Mitch had worked hard all week on his studies. He wrote papers, studied for tests, took exams all week and finally it was Friday. It was time to pick up his friends and go home to visit his family for the weekend. Since it had been such a difficult week, he was exhausted. He decided to take a little nape before he had to drive home. He looked at the clock. It was three P. M. He could get about an hour and a half of sleep before he had to pick up his friends. The next time he saw the clock, it read eight o’clock and the morning sun was shining in his window. He had forgotten to set the alarm!
Mary was babysitting for the Wilsons. After a long day of school and volleyball practice, she arrived at their home. After playing with the kids and getting them off to bed, she was exhausted. She looked at her watch, “Nine o’clock,” she said. “It will be hours before they come home. I can get a quick nap in before I do the dishes and put away the toys.” She woke to sounds in the garage. She looked at her watch. Midnight! The Wilsons were home and the house was a mess!
John had been working hard the past two weeks to meet the deadline for the big project at work. This had been the biggest job his company had ever gotten. It was so exciting at first but now he was exhausted. But tonight was his wedding anniversary. He and his wife were going to have dinner and see a show. He was feeling fine through dinner, but when the lights went out in the theater, he was unable to keep his eyes open. When he woke up and looked at his watch, the theater was empty. His wife had left in anger before the movie was even over.
Most of us have been late for an event because we over slept. Maybe some of us have slept right through an event. Not attending or arriving late may have affected our relationship with our relatives, friends, boss or co-workers. For Mitch, Mary and John, their slumbering had some effects on their relationships with others, as well.
This is what St. Paul is talking about in today’s epistle lesson. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, telling them “and do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believe.” “And do what?” we ask. If we go back to the previous verse, we find out what he’s talking about. It says, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.” And do what? Love your neighbor.
Martin Luther asks in his Small Catechism, “Who is our neighbor?”
Is it the boy next door? Yes, and it is the guy across town too. Is it our best friend? Yes and the lady at work that really tests our patience too. Is it our wife and kids? Yes and the guy down the street whose kids throw rocks at your dog too. Who is our neighbor? Look around. If you see someone, that’s your neighbor.
Luther asks, “How should we love our neighbor?”
When my wife and I first got married, we moved to St. Louis where I started seminary. It was a stressful time the first year. I started learning Greek and Hebrew and learned the fine art of being married. I had enough time in my schedule to clean the house, do the dishes and do the laundry while my wife worked. She’d come home and say thank you but then complain that I wasn’t loving her. I read the book, “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman when I was in my 4th year at the seminary. I asked what things made her feel loved: physical touch, receiving gifts, quality time, verbal affirmation or acts of service. She told me that she felt loved when I bought her flowers and told her that I loved her.
I was knocking myself out doing acts of service thinking that she felt loved when I was doing all these tasks but all she wanted me to do was buy her a bouquet of flowers every few weeks and tell her that I love her everyday.
We need to demonstrate love to people in ways that they’ll receive and see as loving. Too often in the church, we tell people that God loves them and forgives them but they don’t get that they’ve done anything wrong. We have to spend the time to get to know people well enough to figure out, discern or have them share with us what their perceived issues are and speak the Gospel to that particular need.
Paul continues in his letter to the Romans, “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber.” We, like the Romans, have often allowed ourselves to get overwhelmed with all of our activities and not focus our attention on what matters most. Maybe, we’ve failed to show love to our families and friends. Maybe, we’ve failed to be kind to strangers. We’ve been snoring as opportunities to love our neighbors pass us by.
Especially in this season of Advent, we have a tendency to go to sleep. We aren’t very loving when we are asleep in our exhaustion are we? Going to work early and staying late, working weekends or taking a second job to make a little extra cash. We may be too exhausted to be loving.
