Be Watchful, Be Alert, You do not know when the time will come

 

Keep Awake for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. These words have been repeated for over 2,000 years, yet somehow we still fear the end of our life on earth. Sure, we are comforted by the many parallels in nature that reveal death to be a precursor to new life, but the fear of death lingers in the shadows.  We have - or likely have - lived longer than our parents and grandparents.  We are better fed; we lose fewer babies, and modern medicine protects us from contagion and diseases that can shorten our lives... and yet, we are still afraid.   Why? 

Shortly after 9/11 the words “Fear Not” rang hollow and seemed a little out of place.  Surely we had every reason to be afraid.  After the three devastating attacks, the country held its breath wondering if there were there more to come. During the first few weeks following the attacks, the country was suspended in a state of watchful waiting. We were led to believe that it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when.” We carefully listened to those in authority speak of preparedness, but the summary statement always was, “we just don’t know.” It took a while but in time we began to live our lives with the knowledge that life must go on… but we were implored to remain vigilant and the words “If you see something, say something” became a national mantra. 

And is there any better year than the present, 2020, to reflect on the changes in our lives, the likes of which we have never or likely will ever see again. This time the foreign terrorist came in the form of a virus, an unknown novel virus whose virulence and pathogenicity confounded the greatest minds in infectious diseases. From an historical perspective, our lack of preparedness for flu pandemic went, for the most part, ignored as we exited the 2004 avian flu and the 2005 H2N2 seasons with plans in place but no tactical follow-through…falling back on an all too human response, “we’ll deal with it if and when it comes.” Well this time it came with a vengeance with atypical physiologic responses targeting every human organ leading to unknown morbidities and fatalities in people, especially those at risk. Ok will we stay awake now; are we even doing it now? 

 It doesn’t take much to see the connection between our gospel (Mark 13:24-37) and that fateful Tuesday or the winter of 2020. Our Spiritual journeys often get side tracked by the many distractions of the world, don’t they? In some ways it is understandable, we get relaxed and slack off a bit. Yet, we have been blessed to be living in the greatest country in the world. We are a “can do” people and from this disaster we will learn more than we ever knew and be better prepared in the future. But will we stay awake when the Master comes again? 

We know that in Christ's death and resurrection he relinquished his humanity as the divine Incarnation was complete in order that we could share in his resurrection and in so doing, remove our reasons to fear death forever. Knowing that God loves us and that there is nothing we can do to ever lose His love is a matter of faith, not intellect. So, we live out our lives enriched by Christ’s example when we resist the impulse to live for ourselves instead of others. It means being prepared to die again and again to ourselves, and to every one of our self-serving opinions and agendas. But about that day or hour no one knows.