ARE YOU AWAKE? December 1, 2013 Matthew 24: 36-44 Adam D. Gorman, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York Dear Lord, thank you for this past holiday of thankfulness. During this season of Advent help us to be both thankful to have you as well as thankful to know that you will come again. Help us to be thankful and to remember you not just as a baby in a manger but also as the mighty and powerful God who will return again at a time that no one knows. On this morning help us to center our hearts on you. In Jesus Christ s name we pray, Amen. Be alert, keep awake, and be ready for Jesus Christ to come again. With this morning being the first day of Advent one would think I would be preaching us toward Christmas, toward baby Jesus in a manger. When I had been assigned this date to preach, I sure thought so, and then I read the lectionary texts for the day. Reading these texts made me realize that as we prepare for baby Jesus in a manger, we are also to be prepared for Christ the King to return at any given and unexpected moment like a thief in the night. Last year I preached on Christ the King Sunday and I told you, Don t focus on baby Jesus just yet; rather focus on Christ the King. But this year I get to remind us to get ourselves ready for the awaited baby Jesus AND to stay awake. To stay awake because we do not know when Christ will return, it could be at any moment, and we must always be ready. When I re-read this passage from Matthew that Thomas Li just read for us, a story came to mind that has many parallels to it. At my college graduation party a family friend of ours gave me a cassette tape and told me that it was a story that I would love. And she was right; it was a tape I eventually played over and over in my car. A lot of times I listened to it by myself, but sometimes I also made my friends listen to it with me, usually on the curvy mountain roads of West Virginia on our way out to my parent s cabin in the middle of nowhere. - 1 -
This cassette tape was actually the recording of a sermon and the sermon was a young man s call story, his testimony, and the account of his coming back to Christ. This young man was the son of a preacher at a large church in the South and his father asked him to share this story from the pulpit one Sunday morning. His son obliged. For the sake of this story let s call this young man Peter. Peter s story begins with him at college somewhere in Alabama about 40 minutes from the Tallapoosa River. He is a fraternity brother and on this particular day Peter and three of his fraternity brothers decided to head out on a late afternoon to go canoeing on the river. When Peter tells this story he explains that they had all been Christians but that they had been drifting from the Way of the Lord. They had begun doing a lot of partying at college and Peter in particular wasn t too proud of it. Each of these four young men, or perhaps boys at this point in life, had training in canoeing and swimming and thought themselves rather good at both. After they dropped one car off down at a southern location of the river where they would finish their canoe trip, they then drove in the other car five or so miles north to where they would begin the days journey on the river. And just as the four of them had gotten fully ready, and had even gotten into their canoes, they heard a very loud noise, like that of a factory bullhorn. That bullhorn signified something extremely important. That bullhorn said, Wake up, ready yourself, because something big is about to happen. It meant that the dam was going to be released and that a somewhat calm river would now become a much faster and more dangerous river. Knowing the significance of the bullhorn, one of Peter s friends, Matthew, one of the more daring and wild ones of the bunch, said, Let s do it anyway, we know what we are doing. Come on, it will be fun! And just like college boys always seem to do, the other three boys went with him. However, what none of these boys knew was that not only was the river going to be faster than they had ever ridden it but that the release of water from the dam would be nearly twice what the dam regularly released. Normally the part of the river that these boys were about to canoe runs rather quietly and has a few class II rapids along the way. For those of you who do not - 2 -
know much about white water rafting or canoeing, class II rapids are for everyone. They are calm ripples maybe six inches high at most. But with the release of this water these boys didn t know that those class IIs were about to become class IV and V rapids, the most dangerous rapids there are. Think six-inch ripples now being four or five feet high. Well, the boys were already in the water and they started out going nice and slow until the additional water caught up to them. Then they were hootin and hollerin and having a good ol time. As time progressed and as they picked up speed on the calmer part of the river they started to get a little nervous. And then after making it through a rapid or two they eventually began to approach a hydraulic. At this point they still could have made the decision to get out of