Scripture Reflection 1 “Be watchful! Be alert! You do no know when the time will come.” - Mark 13:33

11/28/2011 09:25:00 AM

In the reading, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that we are sinners, we fail to keep God’s promises and at most, our inability to save ourselves. We often allow our hearts to harden for the Lord. We, at times, withhold our love for Jesus. Sometimes, it is even more comforting for us to call upon others, our friends, for help and comfort. But after all the things that may happen to us, the Lord has always welcomed us with open arms whenever we call upon Him. We are God’s beautiful creations. We are even made in His own image and likeness. What an honor it is for us to have our God in us. However, the Lord never closes us to do things He wants us to do. Even though we know what His will is, we have been given our freedom to choose what we would want to do with the lives given to us. And the things that we do that are against God’s will hurts Him. Sinners as we are, we have became unclean.


And so the Gospel of Mark tells us, “Be watchful!” Yes, we all understand this statement in the Gospel. And as we try to live our daily lives, we must come to fully understand what is it that we should be watchful about.

Tomorrow, the season of Advent begins. It is the season of the liturgical year that we, Christians, prepare for the coming of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We usually say “everything happens for a reason”. Moreover, we also say “accidents happen”. Don’t you find it ironic?

Nevertheless, the Lord tells us to be watchful because no one knows what will happen next. Yes, all the things that happen in our lives is because of a very certain reason through which the happenings in our lives could also be considered accidents. And so, accidents have reasons as well.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus warns us. He could have chose to just surprise us but he did not. He chose to tell us that, “Hey! I am going be back one of these days, so watch out” The Lord will be back so be mindful of what you are doing.

My mom usually tells me that the judgment day is almost near. And I admit it frightens me. But I suddenly realized that that day is not even meant to be afraid of. It’s the day of salvation! It’s the day that the Lord will come and save us from the wrath of hell. But you know why we are so scared of that day? It’s because we are not yet ready to be judged.

Human as we are, we sin. Yes, it’s human nature. But the Lord has always reminded us that we should always follow His word and avoid sin. It is indeed very easy to say and to share but very hard to follow. Every day, we try to live so normally that we forget to do things in the way Christ wants us to.

We are like the servants left at home by our master. The earth is our given home yet this is our temporary home. Our master was crucified for our sins yet our master will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Will our master be satisfied with what we have done while he’s away?

Like what Kris Allen says in his song: “We got to start looking at the hands of the time we've been given. If this is all we got and we got to start thinking. If every second counts on a clock that's ticking. We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to turn it all around or to throw it all away. We got to tell them that we love them while we got the chance to say.  Live like we're dying”
                                                                                                                           
No one knows what tomorrow will be like. Every day has its own significance and so we must always see the blessing in every single day. The Lord then tells us to live every day as if it were our last. Be happy, laugh hard, cry a little, spend time with your friends, forgive your enemies, bond with your family, take care of yourself, love every moment and love the people you share the moments with.

So be watchful.

I leave you with these thoughts to think about then: What if the Lord comes tomorrow? Will you be ready enough to face Him? Will you be worthy enough to be saved?

The answers are to be left in your hearts. We need not be threatened by the coming of our Lord. We just have to prepare for His coming.

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