Mark 13 - Keep Awake

March 22nd, 2026                           “Keep Awake”                        Rev. Heather Jepsen

Mark 13:1-37

          This morning we continue our deep study of the gospel of Mark, and we are drawing ever closer to the end of the story.  In our text, it is just days before Jesus will die.  He has already ridden into the city on a donkey, an event that we will celebrate next week for Palm Sunday.  He has spent days in the temple, arguing with the scribes and Pharisees and teaching the crowds and disciples.  Now he pulls away from that scene and prepares for his own suffering and death.

          As they are leaving the temple mount, Jesus’ disciples are awed by the size of the stones that make up the great building.  The stones are still there in Jerusalem, and I can attest that they are impressive.  Huge perfectly hewn squares of rock, they defy logic and inspire wonder.  But Jesus is not impressed.  Predicting the temple’s destruction, he claims that the very stones the disciples admire will be thrown down.

          The small group journeys across the valley to the mount of olives and the disciples ask about when such terrifying destruction will take place.  Here Jesus launches into a speech which will come to be known as the “little apocalypse”.  Borrowing on imagery from the book of Daniel, Jesus warns the disciples about the suffering that is to come.  He tells about the end of the earth, that no one can know the day or time, that the son of man will return before this generation passes away, and that the disciples are to keep awake and watch for his return. 

          I’m sure you’re curious about what I am going to say about this chapter, and I admit I was too.  Of all the weeks for me to be down with a cold and not 100%, I had half a mind to skip this text.  Jesus coming back before the first generation dies, coming on the clouds in glory, end of the age, what are we to make of this as modern readers 2000 years after the fact?

          If we look at the time Mark was writing his gospel, we can get an idea of where he was coming from with this chapter.  Everything that happened in the Judean revolt against Rome is listed here.  At the time the area was engulfed in social upheaval and civil strife.  In Jesus’ speech we read about all the things that the people suffered through including war, turmoil, flight from Jerusalem, false prophets, desecration of the temple, and finally the destruction of the temple itself.

          Historically then, all of this makes sense.  The community that Mark is writing for, and early readers of the gospel were going through unimaginable suffering and upheaval.  They are in dire need of hope.  And so, Mark writes a story about how Jesus, or the son of Man, will come in the clouds with great power and glory.  All the good people will be gathered up, and God will fix the mess that we have made. 

          But what do we do with this now?  It’s been 2000 years and Jesus hasn’t come.  That generation certainly experienced the promised suffering, but they have long since passed away and the son of man is nowhere to be seen.  How do we as modern readers interpret these historically specific apocalyptic texts?

          The truth is, I don’t know.  I really don’t.  If you would have asked me for a sermon on this text last year, I would have told you that Jesus is still coming to fix it all.  I would have asked you to hope into the future, to keep awake, that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice and at some point this will all turn around.  We’ve ruined things too much to fix them ourselves, and I feel like we are careening toward the destruction of our planet and our species and so Jesus must come fix it.  We’ve crossed the point of no return, and we can’t fix it ourselves any more so “Come, Lord Jesus” and make it right.

          And that’s great.  I can hold on to the hope of some great cosmic healing and renewing of all the peoples and this whole planet.  I can carry that dream to my grave and it won’t hurt anybody or cause any harm.  Nothing wrong with that at all.  But I sometimes wonder if it’s true.  Is that really what Jesus means when he talks about the coming kingdom of God?

          I’ve been taking a Lenten class with John Dominic Crossan this past month, he is a famous scholar of the historical Jesus, and he has rocked my world this past few weeks with a simple idea.  Perhaps instead of us waiting for God to make things right, God is waiting for us to change the world.  Perhaps bringing about the kingdom of God is about our actions instead of God’s actions.

          I was talking with a friend about this text this week and we agreed that we see the kingdom of God in little acts of ministry.  I don’t see God fixing the whole world at once.  But I do see little moments in this church where God changes people’s lives.  Moments where my actions, my gifts of love and compassion, warm a heart or make someone feel welcome.  Perhaps that is the kingdom of God.  Perhaps that is the coming of Jesus into our world today. 

          Perhaps, instead of coming on the clouds in glory, Jesus comes into our own lives when we minister to each other in his name.  It’s a perpetual act of coming into the world.  

It makes sense then that Jesus doesn’t know the day or hour because Jesus is waiting for me to act.  It’s on my timeline, not his.  Will I see him in the stranger and in love bring about the kingdom of God, or will I turn away?  Suddenly the coming kingdom is my responsibility instead of God’s.  Instead of me waiting for God to come and fix it all, God is waiting for me to wake up, see Jesus in the world, and act accordingly.

          At the end of his speech Jesus tells a story about a man going on a journey and leaving the house to the servants.  They are told to keep awake for they know not what hour the man will return.  I think we could see this as a call to us as well.  We know not when we might have the chance to bring about the kingdom of God in our world.  But if we are alert, if we are looking for opportunities to see Jesus in the stranger, then we will be able to act.  If we keep awake, watching for kingdom of God moments, then we can be participants in the new heaven and new earth that Jesus promises.

          I’ll be gone next week for the start of dance competition season, and my good friend Neil will lead you through Palm Sunday.  I encourage you to attend that worship service as well as our Good Friday service on April 3rd where we will read the texts of Jesus’ death in the gospel of Mark.  Then on Easter Sunday we will read Mark’s last chapter, which, spoiler alert, is my favorite of the resurrection narratives.

          Until that time, I invite you to consider these ideas for yourself.  Is Jesus coming on the clouds someday to fix our world and make everything right?  Or, is Jesus waiting for us to notice him in the people around us and to enact the kingdom of God in our own lives right now?  Or is it perhaps both?  I am curious what you think and how you understand these apocalyptic texts.  Are we waiting for God?  Or is God waiting for us?  Amen.