Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 27)

St. Matthew 25:1–13

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Every season of the Church Year highlights a particular article of faith. The Last Sundays of the Church Year, as well as the Sundays in Advent, focus our minds and hearts on that article of faith to which we may not always pay much attention: Christ’s return. The Last Day. The Final Judgment. It’s right there in the Creeds: He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end… I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. But does the Day of Judgment fill us with fear or with hope? Is the announcement of Christ’s imminent return a dreadful warning or a message of comfort? There should probably be some of both. The parable of the ten virgins certainly has both warning and comfort for the hearers. And we would do well to heed both.

The warning deals with the foolish virgins and their fate. But it is not exclusively for those who are foolish. It is a warning for all of us, that we would not be like them. In the Bible, foolish does not necessarily mean unintelligent. Nor does wise necessarily mean super smart. Psalm 53: The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 111: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So in the Bible, foolishness is unbelief and wisdom is faith.

And the Law of God also shows us how unbelief and the sin that flows from it is foolish. This is not a mental problem or a lack of facts. In our minds we know we shouldn’t yell at people, and lose our tempers with our spouse or our children. We know that won’t help the situation. We know it won’t bring about happiness. But we are overcome by our passions and give into our temptation to make ourselves feel better, and we act like fools. In a very logical way, we know that lusting after someone or taking something that doesn’t belong to us will not make us happy in the end. We know it’s wrong. We know in our minds that a moment’s sinful pleasure will only bring pain for us and for our loved ones. We know that gossiping about someone behind their back is harmful to their reputation and divides us, but we give into the guilty pleasure of a juicy story or an uncharitable tale. Holding a grudge is stupid. Refusing to forgive someone is a sin. These are all things that we know intellectually. But sin is not rational. It doesn’t make any sense. It can’t be explained and it can’t be educated. It must be exposed, confessed with contrite hearts. Unbelief and sin is never good for us, and to try to convince ourselves otherwise is absolute foolishness. It’s as foolish as taking a lamp but not bringing any oil to burn in it. Repent.

The real difference between the foolish and wise virgins is not that one group was more sinful than the other. Both groups fell asleep while they waited, that is, both groups succumbed to temptation and sinned. None of them kept watch perfectly. The real difference is the oil, and the oil represents faith. The foolish virgins had no oil, they were unbelievers and they sinned. The wise virgins also sinned, but they had their oil. Remember, true wisdom is faith. Having oil, having faith, does not mean never sinning, but it means thinking rightly about our sins. It means recognizing your sins and being ashamed of them. It means confessing your sins and wanting to do better. It means trusting that the holy blood of Christ forgives your sins and redeems you to be a child of God. Here is the first great comfort of this parable: You get into the heavenly banquet, not because you are smart or perfect, but because you have oil. Not because you never sinned, but because you have faith in Christ who never sinned, and yet died in your place, and rose victorious.

The second great comfort of the parable is given at the point which sometimes makes us feel uncomfortable: The foolish virgins asked the wise ones for some of their oil. But the wise refuse: “Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.” We might think they should share, that they’re not being very nice. But that’s not the point Jesus is making. The wise refuse because the oil is not theirs to give. It’s not their own possession. It was given to them by “the dealers.” The foolish know who the dealers are but during their life, they refused to go and “buy.” They wanted nothing of the true faith. The foolish willfully rejected the Gospel. But the comfort for you is that your faith is not your own creation. You have received it. The Lord Jesus sent His Holy Spirit into this world to work through Holy Baptism, through the preached Word, and through the Sacrament of the Altar to distribute forgiveness which creates, bestows, and strengthens faith. Both the wise and foolish know this. Only the foolish don’t believe it, and therefore don’t think they need it. The dealers of this holy oil are the Christian Church and her ministers. This is where the oil of faith is received in this life. And it’s free.

The fact that the oil is available for all is a comfort because it means you are not burdened with converting the foolish of this world in order to prove yourself to be a true Christian. Your oil is your faith, and you cannot give it to someone else. You are not responsible for someone else’s salvation and no one is going to hell because of what you did or didn’t do or because of what you did or didn’t say. That includes people within your own household. Conversion is God’s job, and His alone.

Now to be sure, the Lord may very well be using you to convert others by what you do or say in your proper vocations (that’s how He works). Parents have a God-given duty to teach the articles of faith to their children, just as pastors also have a God-given duty to preach the whole counsel of God to the people they are called to serve. And all Christians are called to give a witness of their faith, confessing it by word and deed. But the work of conversion, creating and sustaining faith, that is solely God’s work and His responsibility. We often sin in our vocations. We fail to obey and speak God’s Word when we should, out of laziness or fear. But it’s not your sin that keeps anyone out of heaven. God is more powerful than your sin. He does His work even despite your sin. Being a Christian doesn’t mean fulfilling your vocation perfectly, but being wise means being contrite and confessing your sins against your vocation. That makes your Father and the angels in heaven rejoice.

The oil of faith is being sold right now in this life, in this world. Come, buy without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). The price was paid on the cross when Christ suffered for your sins. His blood flowed freely for you and for all. Now you get the oil of faith for free when you are baptized and anointed with God’s Holy Name, when you listen to God’s Word, and are soothed with the healing balm of the absolution, when you eat and drink the Holy Supper, and are saved with the medicine of immortality.

What a comfort it is that you need not create your own oil, or keep your lamp burning with your own power. The Lord, your Bridegroom, provides the oil you need. He distributes it in His Church while there is still time. He delays His coming for our good, so that all His faithful ones would be ready.

