Jesus has this dream. It is not the type of dream that you have at night in which a clown with monkey print pajamas rides a pony right through the rear door of the church into the middle of worship (do not even ask), but rather, it is the type of dream that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had when he imagined a future America where “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners" could "sit down together at the table of brotherhood,” a future in which his four children are judged not "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It is that sort of dream.
It is in line with the dream that Isaiah has where the Lord descends into Jerusalem in order to teach and judge all the nations and all the peoples, and the result is that the people: “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” It is a dream in which nations no longer “lift up sword against nation,” neither do they “learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4). It is a dream where the people are awake to the ways of God and do not get lulled into the deep sleep of the violent and unforgiving ways of this world.
Jesus has this dream where he will return to the earth and his people will be awake! (Shout “Awake!”) I once shouted that while preaching in my internship congregation. In that congregation, there was this man who sat toward the back of the church and unfurled his newspaper at the beginning of the sermon, sort of as a visual statement to the student pastor that said, “I don’t have to listen to anything a kid preacher is going to say.” Well, when I shouted, “Awake!” that paper went flying over the top of his head and landed in the face of the poor lady sitting behind him. They were both awake.
And, that is what Jesus wants for his people. He hopes that when he returns, his people will not be found, refusing to be the people of God. He hopes that they will not be like the students who use the classroom as a playground when the teacher needs to step out. He hopes that the people of God will not be like the employees who take an extra long break just because the foreman is not on site. He hopes that he will not return and step through the door of his surprise party, only to turn on the lights and find that all of the guests had fallen asleep with blow whistles hanging out of their snoring mouths, inflating and deflating with every snore.
Instead, Jesus desires more than anything to be pleasantly shocked when he walks through the door and voices surround him shouting, “Surprise!” Jesus desires more than anything to get to the job site and see that all of his people are hard at work, showing love to others and forgiving as he forgave. He hopes that he does not see a single sword in our hands, but rather that the swords have all been transformed into something useful like plowshares which cut into the soil so that life may thrive. Jesus desires more than anything that the students be at work, teaching each other as he steps back through the door of the classroom. Jesus desires more than anything that we not be lured by the temptations of the world, but rather stay awake to the love of God that we see in Jesus Christ.
So, here is the deal. It is a dream. It is an aspiration. It is a hope. And, it is not something that even Jesus’ own disciples were able to pull off.
Just a handful of days after Jesus teaches the disciples to stay awake, Judas is lured by money to betray him into the hands of the officials.
Just a handful of days after Jesus warns the disciples to not be like the generation of Noah who went about their days, without a care in the world, and suddenly were swept away by the flood waters because of their wickedness and their murderous ways, because they were asleep; Peter and the disciples fall asleep three times in the garden when asked to remain awake. Even worse, upon awaking and seeing the soldiers who have come to take Jesus away, one of them grabs a sword and tries to use violence in the name of Jesus.
Jesus has a dream that when he is present with us, we will be awake. He does not want us to be swept away by the raging ways of this world. He does not want only one woman to remain in the field, working her holy task as the other is swept away by the ignorant and violent ways of this world. He does not want any one of us to lose all the love that has been poured into us because a thief has come in the middle of the night and stolen it all. “If only we had been home to thwart the thief!” we would cry. “If only we had been awake!”
The man caught me in the frozen food aisle. Standing next to the frozen peas was not my preferred spot for pastoral counseling, but sometimes I do not get to choose. The tears were pouring out of the guys eyes.
“I knew that I should not have gone. I knew to stay away from the bar. She warned me that one more time would be one too many. And, when I came home this morning, all that was left was a note. No kids. No money. Just a note that said, ‘that was the last time.’” The man knew he should stay awake, but like the disciples, he could not.
No one knows when Jesus will arrive. No one knows when Jesus will show up to be with his people. No one knows. Lots of people on TV will try to convince you that they know, and sell you a book on top of it, but they do not. As Jesus says, “about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).
But, there is one thing that I do know, Jesus hopes more than anything that we can be the people of God, even when he is not around. He hopes more than anything that his life of love continues on in us, even when he is away; because “where two or three and gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). Wherever there is love, Jesus is there.
That seems like a nice “wrap up sentence.” I supposed that I could just take a seat now and let you all ponder. Maybe, you have some shopping to do? Maybe, the ways of the world are pressing in on you, and this teaching is all a little too inconvenient? Maybe, the sort of shaming that just came from the preacher’s mouth is just the preacher also slipping into the dismissive and passively violent ways of the world? Maybe, I fall asleep just like the disciples, and that man who came home from the bar, and you? Maybe, God has slipped something into the Bible to help us all.
God has put something there. You can find it all the way at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. It is the story of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. If you remember, when Joseph finds out about Mary’s pregnancy, one which he knows he took no part in creating, he too slips into the sleep of a passive sort of aggression. He resolves to quietly throw Mary to the streets. But, while asleep, the Lord sends an angel to Joseph who says, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” The angel then tells him that the child’s name will be “Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us.” And then the Bible says that, “Joseph awoke from sleep.”
Joseph awoke from sleep! Given the gift of a reminder from someone else, an angel, Joseph awoke from his sleep and “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.”
I hate to imagine what would have happened to Mary and the child if Joseph had not been awakened by the angel. But, we do not have to worry, because an angel came to save the day and woke Joseph up from his sleep.
And, that brings me back to our gospel reading for the day, our good news reading for this morning, because when you look at the word for “Keep awake” in Greek, you will find that it is a verb in the present active imperative, second plural. Wahoo! Let us hear it for the present active imperative, second plural! You know what that means, right? It means that, like Joseph, we do not do this keeping awake stuff alone! The plural part of this word is the important one. “Keep awake, all you’all!” “Together, as a community, keep each other awake!” Joseph was given the gift of an angel to wake him up, and we are given the gift of one another to keep each other awake to the Lord.
On the days when I am falling asleep to the Lord and falling asleep to the ways of love that the Lord desires me to live, I have the gift of you to wake me up! You can say to me, “Do not be afraid to do what God hopes you to do.”
And on the days when I see that you are drowsy, falling asleep to God’s ways of love and peace, I have a divine duty to wake you up, that you might not be swept away, that you might not miss the arrival of the Lord.
Jesus Christ has drawn us together into a community of love and forgiveness that cannot be snuffed out by the darkness of the world. Oh, the world can try to snuff us out when we are alone, but when we remember the gift of each other, when we are together, “where two or three are gathered,” the Lord will be present. The Lord will come. And the love of the Lord will rule the day. Love will win. Christ will come. Keep each other awake to the gifts of love given to us by Jesus Christ our Lord.
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