I want to share with you one positive and one negative experience. Let’s do the negative one first. It is negative but also humorous. Some time ago, I had to be at First Presbyterian in New Westminster straight after church. It is about 12 minutes from here across the bridge. No challenge for a motorcycle. I arrived, ready to perform my duties at this meeting. I was relieved to see that the service seemed to just have ended. I gathered a group who liked like leaders and went on about what we have to do and communicate, only to find a perplexed look on their faces. It turns out I was at the Baptist church around the corner, not at First Presbyterian. It is an awful feeling, arriving at a bunch of strange people not expecting you and not waiting for you…even when it is all your own fault.
The positive experience. We have a motorized garage door that is operated with a remote control like most people around here do. But we lost our one remote, so, when I arrive home I have to phone someone in my household to open the door. When its raining and you were walking or on a bike, it is especially unpleasant. Recently when I got home, as soon as I stopped outside, the garage door opened. My kind-hearted son Steph stood there. He waited for me and listened until he heard me outside and promptly opened the door for me. I was amazed about how this simple act made me feel loved. To have someone expecting you, waiting upon your return is underrated. It is an act of love. It can make a huge difference to have that in your life. I would go as far as to say, anybody that waits on you patiently and expectantly loves you.
In today’s passage from Mark the message is simple. Jesus tells us to wait. But not just to wait. That anybody can do. He wants us to wait in a certain way. He wants us to wait expectantly. In a short parable he assigns us the role not only of the servants in a household but the specific role of a particular servant…that of the watchman. It is a very short parable because the people living at the time of Jesus, had a very thorough understanding of what a watchman is and what he is supposed to do. Our own understanding of it is vague as watchmen doesn’t fulfill an everyday role in our culture anymore, so I need to take you on a biblical and cultural trip on watchmen and their function in order to illuminate the passage to you better.
Jesus does not know everything….
Fascinating to know that there is at least one thing, by His own admission, that Jesus does not know. He does not know when His second coming will be. We should respond to both what we know and what we don’t know in a proper way. If we don’t respond rightly both what we know and don’t know can harm us. We know Jesus will come again. We don’t know when. The proper response is to wait and wait in a specific expectant manner.
In the medical world there is a slam term knowns as “wawing”. “waw” stands for watch and wait. The first rule of medicine is to do no harm. It might seem obvious to you but until fairly recently up to 50% of patients that died, died because of doctor’s treatments rather than from the ailments they were suffering. To watch and wait could be crucial in treating a patient right. This job is mainly done by nurses…one of the reasons I think nurses are at least just as crucial as doctors.
It is not only doctors that does harm by neglecting to watch and wait. It is also you and I in relationships. Our snap-judgment, instant-everything and road-rage culture does much harm. We do not know how to waw anymore. A friend recently came up with a mathematical equation for a good life. Equations always looks easier in theory than they are to apply in practice but I kind of liked his. It goes like this.
Watch and Wait (Wow) x gratefulness squared by gracefulness
To live expectantly of good things yet whilst being grateful for things you have with a dose of grace for those who have less can only be a good way to live.
In Jesus’s day “waiting” meant or implied two things. It meant to serve. It never meant to be passive. That is why the watchman’s role is so closely intertwined with those of the servants in this parable. Secondly it meant to persevere and to endure. You only wait for something that you feel is lacking to make your picture complete. Hence waiting always goes along with an amount of suffering that you need to endure in the hope that it will be ended by what or whom you are waiting for. When waiting the temptation is always there to give up and set your heart on what is already there. Ask the Israelites who decided it is better to worship a golden calf with them than a God who they have to wait for.
A word on watchmen
Watchmen comes from the military context. We still know the concept of standing guard especially during nighttime. Watchmen are supposed to be on the lookout for dangers and ready to defend. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew world divided the night into three watches but the Romans at the time of Jesus divided it into four and the “fourth watch” was especially important. It was the time from 3 am to 6 am. Those of you ever having to stand guard during this time will know how cold, dark and lonely these hours could be. It is to me the most difficult time to stay awake. Guards falling asleep at this time is an age old problem. Even Shakespeare wrote about it comically. And yet, it is also a special time. It is as if there is a pregnant silence hanging in the air. You tend to remember the times where you had to be awake during these hours.
