"Watch therefore,  for you do not know on what day your Lord is come. 
But know this,  that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, 
he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 
Therefore you also must be ready,  for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

                                                                                  Matt. 24:42-44

It’s become something of a Christmas classic.   Perhaps not of the same caliber as films like ‘A Christmas Carol’ or ‘White Christmas’,  but a classic nonetheless.   I’m talking about the 1990 comedy ‘Home Alone’ featuring Macaulay Culkin.  It came out of nowhere to became a box office smash that year,  drawing record crowds and enough interest to bring about a sequel a few years later.

Home Alone is the story of an eight year old boy who gets left behind when his family goes on a vacation to France at Christmas…accidentally of course.  The McAllister family oversleeps the morning of their flight and they literally have to run to catch their flight to Paris.  In the chaos,  nobody thinks to wake up young Kevin and it’s not until the family are in flight over the Atlantic Ocean that his mother clues into his absence.  Kevin awakes to discover he’s all alone in the big ol’ house.  

At first he thinks it’s pretty cool -  he can stay up late,  watch all the TV he wants,  eat pizza and ice cream morning, noon and night,    and go into his brother Buzz’ room and take whatever he wants…something which would normally be punishable by death.  It’s a young kids dream come true.

But after awhile however the novelty begins to wear off and young Kevin actually begins to miss his family.  This change is spurred large part by a home invasion attempt by a couple creepy characters known as The Wet Bandits.  They’ve been working over the neighborhood and think that the McAllister household is vacant.   Kevin overhears of their plans to invade his house after dark and he’s so scared that he runs and hides under his parents bed and covers his eyes.  He  soon decides that hiding is no option and takes a more pro-active approach.  He boobytraps the entire house with every trick in the book  …  ice on the outside steps,  marbles and Christmas lights sprinkled on the floor,  tar and feathers, a swinging paint can, and a tarantula spider are just some of the tricks he unleashes with slapstick precision.  It all makes for a great comedy. Kevin manages to fend off the bandits.  The bandits manage to get arrested for their crimes,  and Kevin’s family all manage to make it back home just in time for Christmas.

Why was this such a popular Christmas movie?  Clever comedy, yes.  A underdog comes up a winner,  yes (we all love that)  but I think it’s more than that.  We can all identify Kevin in this movie.  Who has not felt left all alone in life?  Who has not known the fear of facing overwhelming odds?  Who has not been in the difficult position of watching and waiting for just the right time to act?

 Kevin McAllister has to watch after his home while he waits for his family’s return.  In the process he teaches us something about the posture of watching and waiiting.  Watching and waiting is not a passive, idle posture,  it’s an active one   Kevin must spring to action to save the his home,  so that he and his family can enjoy it once they are reunited. 
And Matthew’s congregation,  like Kevin,  are also in watching and waiting mode…they are put on high alert and told to keep watch as they wait for the return of Jesus Christ.  You see, the wait has been longer than expected.  And they are losing their sense of urgency.  Some don’t believe Jesus will return again at all.  Cynicism has set in:   ‘If he were going to return don’t you think he would have shown up by now!’   They’re getting slothful, sloppy,  undisciplined:  ‘What does it matter how you live – Jesus isn’t coming back anytime soon’.

So they’re losing their edge.  Some even starting to question the importance of faith and religion:  
 ‘You  don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian.’
‘It doesn’t really matter what you believe,  as you as you believe something.’
‘God helps those who help themselves.’   
(any of this sound familiar?)

    So Matthew reminds his congregation of the words of Jesus.   Watch,  because you don’t know when the Lord will come…

If the homeowner had known when the thief were coming,  he would have kept watch and stopped him.   So be ready because you don’t know when the Son of man will return.
Matthew suggests that the 2nd coming of Christ will be unexpected,  and that should not be so surprising to us.   After all,  the first coming was unexpected too!  Nobody expected the Son of God to come as a helpless baby,  born not in a palace but a stable.  Oh, his birth caught the attention of foreign Magi but it was missed by so many of his own.  Why?  They were living with their heads down…without expectation.  If you aren’t watching and waiting you aren’t likely to see anything when it does happen.

Dr. Joseph Jetter,  homiletics professor with the Disciples of Christ Church tells the story of working his way through college as a real estate appraiser.  He got up very early one winter’s morning because he had to appraise a couple houses before heading out on a church retreat later that day.  Half awake and barely sociable,  he sat in a restaurant eating his breakfast.  Through the frosty window he could see a man standing outside in the cold.  Finally he came in and he got a better look at him – the man’s clothes were neat,  but worn,  and he carried all his belongings in a box tied up with a string.  The man walked over to the cook and asked him something;  the cook shook his head ‘no’ and turned away.  The man started to leave but before he reached the door Joseph Jeter said to him ‘Do you want some breakfast?’  ‘If you please’  responded the man.’   Jeter put his hand down into his pocket and pulled out fifty cents and gave it to the man.  The man thanked him and went to the counter to study the menu to see what he could get with fifty cents (which wasn’t much).  He ordered something, ate it and thanked him again before leaving.

Later that afternoon Jeter traveled 100 miles to a church retreat center.  On the wall of the center was an old classic painting of Jesus.  He studied the picture as he waited for the conference to begin.  Suddenly it occurred to him that the face in the painting was that of the man he had seen in the restaurant at breakfast.  The resemblance shook him so profoundly that he left the retreat and traveled hom in search of that man.  He searched in all the homeless shelters and hangouts in town but never found the man.  He was left to ponder the notion that Jesus might have come again and the best he had to offer him was fifty cents!   Reflecting on this he said ‘Was that man Jesus come again?  I do not know.  But that event forever changed my cynicism about Jesus’ return,  about the possibility of his presence with us.’

There are two postures of watching and waiting…under the bed with eyes covered in fear,  and out from under the bed,  keeping watch and actively working so that when the Lord returns your house is secure and everything is in order.  

In 1980 Lech Walesa,  an electrician in the Gdansk shipyard began a Solidarity movement in Poland.  There had been some unfair firings occur in the shipyard.  They demanded  a union for the shipyard workers and some changes in government policies.  The government responded to the movement with violence,  beating some of its leaders.  The movement grew even stronger,  to 10 million people and there was a nation-wide strike that crippled the country the following year.  The government made some concessions but them suddenly cracked down on the Solidarity movement,  arresting about 500 people in the middle of the night.  The whole movement was driven underground in Poland.

Pope John Paul was visiting with Lech Walesa around that time.  Things did not look good for him or the movement.  He asked Walensa ‘Where is  your hope.’  He said ‘We are waiting.  We are waiting’.   Indeed they were – and that is not a passive activity.  They were working underground to organize themselves,  starting a Solidarity radio station,  garnering the support of the church and western nations.  And they were watching for the right time to act once the time was right.  When it came and Solidarity was legalized again,  they sprang into action,  becoming a political party that challenged communist party in Poland and brought it to an end by 1989.  Not long after that the Berlin Wall fell and Communism in Russia came to an end too.   Watching and waiting can be a powerful activity.

At the Advent of a new church year I ask you ‘What are you waiting for?   What you expect of the future will determine what you are watching and waiting for.  Some people are waiting for the dollar to fall,  for energy prices to rise,  and the economy to crumble.   They are watching and waiting in fear.  Jesus reminds us that the future belongs to him and promises us that he will return.  Let us watch and wait in hope and expectation for that great day.   For He is coming in powerful.  Even now he comes.  Do you not perceive it?  Watch.

Amen