Text: Mark 13:24-37
Theme: “3 – Focused (be on guard)

Series: “Living towards Life”

Part 1 – Blessed
Part 2  – Faithfully

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Intr – “How do you feel about flying? Does it make you excited, or do you get a bit nervous? If you’re in the latter group, think about why that might be the reasons for that. Acrophobia (being afraid of heights); turbulence; the many accidents that have already happened (even though they are a very small portion of all the flights happening in a day)? Here’s one factor I guess 99% of the time never crosses our mind. The Air Traffic Controller. What is their job? Basically, Air Traffic Controllers coordinate the movement of aircrafts to maintain safe distances between them.[1] They are one of the key pieces when it comes to flight safety.

Now, do you know him or her? Do you know if they’ve slept well last night, or if came to work after a fight at home? Do you know if they are angry at their boss, or if they are on their phone for longer than they should? With very rare exceptions, I’m sure we don’t. However, the air traffic controller holds much of the safety of your 33,000-feet-above-the-ground flight in his/her hands. If fail happens, especially when your aircraft is approaching the airport, there’s nothing that even the pilot can do.

What do you expect from them throughout their 8 hour-shifts in front of the radar screen? I would say that you expect the verb that is in our Gospel today: Blepete. Literally it means the imperative “see”, or watch, or look. Our ESV translates it as “be on guard”. If they aren’t on guard all the time, then you’ll have to resort to the other verb present in the text:[2] pray. If the controller takes his or her eyes from the screen for too long, trouble is coming.

Blepete  – be on guard

In the final installment of our “Living towards life” series” we think about living focused. Which we could also call, “Living on Guard”. As air controllers, we want to be focused on what matters, with our eyes attentive to the most important things in life. If you take your eyes from where they are supposed to be in your life, for too long, there’s trouble coming. That applies to some very important matters:

_Family _Work _relationships _Your health

In the Gospel today the focus is the central one for us Christians – your spiritual life. If you take your eyes for too long of what you know from the Bible that reality is there’s spiritual trouble coming – even if for now it seems like your plane doing well. Just like in a plane crash, it takes a series of small, overlooked steps to generate the mistakes which lead up to a tragic outcome.

Today we think especially about our spiritual life regarding the end. As we see in the Gospel today, and in other passages, as a Christian you must live your life loving God and your neighbours, and your family, and your enemy, and doing everything else that is important. But you can never take your eyes off this reality: there will be an end. And a New Beginning. You are living towards Life. For that reason, it is worth also revisiting what we know about the end times.

Throughout history, many have believed they were living in the Last Days, and perhaps you’ve felt the same about our own times. In a sense, this is true for all of us, because we each have only so many days, and none of us knows when our personal Last Day will come. One way or another, the end is coming—but should you fear it? As a baptized Christian you don’t need to be afraid. Jesus has already shown you what will come: on that day—or your Last Day—He promises to take you to Himself. For us, the end won’t be chaos or nothingness, as many Hollywood materialistic productions try to make people believe. It will be Life, the Resurrection, and peace. As Jesus says, “The one who endures Living towards Life to the end will be saved.” And if you wonder, “Can I endure? I’m weak,” remember: your strength is in Jesus. He endured all, even death on the cross, and in Him, you have forgiveness and salvation.

Talking about the end begs also the question: How will life after life be? You know, popular culture often imagines eternity in ways that reflect human creativity and limitations. One of the most recents attempts that I saw was this Netflix series’ episode, where eternity is portrayed as a digital afterlife. People with terminal illnesses receive the opportunity to lay on a bed where you enter a coma-like state every Sturday evening. Then, their consciousness is uploaded into a virtual world, where they can choose to go to any time in their life, say, the 70’s or the 80s, and have all the pleasures it can offer. Then when you real death is about to happen, you can choose if you want the “normal” death and burial, or if you want to “transition” your consciousness into this techologically created world and be there…forever.

