Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“What I say to you I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” [The Words of Jesus, Mark 13:37.]

If someone had said those words to you over the past couple of days, you would have known exactly what was meant. You would have known that “watching” on “Black Friday” does not indicate a spectator sport. Over the past couple of days, “watching” meant “doing” – staying up late or getting up early, driving across town, finding a parking spot, then pushing and shoving your way through hoards of people to hopefully find one of a limited number of items marked 50 or 60 or 80 percent off. The word “watching” took on a whole new meaning. There really truly was no “watching,” at least not at the stores. Those of us who really truly just wanted to “watch” stayed home – or, like I did, go to the cabin and read a book since Friday morning.

When Jesus talked about the end of the world by using the words, “What I say to you I say to everyone: ‘Watch!,’” He had very much the same thought in mind. Look at that one illustration He used, that illustration about the servants being put in charge of someone’s house and being told to watch it while he’s gone. Do you think that “watching” meant a spectator sport, just sitting around doing nothing, just passing the time until the owner returned? I can guarantee you that there was much more involved with “watching.”

Fourteen years ago when I went to Guatemala for language training, a missionary family adopted me while I was there. I didn’t stay with them, but they picked me up at the airport early one Sunday morning, took me first to their home to wash up after my overnight flight, and then on weekends would often take me out of Antigua to make sure I saw significant places. I learned they had a “caretaker.” He was the first and only “caretaker” I have ever seen who carried a gun. He did more than just sit around. He basically was a 24-hour-a-day security guard. He would sometimes serve as their driver, especially if the wife, who happened herself to be a native Guatemalan, and children were going somewhere alone. He would indeed do odd jobs around their house., but his main job was to monitor the security cameras and maintain their 8 or 10 foot high perimeter wall which was topped by shards of broken glass and bottles. You see it doesn’t take much to stick out in Guatemala, to become a target for people who mean to do you harm. So this “caretaker” was a watchman, but his was not a spectator sport. He wouldn’t have remained employed too long if all he did was “watch.”

Jesus tells us that we may not know the day nor the hour when He will return, but He does tell us to “Watch.” The “watching” Jesus had in mind is not a spectator sport. What Jesus, of course, meant is not that we just get up every morning and plop ourselves down into a lawn chair in the front yard and spend the day staring into the sky. What a boring waste of time that would be! Even I would grow tired of that quickly! No, Jesus means is that like those who went out on “Black Friday,” like those servants placed in authority over the owner’s house, like that “caretaker” in Guatemala, “watching” means doing something.

St. Paul, in writing to the Corinthian Christians [1 Corinthians 1:3-9], rejoiced over the grace given them in Jesus Christ. That grace was worthy to be celebrated because it came their way at no insignificant price. That grace was not a cheap “Black Friday” deal. That grace, of which they were the totally undeserving recipients, was instead purchased for them by Jesus Christ, Who lived a perfect life, absent of any sin, and then suffered, died and rose again so that His perfect righteous would be theirs and so that their sins would no longer be counted against them. That’s a pretty significant gift in and of itself, but it doesn’t stop there. No, not only did that grace forgive their sins, but it conveyed to them gifts, gifts which Paul reminded them did not leave them lacking anything, gifts meant not to be squirreled away into a secret place for some later investment, but inexhaustible gifts meant to be used in the service of others while “watching” for Jesus to return.

The fact that those gifts were meant to be used can be seen by Paul also writing that Jesus Christ “will keep you strong to the end.” Often when you use up energies that have been stored – maybe from all that Thanksgiving feast we enjoyed on Thursday – you get exhausted. You get worn out. You need to stop and take a rest. Not so with the gifts of Jesus Christ! Because of His grace, there is a never-ending, never-exhausted supply of gifts provided His people.

And that’s where we come into the picture. St. Paul could have be writing those words to us today. We also have received that incredible grace from Jesus Christ. We also have had our every sin forgiven us. We also – every single one of us – have been given gifts. That’s the result of receiving grace. We also have been told by Jesus to “watch,” but so often in our “watching” our gifts get put away for safe keeping, we decide to sit and read a book instead of hitting “Black Friday,” we interpret “watch” as “rest.” But “watching” is not a spectator sport.

So today I encourage you to do several things:

1) Rejoice again today in the grace freely given you by Jesus Christ.

2) Take an inventory of the gifts Jesus has given you. What are your strengths? What are your talents? What are your likes and dislikes? What do you have that someone else might need?

3) Hear again Jesus tell us “Watch.” He tells that to everyone and then it’s up to us to interpret what that word means.

4) Step out in faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to live out that grace given you, to live out those gifts given you, to draw upon that inexhaustible power Jesus gives you to be His watchman until His return.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena