Watching for Nothing (First Sunday in Advent)

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Our Advent season begins this year – as it does every year – with biblical calls to watch and be alert to the signs of Jesus’ coming and to God’s presence in our lives.  “Wake up!”, says Paul.  “Be ready”, says Jesus.  Calls to “Watch!”  and “Prepare!” are to be found everywhere in our Advent readings.

But what are we supposed to watch for?  What are we supposed to be alert to?  These were questions the disciples asked Jesus whenever Jesus spoke about “the coming of the Son of Man.”  And often, Jesus referenced big and sometimes scary signs – things that really, you couldn’t miss if you tried.  Just before today’s Gospel reading begins, for instance, Jesus again speaks of things like wars and earthquakes.  He talks about false prophets producing great signs and omens.

And yet, says Jesus, “do not be alarmed”.  “Do not go after them!”  And, “The end is not yet.”

So what are we supposed to watch for?  What will happen for which we should stay awake? 

And so in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers what to watch for – the sign of Noah.  And Jesus says that the sign of Noah is that nobody knew anything until it happened!

It appears that the “secret sign” is… – that there is no sign!  Nothing unusual is happening right before the end.  People are just going along, doing their normal stuff, and then suddenly, God acts.

So how do we “watch” for nothing?  And how do we “keep awake” when there’s nothing loud and splashy to keep our attention?  It seems counterintuitive.

And yet, I think Jesus is serious about this “sign of Noah” – this call to watch for seemingly nothing.  In fact, it seems that the kind of “being ready” that Jesus called his first disciples to be about – and the kind of readiness that Jesus calls us to be about in our lives – isn’t supposed to be a constant state of “super-hyped up on adrenaline” nervousness.

Instead, the kind of being ready that Jesus describes – even in the midst of wars and earthquakes – is a kind of readiness that’s centered on:

• Being about the regular, daily work that we believe God is calling us to, even if it doesn’t seem flashy or exciting – Jesus talks about two guys out working in the field and two women grinding grain.  These were two of the basic tasks needed everyday for people to eat and survive.  These folks were doing what was necessary to sustain and preserve life in their community, and when the day arrives – like the faithful stewards in many of Jesus’ parables – they were found doing their jobs.  They were faithfully carrying out the work God had given them to do…

• Not being distracted by the bright and shiny objects – just as there are today, the folks working in the field and grinding the grain were constantly aware of the wars and the rumors of wars; the earthquakes and other disasters that happened to them and to others; and as the stories of the Magi remind us, there were people who saw signs in the heavens that might or might not mean something.  But apparently, they didn’t let those “signs” – even the bright and shiny ones – distract them from what their job was.  They surely noticed, but they didn’t let themselves be distracted …

• Being centered on God’s promise – Jesus begins this whole discourse with the words, “no one knows…but only the Father.”  That means God knows.  And God really is in control of history, no matter how out of control the world seems.  And perhaps what made it possible for these folks to keep on doing their jobs day in and day out was that they trusted, and centered themselves, on the promise that God would make good on his promises to them.  And that was true whether they were the ones taken or the ones left behind.  Either way, they were still safely in God’s hands…

And I think this is really the kind of readiness that Jesus calls us to as well.  Being alert is really about being alert to God’s presence in our lives all the time.  Being awake is really about focusing on the stuff God gives us to do each day.  And watching is really about living with hope and expectation that the chaos of today is not all there is.

And so for us, too, the readiness of “watching for nothing” is Jesus’ call to:

• Be about the daily work that God gives us, even when it doesn’t seem exciting and flashy – sometimes I think one of the challenges of living in the national capital area is that many people – even some of us – are involved in things that really can have a national or global impact on world events.  And that’s great!  But most of what we’re involved in each day – and most of what really makes a difference in the lives of others around us – is how we serve as good friends, and parents and neighbors.  It’s about the daily ways we act as God’s agents of love and care in the immediate world around us.  And for us, too, being found faithfully doing the regular, daily work we’re called to do in the lives of those around us is an important part of the readiness to which Jesus calls us…

• Not be distracted by the bright, shiny objects – we all know how difficult this is!  There was a cartoon a couple of weeks ago in which the character picks up his phone “just to check work email”, but then gets distracted for hours by social media, news, games and everything else!  We’ve all been there!  And it’s not that some of the bright, shiny stuff isn’t important or that it doesn’t need to be dealt with.  It’s just that often, when we let those things distract us, we stop doing what we’re supposed to be doing; we focus on the things we can’t change; and we stop paying attention to the things we can do that would make a difference.  And for us, too, simply fighting the distractions is often an important part of the readiness to which Jesus calls us…

• Be centered on God’s promise – one of the problems of focusing on all the wild and crazy “signs” in some of the apocalyptic literature is that we get centered on the wars, the earthquakes, the famines and the plagues and the moon being turned to blood.  But those things are NEVER the point, even when they’re mentioned.  The point is always that God wins in the end, in spite of all this stuff.  And perhaps the most important part of the continual readiness to which Jesus calls us is the daily centering of ourselves on the promises of God, not the scary crazy stuff.  And that’s because those are the promises that can really sustain us and give us strength to endure, no matter what’s happening in our lives…

In this Advent season, Jesus calls us to be ready.  But often, the readiness to which Jesus calls us is about watching for nothing in particular!  Instead, readiness for Jesus is often about being about the daily to work to which God calls us in our regular lives.  Readiness for Jesus is about resisting the urge to focus on the bright, shiny objects that so often surround us, especially at this time of year!  And readiness for Jesus is about being centered each day on God’s promises to us in Jesus, which can center and ground our lives, even when crazy stuff is going on all around us.

Amen.