Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from Psalm One Hundred and Nineteen, verse One Hundred and Forty Eight, “My eyes are awake before each watch of the night, that I may meditate on your promise,” (NRSVB). Keeping watch throughout the hours of the day, and especially the dark, dangerous hours of the night, has been a practice followed by guardians of key posts through the ages. No watchman can be on duty for twenty four hours without losing focus, thus the time is broken into shifts or watches, usually changing every six hours, to make sure that the watchmen could stay actively alert during their watch. In scripture we read about the watchmen guarding at the city doors and on the city walls. If they noticed anything suspicious, they would raise the alarm to alert the rest of the squadrons, who would come to defend the city and her people against enemies. If the watchmen were not attentive, they could endanger the lives of all the inhabitants of the city. The same guarding that is necessary for the city, and the physical realm, is also necessary for the temple, and the spiritual realm. The Levites, and those serving in the temple, kept the oil lamps lit all around the hours, and at certain hours, prayers were said to protect the people against attacks of enemies, as well as spiritual attacks of the evil one. In order to have a swift change of guard, the watchmen who were to be on the next watch, had to prepare ahead of time and arrive at exactly the precise hour, thus ensuring a safe change over from one group of watchmen to another. In various Western and Eastern Christian traditions the prayers of the hours is honoured every day as a spiritual service to humanity, bringing the world and her people to God in prayer watches around the hours.
David, the writer of our watchword, draws a parallel between the readiness of those serving as watchmen, and the Levites, serving in the temple. They prepared themselves ahead of time, by contemplating on the word of God, before they came to take their duty and serve in the watch hour. Meditating on the word of the Lord prepares us for the tasks that he ordains us to do. It sets our hearts and minds in a frame of alert waiting and watching. The father of the prodigal son was in a constant state of watching out in the distance to see if his long lost boy was returning home. When he saw him, far off in the distance, he started to run towards him and welcomed him back home. The watchmen looking out the see if they could perceive land out on the stormy sea, look piercingly into the dark night, and shout out when they see the land in the distance; warning the captain to call for careful steering, away from the rocks and quick-sand that can sink the vessel.
The prophets and priests, and those serving in the house of the Lord, call out and hold up the light and discernment of the word of the Lord to those who are steering too close to danger; to those who are getting lost in the night and to those who are oblivious to the sudden attacks that are launched by the enemy, that threatens the spiritual safety of believers. The wakeful watchmen stand on the walls and at the doors of the city. They call the sleepers to rise up and prepare themselves to be ready for work, for it is almost daybreak. David reflects in his meditations on the word of the Lord. He teaches us that it is to God’s honour, and our benefit, to ponder the word of the Lord, not only at the break of day, but especially at those difficult watches, where darkness and anxiety frighten the watchmen. It is in these hours that the voice of the Lord and his words are heard and understood most clearly. When it was night and the young Samuel was working to guard the burning lights in the temple, the Lord came to him and called him: Samuel, Samuel! The call was so clear that he first thought it must have been the high-priest, Eli. The priest Eli realized that it was the voice of God calling Samuel and told him, “When you hear the voice: Say speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Throughout the life of Samuel, God called him and worked through him, for he meditated on the word of the Lord. He was the watchman standing ready to sound the alarm for the nation of Israel and her leadership. King David was anointed by Samuel to become king. Through the example of Samuel he was taught to wait on the Lord and meditate on his word. Like Samuel, Jesus as a young boy, loved to discussed the Word of God in the temple with the learned scribes. They marvelled at his knowledge and insight. Jesus, the living Word of God, is the one who interpreted his Father’s will and plans for the world, through his life and death. When his mother spoke to him and told him that they were concerned about him, for they could not find him, he told her that he needed to dwell and meditate on the Word and in the House of his Heavenly Father. She remembered the words of the Simeon, when he blessed Jesus, as a baby in the temple. She was perplexed by the words and wondered what it meant. When the earth grew black and the curtain of the inner sanctuary was torn apart, Mary realized that salvation for the world, came through the death of her Son. Her heart was pierced as the lance pierced his side. She recalled the words spoken about him, “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart,” and she worshipped him through her tears.
Father, we pray that you will help us to ponder your words as we watch through the night for the light of your deliverance, Amen.