announce Him. Jesus would be sending his angels to collect the elect from the ends of the earth.

But what I see as the crux of this section are verses 32-37 where Jesus uses the metaphor of a man leaving his house to his servants, charging the servants to keep the house in order until his return, though the servants have no clue at all when he would be returning. The lesson here is that our duty, as Christians, is to be vigilant in both watching for His Return, while maintaining the house as He left it, each of us responsible for the job we’ve been given in His absence. Jesus doesn’t tell us to sit around the table talking about when He’s going to come back; He tells us to keep busy with our work in His world and watch for Him to return. Unfortunately, we prefer sitting around to doing work; we prefer trying to figure out when He’s going to come back so that we don’t have to do any work until right before He gets back. (And I don’t know about you, but that’s how I did things when I was a teenager – dirty up the house with my brothers until RIGHT before we knew Mom would be getting home. It was easier to waste time doing what WE wanted to do than do maintain a steady level of vigilance towards the state of the house’s cleanliness.)

So, as we begin the journey that is this beautiful season of Advent, let us keep in mind that Jesus has commissioned us to watch for Him, expect Him at any time, and be about our work in the world - loving the world around us, though it doesn’t really love us all that much. We wait in hope, not mournful lament, for His coming. We are filled with a sense of joyful expectation of the Coming of our Lord to the Earth.