I have some relatives that are not especially fun to be around. They are extremely self-centered and rude. I don’t like spending time with them. The problem is that every holiday my extended family gets together. We live within an hour of one another so there is no real way to avoid seeing them. I get very cranky in the weeks leading up to seeing them. The whole family is set on edge it seems. Instead of choosing not to see them or better yet, trying to love them despite themselves, I allow us getting together to ruin weeks or even months all together out of every year.
“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believe.” For Mitch, Mary and John, understanding the time affected them. What is “understanding the present time?” It is knowing that our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Our salvation has come near to us in Jesus.
Jesus was born in that manger to humble parents, Mary and Joseph, in the tiny village of Bethlehem. He came to fulfill the law perfectly for us because we could not. He was accused and convicted of crimes he did not commit yet did not even open His mouth in His own defense. He willingly endured the beatings that we deserved of our sins and submitted Himself to being hung on the cross for us. Three days after He died, He rose again in victory over sin, death and the devil for you.
When we find ourselves asleep in our exhaustion and busyness during the advent season God wakes us up. He causes us to understand the present time. He brings salvation nearer to us now than when we first believed. Although we yell at the man who is blocking traffic while stopped in front of the store to pick up his wife, God wakes us up to realize that because of Jesus, He forgives us for our failure to love. Although we hear our child’s question but don’t answer because we are too busy shopping, God wakes us to the fact that He is never too busy to hear our prayers in His Son’s name. Although we see someone we know in the store but look the other way because we are too busy, God wakes us to the fact that because of His Son He will never turn away from us. Jesus endured the penalty for you lack of love to wake us from our slumber of sin.
As we enter this Advent season, remembering our Savior’s birth, we also look forward to His second coming. Paul wrote, “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. It is true; our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. As the writer of Hebrews states, “So Christ, also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” He is coming back again.
When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines on 11 March 1942, before the Japanese invaded, it was a difficult departure. Difficult for those he was leaving. The Filipino people had come to know and love the charismatic leader. Difficult for him too I’m sure. He had spent a lot of time in the Philippines. He had grown to love those people. He didn’t want to leave. But leave he did. When he departed, he departed with a promise, “I shall return.” While he was away, they longed for the joy of his return. On 20 October 1944, he returned. Some two and a half years after his departure, he reclaimed the Philippines from the tyranny it had endured. There was much joy for the Filipino people as they once again saw the American soldiers and especially their beloved MacArthur.
So too with us. Our general, Jesus, who fought and defeated sin, death and the devil for us, ascended some tow thousand years ago. It was a difficult departure. For us who wished that he could stay. For Him who loved us so much He came in the first place. But it was time to leave. He, too, left with a promise, “I shall return.” Not only that, He said that He would never really leave, “Lo, I am with you always. Even to the end of the age.” With these promises, Jesus shows us that He loves and cares for us.
As the Filipino people were filled with expectation of General MacArthur’s return, holding fast to his promise, we too long for Jesus’ return. We hold fast to His promise. Then, we too may be filled with the joy of our blessed reunion.
Waiting for our reunion, we know that our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. In baptism, we have received our hope of salvation. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first were baptized. Today, our assurance of the hope of salvation is renewed through our Lord’s absolution through the words of our pastor. Today, we receive our Lord’s words to us to encourage and uphold us in the faith. Today, our faith is strengthened as we receive the Lord’s body and blood as we kneel before the altar. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Knowing that our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed, we are enabled now to love not out of obligation but freely. “And do this, understanding the present time.” And do what? Love your neighbor.
As we have been encouraged in our faith today, having seen the assurance of our salvation in His Word and in His Sacrament to come, we look for ways to love our neighbors. Telling and showing our wives and children that we love them, supporting and affirming our husbands, doing what our parents tell us to do. Offering to help someone with their groceries, writing the person we haven’t spoken to in awhile, and stopping by to see someone in the nursing home. Knowing that our salvation is near, God enables us to love our neighbors.
In this season where we remember Christ’s birth, we thank Him for waking us up like Mitch to the light of His love. “Do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up form your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
