Last Sunday in the Church Year
Jesu Juva
“Keep Awake!”
Text: Mark
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
We prayed earlier in the Collect of the Day: Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth Your
Son, we pray, that He may lead home His bride, the Church . . .
One of the happiest days for any man or woman in this life is the day
they get married. If you are married,
you probably remember that day. If you
are not yet married, you may have dreams of what that day will be like. It is a day filled with excitement and hopes
and expectations and joy. A day of looking forward to a promising future. The first day of a
new life now lived and shared together.
And so marriages are great celebrations.
And so also no one gets
married expecting to have problems,
or to get divorced, or to find themselves drifting apart or being pulled apart.
But the sad reality is that those things
happen. For all kinds
of reasons. And it’s sad when
what started out with such excitement and promise ends with such sorrow. When instead of growing closer together, a
husband and wife grow apart. And instead
of growing into one another, they simply grow bored with one another.
So on this Last Sunday in the Church Year, Jesus tells us “Be
on guard, keep awake!” because what can happen to husbands and wives can also happen to Christians as we
await our Heavenly Bridegroom. For just
as with the joy of a wedding day, no one becomes a Christian expecting to fall away, or to stop going
to church, or to become weaker in their faith.
But the sad reality is that those things happen. And it’s sad when what started out with such
promise ends with such sorrow. When instead
of growing closer to his Saviour, a Christian grows apart. And instead of growing into Christ, the
Christian grows used to her Saviour, and takes Him for granted, and falls away.
This is the “sleepiness” that Jesus is referring to in the Holy Gospel
today. The spiritual
stupor that can come upon Christians that can end in spiritual death. And it is the
greatest danger facing you as you live your life in this world. For the greatest threat to you is not
persecution, or terrorism, or bad health, or economic collapse, or anything
else you fear in this world. It is to
grow used to your Saviour and bored with Him.
It is to take your faith for granted.
It is to think that you don’t need the Church and can make it on your
own. None of us expects that to happen . . . but it does, doesn’t
it? And so we do well this day to
consider these words of Jesus, and apply them to ourselves: “Be
on guard, keep awake!”
But the truth is: that is easier said than done, isn’t it? For Satan, the world, and our sinful
flesh are all singing us a sinful lullaby, trying to lure us away from our
Saviour and into the death of spiritual sleep.
Telling us to relax and take it easy.
Whispering into our ears that our sins are sweet nothings and not so
bad. Seducing us into thinking that we
have plenty of time to make things right.
Lulling us into thinking that the busy-ness of life
that elbows out our reading of the Scriptures and our prayers is perfectly understandable. And those little sins, the subtle sins, the everyone-does-them sins?
Shhh.
Don’t let them bother your conscience!
Sleep, good Christian. Sleep
in complacency. Sleep in security. Sleep . . . or like those old hypnotists
used to say: You’re getting sleepier and sleepier . . .
It’s happened to you, hasn’t it?
I know it has because there is no Christian Satan leaves alone! And He knows how to get at each of us . . .
and the world keeps eating away at us . . . and our old sinful flesh just gets
so tired of the struggle . . . and the siren song of the lullaby sounds so good
. . .
And so today Jesus calls out to us four
times: Keep awake! Do not go
gently into that spiritual night. Do not
listen to the lying voice of Satan.
Resist temptation and hate sin.
Keep the commandments. Be
constant in prayer. Read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest the Scriptures. Remember your baptism. Feed and strengthen your faith. Set your mind on things above. Lift up your heart unto the Lord. Have mercy on others. Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord. It is
important! For
the master of the house is returning, and you do not know when.
But who among us is able to do all these things? That unholy
trinity of Satan, the world, and our sinful flesh is too much for us. Satan is too wily, the world too wicked,
and our sinful flesh too wishy-washy! And as hard as you try, how often have you
fallen and failed? No, if our spiritual
health, our spiritual life, depended on us, we would be lost. Temporally and eternally.
And so how good to hear from Jude today! Did you hear what he said? Now to him who is able! To him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy! Yes, there is One
who is able, where we are not. It is the
One who kept Noah safe in the flood. The One who kept Abraham safe in the days of his pilgrimage. The One who kept
And He is not only able, but
has promised to give you life by His Word. Both physical and spiritual
life, by His powerful Word. By His
Word which called forth all of creation in the beginning. His Word which called forth
a “sleeping” Lazarus from the tomb.
And His Word which calls us forth from death to life
in the waters of Holy Baptism. His
Word which is able to keep us awake, until He comes again. His Word of Law to correct and terrify us,
and His Word of Gospel to comfort and forgive us. His Word which makes bread and wine His body
and blood to feed us, forgive us, and strengthen us in the days of our pilgrimage. His Word that tells us of our Saviour’s love
and care and faithfulness and promise – that He wants none to fall asleep; He
desires none to fall away and die. From first
to last, from beginning to end, He wants
all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:4)
And so He gives His Word, and with His Word His life-giving Spirit, to
not only keep us awake, but that we may grow into Him. Into a mature love. Like the love of a husband and wife
celebrating their golden anniversary and who know each other intimately; and
who know the meaning of the words: for
better or for worse. . . . Your Saviour knows that love; that deep love;
that cross love. He is the Bridegroom
who laid down His life for His rebellious and unfaithful bride because in His
love for you, He could do no less. For
His vow to us was not simply: for better
or for worse, or till death do us
part – but far greater! For He knew
the worse, the sin, and so through His own death and resurrection, made sure
that even death could not part us! That by grace through faith, we might live with Him forever. A bride washed clean and spotless and
blameless by her Bridegroom’s own blood!
And this is the Bridegroom who is returning for you! And not just a Bridegroom, but a King, as we heard from Daniel. When that day comes for each of us, none of
us knows. Maybe it will be on the
Last Day – the end of all things as we know them. Or maybe it will be for you sooner than that
– the day when you breathe your last, and your body rests in the sleep of death.
None of us knows which will come first, but neither does it matter. For
you have the promise of Your Saviour to keep you in life and in death. Your Saviour who has given us the Divine
Service here each week to act as a kind of dress rehearsal for the wedding,
that you be ready. For here your
Bridegroom comes to you each week,
forgiving you, feeding you, and keeping you, until one day we will follow to the Wedding Hall! (LW #177)
And what a day that will be!
Until then, keep awake! in Christ. For He is able. Rely on Him.
In His grace, His promise, His strength.
Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth Your Son, we pray, that He may
lead home His bride, the Church, that we with all the redeemed may enter into
Your eternal kingdom.
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.