Stay Awake

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33  Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34  It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35  Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

            - Mark 13:32-36

We have all heard this worldwide rumor that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. It is something that is entirely based on guesses and error-filled human hogwash. The world is not going to end on December 21, 2012. This passage makes it very clear that no one knows when Jesus will return. The angels don’t know. Even Jesus didn’t know. Only the Father knows when that day or that hour will come. Jesus tells us to stay awake and to keep our eyes open. “It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.” Jesus has returned to his Father and he has left us, his servants, in charge. Each of us with our own work to do.

The warning Jesus gives at the end ought to terrify us. “…lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.” Stay awake! Do you want Jesus to find you lying around asleep and not doing the work that he left you to do? We have all had our parents or our boss leave us with a job to do while they were away. No matter how big or small it is, we know that there will be consequences if we don’t get it done. We know this because we have all been on the receiving end of the not so pleasant response to our laziness. What gives us the right to think Jesus will be any different? Jesus has left us with work to do. He has left his church with work to do. And we’re the big lazy inanimate kid who is sitting around watching TV and falling asleep instead of getting off our comfortable couch with our comfortable friends in our comfortable house and doing the work that Jesus has left for us.

Take initiative. Own your faith. Do the work that he has left for you wherever you are. Wake up! And stay awake! Lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.