"Keeping Alert" - Teaching on Mark 13:24-37

The world as we know it will not go on for ever. There will come a time when the earth’s degradation and the culmination of God’s purposes will align and Jesus will come again.

Having sought to deflect the disciples from any thought of particular timing, and convict them of the need to be faithful in the midst of anything that happens in life, Jesus returns to their question at the beginning of the chapter, and says here in verse 32: “But about that day, or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”. What clearer message do we need that we are not meant to know exactly when! Jesus himself (in his human form) didn’t even know, and probably didn’t even want to know! It is enough to know that the day will eventually come, that God has got this perfectly under control, but it cannot be predicted.

Why … because if room was left for us to debate this, it would likely become a major distraction, as it has proven to be for many over the centuries. We have enough to think about with all the demands of life combined with the call to naturally and faithfully live out the Christian life day by day.

And of course there should not be any motivating factor in this. If we need to know that it is coming next week to become urgent about sharing the gospel with our lost friends, then we really have to look at ourselves. If someone doesn’t know Jesus, how could it be any more urgent than it already is!

The earth is fragile, especially when you factor in what humankind has managed to invent to do great harm to it, or neglected to do and thus put the world in danger. In a way the earth has always been fragile, after all it orbits around in space not attached to anything. It continues to spin at just the right distance from the sun only by the grace of God.

So from the time of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension back to God, the end has been nigh. So much so that even Jesus seemed to think that he would return within the same generation of his going. And no wonder, with the advanced level of evil that Jesus had to endure in his life. Other biblical writers viewed the world in similar ways – surely it can’t be allowed to get any worse than this! Yet God’s compassion for humankind is unabated, God’s hope for broad-based renewal continues. God is seeking endlessly to find relationship with each person born, and for them in turn to relate well with their physical and social environment.

Many have tried to specifically put a date to the end, and obviously they have all been proven wrong, often at great embarrassment to the Christian community. The Bible gives very little direct information about the future (just some word-pictures quite difficult to interpret); what it largely commends is living faithfully in the present … and trustingly concerning the future.

So we should continue to take seriously our responsibility for God’s gift of a living environment and seek to look after it. Thus we have grounds for even more concern about climate change, lack of water and nuclear technology than others might, and even more of a mandate to take positive action concerning such matters.

And we don’t send out missionaries to hasten Jesus’ return, we actually want to see the gospel proclaimed simply because we love people and are concerned about their state of being.

We simply do not know when the end will come (and much about what that entails … what ever does "heaven and earth will pass away" mean anyway – "earth" okay, but "heaven" passing away?). We shouldn’t even try that much to unravel such a thing – Jesus simply says: “Beware, keep alert”.

The passage commences with Jesus citing words from Isaiah concerning the destruction of Babylon long before the time of Jesus, indicating that the sinfulness and violence of humanity always has destructive effects on the cosmos; yet Jesus will ultimately seal the victory. There have always been signs, there will always be signs; there are constant crises that come and go; whether it’s tomorrow or in another hundred or another thousand years; next summer or another summer long away – the message is the same … “keep alert”.

Keep alert how? That is the question … which we’ll come back to!

[BTW – I think the phrase “heaven and earth will pass away” refers basically to everything being different than it currently is. This parallels with the “words” of Jesus that “will not pass away”, meaning they will remain the same in their power and relevance always.]

There are some magnificent concepts here to encourage us.

First, there is the picture of Jesus coming with great power and glory, with the angels gathering all his children from all directions on earth and in heaven. This gives us a wonderful sense of our ultimate destination within the community of those who have loved God in life. We can be part of the biggest worshipping congregation ever gathered in one place. I wonder who’ll be leading the service that day and what songs we’ll be singing!!!

Now of course, in a fashion, Jesus is already gathering his children into worshipping communities, into local church groups, that can fully and personally appreciate his presence, power and glory right now. In that sense Jesus is always coming again. Our worship now should be a foretaste of community life with God eternally. And our earthly missional activity should be a means by which that eternal community increases in number. Jesus at the very gate ready to return, you know that he is near. This is like our gate when we lived in the manse in West Melbourne, which let us know by squeaking when someone was coming near the front door. We do get signals that Jesus is near … that spark in another’s eye ... that word of wisdom that comes from our mouth that we had never thought of before … that remarkable change in circumstances ... that incredible moment of peace in God's presence.

Second, following the comment about heaven and earth passing away, we read that “my [ie. Jesus’] words will not pass away”. The wonder and wisdom that brought all creation to be, will exist eternally and unbroken. Jesus will never let us down, or be proved to be insufficient or unavailable. The words of Jesus that we have come to rely upon will never depart from us. Jesus has conquered death on a cross, the closed tomb, and everything that was done to discredit or destroy him. It will be Jesus coming in clouds proclaiming the victory of God over the influence of evil. No matter how fearful and uncertain events become, we may rest assured that Jesus, the ultimate agent of God, will make a decisive appearance in our stead. So these are words of great comfort.

So what should we keep alert about???

In verse 35 are mentioned all four watches of the night in Roman reckoning (evening, midnight, cockcrow and dawn), the times when we might tend to be less alert than any others! So, no time is slack time!! Also, without being alert or awake the “doorkeeper” and the “slaves” in the little parable might just be caught out in surprise – not ready.

· Various dangers that would tend to injure us or take us away from God (including where we have to provide boundaries for our children);
· About our own level of spiritual maturity – where we are at, whether we are growing in an upward direction; so that we won’t just float along;
· Notice what God is doing in our midst, even being expectant concerning God’s redemptive activity i.e. answers to prayer, opening doors of opportunity, speaking to people’s hearts and changing them
· Opportunities to serve, share with others, make a contribution, allow Jesus to be seen.

When the disciples had their first big test concerning staying awake (in the garden of Gethsemane), what happened (14:37, 40 & 41)?