the river and walk their canoes safely out to a road. But being the college boys that they were, they decided to head on down the first hydraulic. This hydraulic, because of the amount of water that was flowing in the river, looked pretty much like a chute or a waterfall. Matthew decided his canoe would go first and as they went through the channel Peter could hear Matthew screaming at the top of his lungs. Right away Peter knew they were in serious trouble because if Matthew was scared, everyone should be scared. As Matthew s canoe shot through the hydraulic Peter lost sight of them. Having no choice at this point he followed Matthew s canoe into the abyss. When Peter and his buddy got through the chute, they saw a paddle and some other stuff floating around as their boat zoomed quickly by. Immediately they knew the others had capsized. They pulled their canoe over as fast as they could and got out and ran up the river to look for their other two buddies. They found one of them stranded on a rock in the middle of the river just below the hydraulic and then they heard the other one screaming. What they quickly discovered was that Matthew had been caught in the hydraulic and he was holding on to his floating life seat for survival. The way a hydraulic works is that with water it causes anything that gets caught in it to be dragged down to the bottom and then shoots it back up to the top, kind of like a seesaw. Matthew was stuck in the flow of this hydraulic. It would take him - 3 -
to the bottom of the river, hold him there for a brief moment, and then quickly bring him up to the surface, momentarily allowing him to take a breath and scream for help, before dragging him back down to the bottom. Peter told his one friend to stay with them while he went and got help. He took their canoe and hurried to the next takeout looking for a ranger. He immediately found some folks his age who could tell he was distraught. They asked him if he had an accident just north of here and when he told them yes they let him know that their kayak instructor had headed up that way to help and that the authorities knew too. At that moment he caught a glimpse of a ranger who was in a powerboat heading north on the river. Then one of the girls who had been in the kayak lesson said to Peter, Would you pray with me? And Peter said, Sure, I guess but while she prayed he continued to think, we should really be doing something about this situation not sitting around praying about it. Before long, which probably felt like an eternity to Peter, his one friend who had been stranded on the rock, was brought to him. He only had a few bumps and bruises, and no hypothermia, but was plenty cold. The authorities sent the two of them to the hospital that was only ten minutes away. While at the hospital Peter explained to the doctors and police what had happened. He also began calling the other fraternity brothers back at the house and even his parents. While his mom and dad were on the phone with him, his mom said, let s pray right now. And Peter thought to himself that it wouldn t do any good but that it was better to just let her pray. Then after Peter had finished with everything that he needed to do at the hospital, and after placing all the calls he needed to place, he headed out into the parking lot to go back to the river to hope the best for Matthew, who he knew had likely drowned by now. But just before he reached his car a doctor caught up to him and said, Peter. You don t know me be but I overheard your story and know about your situation. I - 4 -
stopped everything I was doing and I prayed for your friend Matthew and I know he is going to be all right. I know he has been released from that hydraulic and that he is okay. Well, there was that word prayer again, and it took Peter by surprise. He said thank you and got into his car and finally he began to pray himself on his drive back. He said, Lord, I know I have gone wayward in my ways and I am sorry. For that I am truly and very sorry. Lord, help Matthew to be all right. Please Lord, and I promise to not be wayward anymore. When Peter told this story, he jokingly but wholeheartedly said, He knows it s never a great idea to make a promise to God unless you really mean it, because God s not likely to forget it. Well, when Peter finally got back to the river the authorities pulled him aside one more time to get his story straight. They drilled him about his story because the hydraulic had eventually released Matthew. In fact, it had released him at about exactly the time the doctor had prayed for them. And now they knew he would live. The authorities questioned him very thoroughly because never had these rangers known anyone to live from an ordeal like this. But sure enough they did, they all did. One of the most unforgettable things about this story was what Matthew said after the whole ordeal was over. Matthew, who had probably been drinking a bit that day, said that when he got caught in that hydraulic all he could do was pray. And all he could think was, I do not want to die. I do not want to drown on the bottom of this river and face God this very day because I have not been right with God these days. Well, that s my question to all of us. In many ways we are on this canoe journey every day. Sometimes the river is moving nice and slow like a lazy Sunday drive, and other times its moving at the speed of a class IV or V rapid. But no matter at what speed our life is moving, we are supposed to be living in a way that we would be proud to see God face to face. We are to remain awake and NOT be complacent and lulled by the humdrum of our daily routines. And nor are we to get caught up in our fast-paced lives and let our morals, actions and attitudes slip into the norms of those around us. No, we are supposed to live each day in a way that we are ready to face God. Are we living our lives in a way that is pleasing to - 5 -
