Last Sunday in the Church Year
Jesu Juva
“Wake! Awake!”
Text: Matthew 25:1-13;
2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-10a, 13
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
On
this Last Sunday in the Church Year, with our focus firmly on the return of
Jesus Christ at the end of time, that the readings we
heard today speak of waiting for His
return – well, that’s not good news.
Because we’re not good at waiting. We don’t know
what to do. When you’re waiting in the
doctor’s office, you read two year old magazines that you’re not even
interested in! When you’re waiting in
line at the supermarket, you count how many items over the 12 item limit the person in front of you is! We’re not good at waiting, even though we
seem to do a lot of it! It’s a waste of
time. We want to get on with it, and get
it over with.
But
we heard from Peter today that with God, there is a purpose for waiting. Waiting
for God is not a waste of
time; and in fact, it’s good that God
doesn’t just come right now and get it over with. His seeming slowness is really demonstrating
His patience – some Bibles use the
word longsuffering – “not
wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” And so, I guess you could say,
that we’re waiting for God because God is waiting for us! Waiting for us to repent. Waiting, so that all people would come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved. (1 Tim 2:4)
And
so when God tells us to wait and to watch, it’s not to do nothing. It is time graciously given to us to prepare,
to repent, and to receive. To prepare
for His coming by repenting of our
sin and receiving His forgiveness. There is still time for foolish virgins to be
foolish no more. But time is running
out. Each day that goes by is one day
closer to the day the Bridegroom will come.
Yes, there are and will be some who scoff at this, and not believe
it. Seeing the delay
as evidence of the untruthfulness of it all. That is how the world acted in the days of
Noah as well. But the flood did come,
and the door was shut. And the
Bridegroom is coming, and the door will be shut.
So
what do we do while we’re waiting for Christ?
What do we do while we’re waiting for the Bridegroom to come? We
repent. For it is in repentance that
the lamps of our hearts are re-filled with the faith and forgiveness of
Christ. It is in repentance that the oil
of faith and forgiveness given us in Holy Baptism is sustained and renewed in
Holy Absolution and Holy Communion. It
is in repentance that the Word of God has its way with us, giving us the oil
that never runs dry.
And
that is the only oil that never runs
dry. If we look for our oil, for faith
and forgiveness in our emotions, in how we feel, we will not find it there. Our emotional highs don’t last; they collapse
and run dry, and our lamps will go out.
If we look for our oil, for faith and forgiveness in our good works, we
will not find it there. For we get
tired, we grow frustrated, and we fail.
Our good works don’t last; they dry up and our lamps will go out. Or if we look for our oil,
for faith and forgiveness in our sincerity, in our piety, in our dedication, in
our great knowledge, in . . . what else?
Does not everything we have, and everything we do, run dry? And so if we rely on any of these things, on anything that we do, then when the
Bridegroom comes, we will find we have been fooled, deceived; foolish virgins,
panicked, running here and there, looking for oil where it cannot be found.
And
so we repent, for it is repentance that makes one wise. Repentance that focuses our
eyes on Christ and so relies not on me, but on Him. That relies not on my word, but on His
Word. That relies not on what I can do,
but on what He has done. That relies not
on my sacrifice, but on His sacrifice.
That relies not on my life, but on His life. His resurrected life. His eternal life. For that is the open
door through which we will enter.
The open door of the open grave. The door your Bridegroom opened by taking all
your foolish sins upon Himself and being thrown out of the Kingdom, out of
life, and into death, for you. Becoming a curse in your place (Gal
But
then it did not take long for the door to be opened and the Bridegroom
to return! Only three days, and those
who danced then mourned; and those who mourned now danced! (Ps 30:11) For the Bridegroom, our Saviour,
passed through death and into life again.
And so the door to life is now open, and through this door your Father
wants you to go. You are not appointed
for wrath. Hell was created for no man,
but for the devil and his angels. (Mt
25:41)
All that is needed for your life has been done – your sin paid for, the
devil defeated, and the grave opened.
You have been appointed for life, and given that life. It is yours now. We are only waiting for the Bridegroom to
come again, when all the old that still clings to us will finally pass away, and
the new heavens and the new earth will come.
We are waiting, and watching. All
has been accomplished. All has been
done. We do not know the day or the
hour, but the Bridegroom is coming. He
is coming for you.
And
so in their liturgies, the early church would cry out “Maranatha!” Which means, “Come, Lord
Jesus!” That is our cry
too. But remember, that He has not yet
come, that He has not yet returned, is not bad news, but good news. And it is not a sign of His unreliability,
but of His patience. For
it means that the door is still open.
There still is time. Time to repent. Time to receive His oil of faith and forgiveness. And maybe most of all for us, there is still
time to tell others – the foolish ones who are not ready. Whose oil has run dry. Are we not concerned? Do we not want them there with us? There still is time.
“Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying!” we just sang.
Indeed it is. The End of the
Church Year again reminds us of that. So
that we grow not weary and complacent, but watch and wait . . . which we’re still not good at! Waiting . . .
But
our Bridegroom knows that; how hard it is to wait. And you know something? It’s hard for Him too! And so He comes to us here, even now. He is coming to us that we may have His joy, even
now. And the hymn that we just sang
spoke of that, although because of a translation choice, you may not have
realized it. For in the second verse we
sang:
“Now come, O
blessed one,
Lord Jesus,
God’s own Son.
Hail!
Hosanna!
We answer all
In joy your
call,
We follow to
the wedding hall.”
The
word translated there as wedding hall
is actually the German word which, when translated literally, means the Lord’s Supper. But it is actually the same thing. The wedding hall, the meal hall, the altar hall
– it’s all the same hall! As we gather
here, they gather there, and we gather together. One Lord, one faith, one
Table. Around the Bridegroom, who
has come, is coming, and will come again.
They see; we believe. They are
receiving the fullness of the feast, we but a foretaste. But the reality is the same. The end of time is already here breaking into
our time, and is preparing us for the end.
So that when He comes again, visibly,
in all His glory, at
So
come, O waiting ones. Repent. Receive.
The oil of faith and forgiveness is here for you. Look no where else. The Bridegroom soon will call us. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts
and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.