Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“We know not the time when He cometh; at even, or midnight, or morn; It may be at deepening twilight; it may be at earliest dawn. He bids us to watch and be ready, nor suffer our lights to grow dim; that when He shall come, He may find us, all waiting and watching for Him” (Henry, Sarapeta, M. I., Watching and Waiting).
This may be a hymn that only Fr. David is familiar with. It is an old Methodist hymn, penned by the daughter, Ms. Sarapeta Henry, of the early 19th century Methodist evangelist, Rev. Nelson Irish. It is only one of many, many hymns which emphasizes the Christian, apocalyptic virtue of vigilance. It is a virtue, a concept, that our contemporary society is aware of. Few of us would fail a vocabulary test for “vigilance.” But it is not a concept that we are intimately familiar with. We do not “keep vigil,” or rarely so, in a religious or a practical sense. “Vigil,” vigilare, “to remain awake.” “Vigilante,” vigilan-tē, “guard, watchman,” literally, “the one who watches.” No American town has watchmen posted in high towers at the city gates. Terminology such as the “first watch, second watch, third watch,” is the stuff of Medieval fiction. Its real import is lost on those of us who have never been subject to a village raid.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me” (Ezek 3:17).
“The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion” (Isa 52:8, italics mine).
Here, the Scriptures speak figuratively—the prophets are the watchmen of the houses of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament—but still, with a very concrete application in mind: the role of the prophets is to alert the people of God to “spiritual invasion, spiritual danger,” a “spiritual raid.” Strangely enough, through the mouths of the prophets they are being alerted to the invasion of the Lord. That is to say, “Prepare Israel, prepare Judah… [not an enemy, not a foreign, hostile power is coming, but] God is coming!” God is coming… .
Vigilance… watchmen. The Scriptures are replete with such admonishments: for the people of God to keep watch for the coming of the Lord. We have the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew, chap. 25 (vv. 1-13), followed by the Parable of the Talents (vv. 14-30). The substance is different; the moral is the same: “Be ready!” The Epistles—Pauline and General—are similarly filled with instruction in vigilance:
“Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess 5:6).
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8, italics mine).
“Let us not sleep… but let us watch. … Be sober-minded; be watchful.” And today’s Gospel Reading, which at face-value, does not seem to be explicitly related to the virtue of vigilance, assumes the virtue—or rather, lack thereof—as a reason for condemnation.
“Then Jesus said…, ‘A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. … So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry said to his servant… ‘I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper” (Luke 14:16-18a, 21a, 24).
What is the “supper” to which all men are invited? It is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which we read about in St. John’s Apocalypse, chap. 19. It is the celebration of the joining of heaven and earth, of the divine and the human; it is the feast of the union of Christ with his Church, permanently, perfectly, eternally, gloriously. Is there anything more wondrous, more mysterious, more joyous? Is there any occasion—and really hear this now—is there any instance or obligation which would excuse us from celebrating such an event? As devout Christians, we would say confidently, boisterously, brazenly: “Absolutely not! ABSOLUTELY NOT!” The coming of the Kingdom of God in its fullness, our glorious resurrection from the dead, our personal glorification, our deification, our salvation: nothing is more paramount, more longed for, hoped for, prayed for than this.
Right? … right? “[But] the first said…, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go see it.’” And the second said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.” And the third [one invited] said, “I have married a wife; [I’m busy]” (vv. 18-20). We hear this parable of our Lord and surely we think, “Shame, shame.” But brethren, let us be honest with ourselves. These men and women who were invited to the great supper of their great host are not so unlike you and I. For all the glory, grandeur, and joy of the Kingdom, we frequently miss it for the busyness of worldly life. Our Lord calls and calls and calls: “Come here, serve here. Do this, say that. Help, heal, save, serve, preach, pray, love. Watch!” And we, un-vigilant, distracted, selfish men that we are, respond, “Uh, I got a piece a property I need to look at. I got a phone call I need to make. Bonanza’s on at 9.”
One thing, brethren, (among many other things, admittedly), that distinguishes the believer from the non-believer is this: vigilance; “wakefulness, watchfulness.” And this has been true from ancient times, very ancient times, until now. Yes, even the hallmark of the Old Testament patriarchs, which we commemorate today on the Sunday of the Forefathers, was vigilance, as St. Paul says in Hebrews, concluding the so-called “hall of faith” passage in chapter 11:
“All these people [Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham] were still living by faith [and I would add: vigilance] when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (Heb 11:13).
Noah heard the voice of the Lord when every other member of his evil and wicked generation did not. In the midst of vice and corruption, Noah remained morally vigilant. Abraham heard the voice of the Lord—a foreign man in a far-off pagan county: Ur of the Chaldeans, that is, Babylonia—and followed that voice to Hebron, where he died (Gen 25:7-9). He did not know Yahweh, the God who would give his sons, and his sons’ sons, and the Gentiles through Jesus Christ his seed (cf. Gal 3:29) an eternal homeland, an eternal county; but he was awake enough to hear him calling: “Avram, Avram… go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1). The hallmark of faithfulness, true fidelity, true loyalty, is vigilance. As a man watches for his bride, as a city watchman keeps vigil for love of his countrymen, so too does the Christian await with eager anticipation, love, and joy the coming of the Lord.
Brethren, it is the season of Advent, … but not for much longer. Ten days stand between us and the Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Are you watching? Are you waiting? Have you kept the watch in fasting? Have you kept the watch in almsgiving? Have you prepared your soul, your heart for the Lord to tabernacle in? For even on the eve of the first Nativity, vigilance characterized the Gospel’s account:
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. [And] an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’ … When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about’” (Luke 2:8-11, 15, italics mine).
What if the shepherds has been sleeping, brethren? What if the Magi had been otherwise occupied, noses in books, too busy to look up; too busy, too distracted to watch the skies? The advent of our Lord is nearly here, and whether it is the Feast itself, a marriage supper, a Master coming to collect on his investment, let us hear the words of the Apostle and put them to action:
“[Now,] do this, understanding the present time: the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness. … Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Rom 13:11-12a,14).
Through the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!