Watch!

First Sunday in Advent

November 30, 2014

Mark 13:37

Watch!

†

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I.

What is a good night's sleep? It's many hours of uninterrupted oblivion. When insomnia or a kid wakes you up at 2 am, you're likely to be a bit grouchy, because you've been taught that your hope for a good night's sleep has been ruined.

But the normal way of sleeping today might not be the way it always was. Sleep patterns in olden times may have been different.

Before clocks and then factory shift schedules, sleep was broken up. Just like your day is morning and afternoon, the night was also segmented. Before lighting became affordable with whale oil lamps and then light bulbs, people went to sleep when it got dark, around 9 or 10.

But they'd wake up on purpose at midnight after "first sleep. They'd stay awake and spend an hour or two doing things. They prayed and meditated. They considered their dreams. They visited neighbors. And being sinful like us, some even used this midnight hour to steal from their neighbor's orchard. Then they'd go back to bed for their "second sleep" and then awaken around dawn.

The ancients numbered the segments or watches of the night. Jesus speaks of these watches in Mark 13.

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. (Mark 13:35)

In Jesus' day there were four watches of the night: evening, midnight, cock-crowing (at three), and morning. These were used by soldiers for taking turns on lookout posts. But it seems likely that civilians used these segments of the night for their own sleeping and watching as well.

II.

With the practice of segmented sleep in olden times, Jesus' words seem to fit nicely with the words of Psalm 119.

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises. (Psalm 119:148)

Soldiers on guard duty were watching for enemy soldiers. What do Christians watch for? The Day of the Lord. Paul wrote,

For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. . . . So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious. (1 Thessalonians 5:2,6)

III.

Staying awake means that we believe and confess what we used to be, who Jesus is, and what He has made us to be.

We used to be fast-asleep sinners. But our Savior Jesus, who shed His blood for all sleepers, wakes us up from our sleep with blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism. It is as though you are woken up at midnight and can't get back to sleep. What do you do with your time?

Soldiers on night guard duty use their ears, just as much as their eyes. Christian do likewise. We watch by listening.

At dawn before you turn on the radio or the television, or at least before you turn on the ignition, spend some moments in prayer and meditation, listening to Jesus, God's Word. And then go to work or school. My guess is that His Words will stay with you. They'll keep you watchful through the day. And consider pausing at noon for a few more moments of prayer and contemplation.

IV.

The technology of the clock has caged many into unhealthy patterns. Even when believers complain about our busy lives, we don't know how to put our finger on the root of the problem. It's not the schedule or the clock or time itself that is the problem. It is the misplaced trust that time is going to keep on spinning, spinning, spinning into the future. It won't. It will end. Clocks and schedules are often the cages that those who are still asleep (unbelievers) willingly lock themselves into.

Even we who are awake (believers) are tempted back to sleep. But Jesus says, "Watch! Stay awake! Be alert!" And by faith we do. Through our prayerful listening and faithful service to others, we are awake and watchful in Christ. And at the end of the day of work, when we go to sleep, we know that even while we sleep, we are watchful, for we belong to Him. And one of these nights, He will return with glory of the noonday sun to confess His own before His Father.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

For more on segmented sleep:

https://soundcloud.com/backstory/roger-ekirch-on-segmented