It was during these hours that an angel wrestled with Jacob. It was during this fourth watch that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea in flight. It was during these hours that Peter walked on water, legend has it. Angels often appeared during these hours and Jesus rose from the dead during the fourth watch. It is as if the Bible views this most difficult time to keep watch also as the most sacred time. In monasteries the monks start their day at 3 am by praying for this very reason. Waiting upon God when it is most difficult and inconvenient to do so, is also the most special time to do just that. Maybe God likes to show up when most think its to late for Him to do so.
So, watchmen had specific duties. One of them was to call out the time and weather every hour so that people inside that woke up would know how to prepare for the day. They carried a stick and a lantern. They usually operated best and were assigned to work and patrol in pairs for obvious reasons.
In the Scottish Presbyterian (and other) traditions, there was a thing such as a beadle. A beadle was someone that did the bidding of a clergy, a church or other organization. In Scottish Presbyterians a beadle for instance got a minister’s vestments ready and opened the bible. Some even gave the minster a shot of scotch just before he went out to preach. I was born at the wrong time, I guess!
In battle beadles were appointed to oversee a group of watchmen, who in battle had a specific role. See in hand to hand combat like you see in movies about battles in ancient and biblical times it was hard to tell if your side were actually winning or losing whilst you were engaged in a swordfight. Now, to keep on fighting if your side lost was a waste because in those days most losing soldiers were killed off and their wives raped or forced to marry a stranger. If you were losing, it was better to flee and thus escape this awful fate. So, watchmen were assigned at various spots on a battlefield. Their role was to regularly inform soldiers whether their side was winning or losing. They would shout out announcements of victory referred to as basar in Hebrew and euaggelion in Greek. Can you imagine how it motivated you if you heard your watchmen cry out the good news that your side was winning the battle? Can you imagine the agony if the watchmen shouted that your side has lost, and it would be futile for you to keep on fighting? These watchmen were known as runners.
Life is difficult. There are battles each of us fight every day. Battles we believe to be for a good cause on God’s side. The battle against poverty and inequality, against racism and hatred. Maybe also more personal ones like battles with your mental health, weight and addictions. Sometimes we feel like giving up. Also, when it comes to Covid and the measures to protect those vulnerable some are getting battle weary.
Listen carefully. The Christian hope in all this is that when we fight for what is right and good, we can knowJesus entered this battle with us. We are not alone. But it gets even better. Because of what He achieved in this battle on the cross we know that this battle is not only raging but decided in our favour. His Holy Spirit is like the battle runners bringing us the good news that we are winning. That the fight we are fighting is utterly worth it. Jesus understand what we all go through but He also knows that it leading to victory and a good place. It is all worth it. Even while suffering on the cross, just before He died, Jesus could be a watchman that cried out the good news of victory. He did that when He cried out: Tetelestai! It is completed. His work was to ensure victory and it was mission accomplished.
Close
Isn’t it easy to wait for somebody that once waited for you? It is an honor. So, let us wait servantly, expectantly and patiently for Jesus. For the second coming but also for Him to come through for us on other matters. Let us be watchmen that go about to others fighting brave battles, reminding them of the good news that the battle is decided already. That the good fight is all worth it because Jesus fought the bulk of it for us.
I want to close with a beautiful prayer from St. Thomas:
God, grant me the understanding to know you.
Diligence to seek you.
Wisdom to find you a life that is pleasing to you
Perseverance to wait for you
Loving trust that I will lay hold of you at last.
In Jesus’s name.
Amen
Gabriel J Snyman
November 29th 2020
I dedicate this sermon to my grandmother, Rica Snyman who turns 90 today. Her patience, kindness and servanthood has enriched many lives and inspires me to this day.