On Watch...

This morning, my wife asked me what I thought St. Paul was referring to when he exhorts believers to "watch" in prayer. She pointed me to one verse in particular:

"With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones" Ephesians 6:18

I responded by telling her that the word "watch" is generally bound up with the coming of the Lord. A better translation of “watch” might be "alert". I think it provides a clearer indication of the meaning of the word in modern English. Because we do not know when the Lord will come, either as individuals (when we die and face Jesus) or as a Church (when he comes again in glory) we need to be constantly ready to greet him. In particular, I was reminded of the parable of the wise virgins who had their lamps full of oil and their wicks trimmed. But this did not answer my wife’s question why we need to be so watchful or how we can possibly accomplish this feat. Fortunately, St. Paul provides the answer in the preceding text of Ephesians:

Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones

St. Paul says we can achieve a constant state of alert by drawing our strength from "the Lord and his mighty power". It is necessary to do this because we are fighting a war with fallen angels who will stop at nothing to see us ruined in hell. If we draw on the Lord's power and stand firm we will be able to resist the "evil day" that precedes the second coming (or even our own death, should be fall asleep prior to Jesus return).

While reading this morning I also came across a fine article here. The author is commenting on the Didache - an ancient Christian document most scholars agree dates from somewhere between as early as 50 AD to no later than 110 AD. While it is not a part of the biblical cannon it does shed light on how the early Christian community viewed the idea of keeping watch or staying on alert - particularly because many of the apostles and original disciples may have been alive while it was circulating. It is something to think about. Do we feel the urge to stay alert all the time? I think we would do well to listen to what the Didache has to say about staying alert:

Chapter 16. Watchfulness; the Coming of the Lord. Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come. But come together often, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if you are not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; for when lawlessness increases, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, and then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but those who endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth: first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet. And third, the resurrection of the dead -- yet not of all, but as it is said: "The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him." Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.