Under the boughs of the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha Gautama sat motionless, meditating. At once, the solution to the problem that had brought him to sit under that tree came to him. He opened his eyes. He was enlightened. He was awake. That is the story of the Buddha, the name that literally means “one who is awake.”
The Awake One, the Buddha, had set for himself the goal of solving the problem of human suffering. Shortly after his “enlightenment,” he announced to the world that human suffering is caused by “clinging,” that is, holding onto or trying to possess people or things. If we want to put an end to that suffering, he said, we must extinguish all desire.
This is just the beginning of what I could say about Buddha. I have taught numerous college courses on various religious traditions, including Buddhism. My point here is not to discuss the Buddha or the Buddhist tradition in detail but rather to contrast elements of the story of the Buddha with Jesus’ words in the gospels of Mark and Matthew.
The Buddha is the awakened one. The Buddha is awake. Jesus, similarly, urges his followers to be awake. In Mark 13:33-37, Jesus tells his disciples: “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey; when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” Matthew 24:42-44 reinforces this urgency: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake 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 unexpected hour.”
St. Paul also urges the followers of Messiah Jesus to be awake and perennially ready for the return of the Lord. In Romans 13:11-14, Paul writes:
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Paul echoes this theme in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”
In the scriptures we read from the Revised Common Lectionary during the latter weeks of the Season of Pentecost and into the beginning of the season of Advent, Christians are repeatedly called to live in constant readiness and preparedness. Our readings often end with the admonition that we remain awake because we cannot know the hour of the Parousia, the return of the Lord Jesus in glory.
St. Paul urges his hearers, in so many words, to live lives that are blameless, such that if the Lord were to return at this moment would be beyond reproach. The point of these scripture readings is that we should never do anything for which we would not be prepared to give an account or to have to explain if the Lord were to return at that moment. Jesus illustrates this principle vividly in the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids in Matthew 25:1-13, concluding with the warning: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
If you are a teenager whose parents trust enough to leave you at home without a babysitter, then you know what I am talking about. If you have ever been a teenager, you know what I mean. You never know when your parents will walk through the door. You can take a chance, but if you are surprised, you will have to explain, even account for, your actions. If you have ever been caught, you will know what I am talking about. We might have some explaining to do, and perhaps we might face a few consequences from our unwise decisions that we had not fully contemplated. Jesus makes a similar point in Luke 12:35-40: “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes.”
“Being awake” to the world around us is central to the life of faith. The figurative use of the idea of being awake is found in Buddhism, Christianity, and many other religious traditions. To be awake is to be alive.
Jesus often reminded those who heard him that they had ears, but could not hear, and eyes, but they could not see. Jesus might also have said that although many of his hearers were physically awake, they were nonetheless spiritually asleep. To be faithful to God, we must strive to awaken from sleep and be alive and awake to God.
What would it mean for you to be awake? Let us consider this together.
What is it like to be physically awake but spiritually asleep? We do not have to imagine that. Most of us are well aware of this fact. We know how easy it is to live our lives in a kind of stupor, just going through the motions. We know how easy it is to be bored with so many interesting people, places, and things around us. We know how easy it is to be so tired that we can hardly care about anything or anyone else. We know how easy it is to get stuck and for our lives and relationships to become stagnant. Perhaps you know, from your own experience or from the experience of those you love, how easy it is to become addicted to caffeine, alcohol, food, or something else. The well-known psychologist Rollo May argues in his book Addiction and Grace that being human is, in some way, to be addicted. For some people, the states of exhaustion, depression, and addiction that I have described are medical issues that can be helped by a variety of medications, therapies, or other remedies.
But even so, we cannot solely blame our spiritual ennui on our brain or body chemistry. Many of us often realize that we are spiritually dead and we have no idea how to remedy it.
As the Advent season begins and Christmas looms, we are assaulted by the promises of advertising that the key to personal happiness is to be found in the car we drive, the deodorant we use, or the diamond jewelry we give or receive. We may enjoy the use of our possessions, but sooner or later, we come to realize that they alone cannot supply meaning or purpose to our lives.
It is far easier to describe what it is like to be spiritually asleep or dead than to describe what it means to be alive. So, what does it mean to be awake and alive?
First and foremost, to be spiritually awake or alive is to have a vital and life-giving relationship with God. When you pray, do you nurture a real relationship that involves silence and listening, or do you fill your time with “fix it” lists for God? True prayer is not one-sided; it involves building a relationship with God.
To be truly awake, we cannot place our ultimate trust in our possessions or anything other than the living God. Here, both the Buddha and Jesus come to a somewhat similar diagnosis, even if their solutions are somewhat incompatible. The Buddha tells us that clinging to things or people is the cause of human suffering and that we need to let go if we are to find peace within. Jesus tells us not to place our trust in treasures that can rust or spoil, but to place our trust in the living God. As Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Being awake and alive means being engaged in what you do. If stagnation is a sign of spiritual sleep, growth is a sign of being alive. To grow, you will have to open yourself to an uncertain future and trust that if you remain attentive to the relationships with one another and with God, good will ultimately come of it.
Advent is a time of repentance, a time of turning away from the ways and patterns of our lives that keep us from being truly awake before God. To be truly awake, we must let go of the things that try to substitute themselves for God and go in search of the Living God–the God who gives us life and hope.
IN THESE TIMES 