Mark 13:33

Mark 13:33

I. This word watchingis a remarkable word; remarkable because the idea is not so obvious as might appear at first sight. We are not simply to believe, but to watch; not simply to love, but to watch; not simply to obey, but to watch. To watch for what? for that great event, Christ's coming. Do you know the feeling in matters of this life, of expecting a friend, expecting him to come, and he delays? To watch for Christ is a feeling such as this; as far as feelings of this world are fit to shadow out those of another. He watches for Christ who has a sensitive, eager, apprehensive mind; who is awake, alive, quick-sighted, zealous in seeking and honouring Him; who looks out for Him in all that happens, and who would not be surprised, who would not be over-agitated or overwhelmed, if he found that He was coming at once.

II. This then it is to watch; to be detached from what is present and to live in what is unseen, and to live in the thought of Christ as He came once, and as He will come again; to desire His second coming, from our affectionate and grateful remembrance of His first. And this it is in which we shall find that men in general are wanting. What is meant by watching, and how it is a duty, they have no definite idea; and thus it accidentally happens that watching is a suitable test of a Christian, in that it is that particular property of faith and love, which, essential as it is, men of this world do not even profess; that particular property, which is the life or energy of faith and love, the way in which faith and love, if genuine, show themselves.

III. Christ warns His disciples of the danger of having their minds drawn off from the thought of Him, by whatever cause; He warns them against all excitements, all allurements of the world; He warns them by the instance of the rich man whose soul was required, of the servant who ate and drank, and of the foolish virgins. When He comes, they will one and all want time; then head will be confused, then eye will swim, then tongue falter, then limbs totter, as men who are suddenly awakened. Year passes after year silently, Christ's coming is ever nearer than it was, and, as He comes nearer earth, we may approach nearer heaven. Every act of obedience is an approach, an approach to Him who is not far off, though He seems so, but close behind this visible screen of things which hides Him from us. He is behind the material framework; earth and sky are but a veil between Him and us; and the day will come when He will rend that veil and show Himself to us. And then, according as we have waited for Him, will He recompense us.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,vol. iv., p. 319.

References: Mark 13:33. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 116; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iv., p. 138.