This is one more attempt to portray eternity in a man made, man oriented and man pleasing way. In this case, it is a conditional, self-focused, and disembodied eternity, offering a temporary and customizable experience rather than a permanent, unbreakable reality. As we know, such digital after life is completely opposite to Biblical teaching, and this is not the only thing that the episode got wrong, there’s many more. The Christian hope, as revealed in Scripture, speaks of eternal life as a God-centred, not something designed just to extend our notion of pleasure and peace. It is a permanent reality established by God’s grace. We are promised a bodily resurrection into a renewed creation where our lives are fully restored and perfected, where our joy comes from being in God’s presence and living in fellowship with Him and all His people. This is our Greatest Hope.

The end of time is a reality that will come. Therefore, Jesus ends His description of the end times with “Be on guard.” Keep the eyes of your faith focused on Him. Perhaps you’re thinking as you hear me “That’s important, Pastor, but it is so hard to do; even when I try hard.” I hear you. It’s hard for all of us. Living our faith, living as a blessed, faithful and focused person is not easy. Using a Football metaphor, we all fumble and fail. We miss so many opportunities to score and are left thinking that there’s no hope of winning for us.

Now, going further in the football metaphor, what happens when a team fumbles the ball, or makes a turnover? Do they sit on the turf saddened by that fact, talking to each other about what just happened and lamenting their bad luck? No, all players on the field immediately focus their energy on tackling the problem and stop the other team’s progress as soon as possible.

When you fumble in life, tackle the issue quickly. Stop the progress of the trouble. Bring your sin, bring your heart, bring your everything to Christ. He will always offer His forgiveness through repentance and faith. On His Cross he scored the biggest play and victory ever. In Him, the victory is won. Our life has now the blessed assurance of His peace.

Eyes fixed on Him

Why is it so important to Blepete, to be on guard, watching and praying? One of the main reasons is: there will be challenges and discouragements to your faith, from many sides of your life of relationships. Here’s one that always comes along: “how can you believe in someone you don’t see?”

Remember the air traffic controller, that person with your life in his/her hands? Tell me, have you ever seen one, talked to one every time you fly, or at least sometimes? I guess I know the answer. We don’t see them, we don’t know who they are, not even if they were good students (would you like to discover that your doctor or flight controller was one of those F- students?)[3] Still, you hop on your plane, whether afraid or not, and trust to that imperfect sinner like yourself your life and your family’s.

Now, talk about Jesus, the perfect life flight controller. Talk about faith and trust here! We know Him, He is Real, near, saving and present. Every day and all the time, to hold us in His hands, to forgive us and to save us from spiritual crash.

“Well pastor but if I needed to, I could ask to go up the tower and see the controller to make sure he or she exists. What about Jesus?”

Jesus is the Word of God. Every time you see the Word of God, you see the real Jesus. Every time you go to Holy Communion, you receive the real Jesus in you. Go to the Word. Get to know more and more the one who never fails in giving control and stability to your flight even in the worst turbulence of life.

He invites you to live focused; on guard; to pray and trust Him. You also have the privilege of sharing it, taking this awesome hope to many perhaps flying by night, in need of a Word of peace and security, Jesus is there for you, for essentials of daily life. Family, Work, relationships, your health. Especially, Jesus is there through faith in you and for you until the end comes.

Cc – What about flying, are you on the “I just enjoy the ride” or on the “I can’t wait to be on the ground again” team? Well, in any case, never be afraid of being embarked in the journey of faith with Christ, living towards life with Him, blessed, faithful and focused. It can be a bumpy flight sometimes, for sure. But you know that you are flying with the Flight Controller that never, not even for a second, takes His eyes off you.

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[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/air-traffic-controllers.htm

[2] It is not present in the ESV but it is in the majority of the Bible Manuscripts copies.

[3] To become and air traffic controller, candidates typically need “an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree from the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative program. Other applicants must have 3 years of progressively responsible work experience, have completed 4 years of college, or have a combination of both.”  https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/air-traffic-controllers.htm