God? Are we ready to end up on the bottom of the river and meet God face to face? At first we enjoy a nice quiet ride, and then we get a little boost or a wind at our backs and we feel alive and we feel good and ready to take on more. But then all of a sudden we are caught up in the craziness of life and we realize we have forgotten about God in our lives. We have been living in the abyss, going with the flow, seeming to have no choice but to follow the tides of the world. But that is not how we are called to live our lives. We are to go and get help, to come to church and be grounded in Christ because we can t do this all on our own. We need to come to church and we need to pray in the calm of our lives, in the craziness of our lives, before a disaster, in the midst of it, and in its aftermath. Something magnificent is about to happen. Christ is about to return and wrap us in His arms. So I ask, Are we ready for Him? Are we awake? Let me share one other shorter story with you that struck me while I was pondering today s sermon. A story that is similar to the first one and yet different. Today s text took me out of the ordinary and reminded me that there is an article that my grandmother had clipped for me. She clipped it back in 2003 and it still resides in my old Confirmation Bible. The article is about a young lady that I did not know that well but whose story I will always remember. This young woman, Hannah Showaker, attended Messiah College with me and upon graduating college she joined a program called Serving and Learning Together. This program required her to spend a year working with Indonesian students over in Indonesia. She left [the United States] after graduating Messiah College [Hannah] was a particularly focused young woman with a clear sense of values and how this particular direction was a part of her faith pilgrimage. Once she had gotten overseas, people had commented on Hannah s especially strong personal character and every one who knew her could tell you that, She had a passion for helping others. While in Indonesia, Hannah was a volunteer teaching English to elementary pupils. At some point in her trip, the group was visiting committee representatives and hiking during [a] semester break. They were hiking in the mountains near the city - 6 -
of Salatiga on the island of Java with fellow Mennonite Committee workers when she was suddenly killed in an out-of-the-blue tragedy. They said a friend was taking a photograph of Showaker as well as another young lady as they stood at the Sekarlangit Falls. And that, without warning, a wall of water rushed over the falls and swept the two women away. An Indonesian friend was swept 50 meters, but was able to escape the torrent More than 100 people helped in the subsequent search Committee officials said Showaker s body was found a mile from where she was struck by the flood and that the other young lady being photographed was still missing a day later. Right now you may be thinking, Adam, how do these stories relate to this passage in Matthew? Well, today s lesson said, 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Well, we do not know when the Lord is coming, but we do know that the Lord is coming. And when we least expect to be swept away, could very possibly be the moment when we are. We can go through life forgetting about what is really important. We can forget about the God who surrounds us with love and wants nothing but the best for us. One moment we are in a canoe on a lazy river drifting through life but we need something to wake us up. We need to wake up before we are at the bottom of the river, before it is too late. For example, people can walk or jog in Central Park and miss all of its beauty because they are distracted but then all of a sudden their eyes wake up and it s like everything is clearer than it has ever been before. Their eyes and ears, and hearts, open and they see the world around them more vividly and bright than before. In - 7 -
these moments, we remember the things we are thankful for, the good things in life, and then we remember God. Wake up, for God is here, in our midst, surrounding us and all around us every day. Wake up, because Christ is coming again for us, to wrap us up in His arms, to swaddle us like that baby in a manger. Are you awake? Are you ready to meet God face to face? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. - 8 -