We live our lives situated in between the two Advents of the Christ: The Advent that was long ago in Bethlehem and the Advent that is yet to be. In this meantime, Jesus urges us to be watchful. We need to always be living in the ways Jesus showed us because not only could Jesus return at any time, but we already live every moment in the presence of Jesus. The Season of Advent is not just about either looking to the past or looking to the future; it is about today, living in the present, living out our kingdom call right here, right now!
This is why we make such a big deal this morning about the rooster crowing. In our reading today, Jesus urged Peter and the others to wait, watch and listen to every moment as though it could be the last. Along the way, Jesus said that for all anyone knew, a moment of apocalyptic unveiling could happen at any time, even when the rooster crows at 1:30 in the morning. It is quite plausible that Peter heard all this and figured that if such a thing ever happened maybe he'd not even be around anymore when the end would finally come.
Then, just a few short hours later, a rooster crows at 1:30 in the morning and the full truth of Jesus came crashing down around Peter’s ears. Peter did not need to live to see the final Day of Judgment. In that single moment, in that single cry of that rooster Peter experienced his apocalypse, his encounter with the living God. What Peter perhaps thought was a long ways off when Jesus first talked about it turned out to be far closer, far more urgent than he ever imagined. As it turns out, for Peter and perhaps for many of us today, any and every crying of the rooster is a moment potentially full of God.
