Watch and pray! Pray and watch!

Sermon for Populus Sion – Advent 2

Romans 15:4-13  +  Luke 21:25-36

Johann Sebastian Bach, that greatest of Lutheran church musicians, wrote a cantata for this Sunday in the church year. In English it begins, “Watch ye! Pray ye! Pray ye! Watch ye! Be ye ready, ever ready, till the Lord, the heavens rending, maketh of this earth an ending.” What a beautiful little summary of today’s Gospel! The Lord is coming with destruction for the earth and for most of mankind, but with redemption for the few who are counted worthy to escape the destruction. So watch and pray! Pray and watch, so that you may be among the blessed ready.

But if you’ve ever watched anything, I mean, watching and waiting for something to happen, you know how easy it is to look away when nothing happens for a while. So to keep us from looking away, to keep us watchful, to keep us praying, the Lord Jesus has filled the world with omens, signs, harbingers of His coming, so that, if we ever begin to look away or fall asleep or become weighed down with the things of this life, the signs should serve as merciful gifts of God, intended to shake us out of our slumber and jerk our heads back up again, urging us again to watch and pray! Pray and watch!

Matthew’s Gospel mentions all kinds of signs that Luke omits. Matthew talks about wars, earthquakes, and famines. He says that the love of most will grow cold. He speaks of many false teachers and false teachings and many people being deceived by them; Christians persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death; and a great falling away from the true Church. We see these things happening all around us. And instead of becoming depressed by them or angered by them, let’s view them as fulfillments of Jesus’ prophecy, as leaves on the fig tree, to use Jesus’ analogy, urging us to watch and pray, pray and watch. All these things are signs of Christ’s coming.

Luke, however, focuses on things that cause fear in the world. Signs in the sun, moon, and stars. Now, which things in the sky above are signs of the hastening of Christ’s coming and which things are “natural” occurrences? Well, it’s not an either/or question, is it? Is the budding of leaves on a tree the sign that summer is near, or is it a natural occurrence? Clearly it’s both! And many of those “natural” occurrences in the heavens have sparked fear and dread in the hearts of men over the ages, from eclipses to sun spots and solar flares to comets to “shooting stars” to supernovae. And if God has planned other more terrifying events to come in the heavens, we wouldn’t be surprised. God has worked all sorts of unusual occurrences into the universe—things which may be “natural” or which may be miraculous, but which are also different enough to cause us to remember, “That’s right! Jesus is coming soon! I need to watch and pray! Pray and watch!”

There will be distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. Distress. Anxiety. Perplexity. Confusion. I think those are some pretty good words to describe the state of the nations today, don’t you? People are wringing their hands over just about everything these days. There is actual perplexity and confusion in the world today about even the most obvious things, like what’s the difference between a boy and a girl, and, are boys supposed to fall in love with boys or with girls, or doesn’t it matter? Not only that, but everything seems to be a crisis. Every election spells doom and gloom for the nation and for the world. Every change in the weather is reason to panic. “Oh no! We’re heading for an ice age! Oh no! The polar ice caps are melting! Everything needs to be fixed! Everything needs to be changed, needs to undergo a fundamental transformation!” (So people think.) “We need to make progress!” But progress toward what? And by what means?

Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. Did you hear that the average life expectancy for Americans has gone down again? It’s due, in part to deaths by drug overdose, and in part to deaths by suicide. Drugs and suicide—two of the most common ways for people to try to escape the despair and the fear that plague them. But everyone seems to know that something is coming, something dreadful, something terrible. Is it aliens? Is it an asteroid? Is it overpopulation? Is it climate change? Is it AI—artificial intelligence? No one knows what’s coming, but everyone is growing more and more afraid.

I should say, no one in the unbelieving world knows what’s coming. But you know. You know what’s coming upon our world. It’s called Judgment Day. It’s the second and final coming of the Lord Christ into this world to expose all the wickedness of men, to condemn every deed, every word, every opinion that goes against His Word. He has announced His coming. He continues to have it announced in the world through His preachers. He has even given signs of His coming to keep men watchful. But the unbeliever is unbelieving, so it will all come as a great surprise to them when they realize too late that there really is a God, and that the Word of Christ was true all along.

The world will melt in fear and dread at the coming of Christ, as well they should. But He doesn’t want that day to be a fearful day for you! Nor does He want you to be surprised by it. What does He say in our Gospel? When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. As long as you are in Christ, as long as you are seeking refuge under the protection of His blood, hunkering down underneath your Baptism, as long as you are looking to Him for forgiveness and help and salvation, as long as your faith is being fed and nourished by His Means of Grace, you are safe! You have His forgiveness! You have nothing to fear on the day of His coming!

And that’s how Jesus wants to keep you—safe, covered in His righteousness, justified by faith. He knows that you still have enemies in the world that would remove you from the shelter of His grace, that would entice you away from it, because that’s the only way they can win. No one can snatch My sheep from My hand, Jesus says. No one can tear you away from Him or separate you from Him. But they can tempt you to leave the safety of Jesus, either by conscious choice or by apathy and atrophy. It’s against that that Jesus warns you in our Gospel:

Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

It’s so easy to get caught up in earthly things—fun, family, pleasure, responsibilities. We have a life here to maintain, after all, and many things to do. It’s true. But one of those things—the most important thing, which can easily be lost in the shuffle—is to watch and pray, pray and watch. Have you been doing that regularly? Earnestly? Purposefully? If so, don’t stop! If not, why not?

Why not? There’s no excuse, just an explanation: because we’re wretched sinners who know the good we should do, and yet don’t do it, because evil is always there with us. The Apostle Paul knew this sin and weakness in himself. It led him to lament, O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Let his answer be your answer: I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Receive His forgiveness again today, all you who mourn over your sins. And take comfort that He has not given up you, nor will He fail to provide all the signs and warnings you need, both out there in the world and right here in His Word, to keep you watchful and ready, penitent and believing. He still calls out to you today, Watch and pray! Pray and watch! Use the means He has given you to stay safe on the Day of wrath, so that you are filled with hope and joy as you eagerly await the day of His coming. Amen.