Christ our Bridegroom warns us to keep watch, so that we would be prepared, and not caught in foolishness, for we know neither the day nor the hour of His arrival. But by His grace we have the comfort of the forgiveness of sins, and the certainty that when the announcement comes, we will trim our lamps with the oil of faith and go into the wedding banquet of heaven that He has prepared for us. Thanks be to God.

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.

The section illustrating the foolishness of sin, and the section on the dealers come from Rev. Michael Frese, Trinity 27, 2015, online.

Monday after Trinity 26

The Chapel of Our Lord, Concordia University Chicago

River Forest, IL

St. Luke 21:5–28

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A song from the 80s told us, “It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.” But over the course of this past week, many people around our country, and perhaps many around your campus, see the end of the world as they know it. And they don’t feel fine. Maybe you don’t either. There is a lot of fear and anger in the air. In the face of uncertainty and hurt, some people resort to outrage. Others fall into despair. We’ve all been there, when it feels like the world, or at least our world, is collapsing upon us. If it wasn’t the election for you, maybe you’ve been there, at the end of the world as you know it, in a class, or a job, or the death of a loved one. How do you respond when the world is crashing down all around you? Fear? Anger? Despair? To whom do you turn when you don’t feel fine?

Let me tell you what I told my congregation last Sunday before the election: It’s going to be OK. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). Even if things turn out badly for you. Even if Donald Trump turns out to be a bad president, or America fails. Even if you don’t get the job, or the chemo treatment doesn’t work. It’s going to be OK.

We know things will not last in this world; Jesus has told us this. All the great achievements of humankind have an expiration date. The advancements in science, the great works of literature, the political theories, everything that you study here, they will all end one day. And that will be OK. Don’t be afraid, but pray for the End. Don’t give way to anger, but long for the End. Don’t sink into despair, but hope for the End. When these things take place, when the end of the world as we know it comes upon us, when we’re surrounded by the distress of nations and people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, when these things begin to take place, then straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. It’s going to be OK. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20).

That also means we live as citizens of heaven right now, dwelling where His kingdom is found and doing the works of His kingdom. Jesus told the Jews about the end of the world as they knew it: the destruction of the Temple. And in the year 70, about 40 years after Jesus uttered those words, the Temple was in fact destroyed, and Jerusalem along with it, as the catastrophic conclusion to the Jewish war with Rome. But this was not something to fear for Christians. Frankly, this was not even a problem for Christians. Centuries later, the first Muslims came to Jerusalem and wanted to see the site where they believed Mohammed had ascended into heaven for an audience with Allah, so they asked to see the Temple Mount. And you can imagine their surprise to find the Temple Mount was a garbage heap, and the glorious stones that once stood there were all but forgotten. Because the Christians of Jerusalem no longer worshiped on the Temple Mount, the site of animal sacrifices. But instead they gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Christians gather around Jesus Himself, the New Temple, made without hands. We dwell where He is present on earth, not in a Temple of stone, but where His Word is made known and His Sacraments are given. This is where the Kingdom of Heaven is found right now, and this is how we live as citizens of heaven right now, even while this world is ending.

But citizens of heaven don’t just stay put between the four walls of a church either. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Republican or a Democrat in the White House, we still serve as witnesses to Christ by speaking His Word and by serving our neighbors. We don’t let political parties, persecution, earthquakes, or wars control us or hinder either our testimony or our works of love. So the world is ending, the world is a mess, why is that such a problem for you? You are a citizen of heaven, and your life in that kingdom is guaranteed by the holy blood of its King. And when your life, or this world comes to its end, your new life and the new world will begin. So for now, do what is at hand. Do what you can to serve your neighbor. And bring the love and life of heaven into the world around you.

Despite the sad state of this world, and even alongside our knowledge of sinful human nature, Christians are the eternal optimists in this world. Not optimistic FOR this world, but even as we live in this world, we are optimistic for the life of the world to come. That means Christians can, and should, be a patient, calming presence for their neighbors. Rather than the rash actions, the hysterics and rage of those who only have hope for the here and now, we work for the good of others in this world while our hope for eternity is secure with Christ. We live in this world as citizens of heaven, bearers of real hope, voices of wisdom and truth from God, workers of love, the kind of sacrificial, self-giving love we have come to know in Christ.

My fellow citizens, the world IS ending as we know it. But go to the temple of Jesus Christ and receive the treasures of His eternal kingdom. Then go do whatever you can to serve your neighbor. And keep your head up. It’s going to be OK. Your redemption is drawing near.

Come quickly Lord + Jesus. Amen.

Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26)

St. Matthew 25:31–46

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Athanasian Creed is the third ecumenical creed, following the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. And like the other two, the Athanasian Creed includes the final judgment, but it gives a bit more detail: At the Lord’s coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire. And all the Lutherans squirm in their pews. This can’t be right. We’re saved by grace alone through faith alone. We’re not saved by works. Or else the Roman Catholics are right and we’re wrong. But even if you got rid of this part in the Athanasian Creed, you still have to deal with Jesus and His parable of the sheep and the goats. At a glance, it sure looks like salvation by works. The sheep did good works and go to heaven, the goats did not and go to hell. But not so fast. Look again at their responses.

The King will say to the sheep, the ones on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” And here’s the amazing thing: the sheep protest! “When, Lord? When did we ever do any of those things for you? I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but I know I haven’t done all that.” The King is speaking the Gospel to the sheep and yet they hear an echo of the Law. “No way we have done all that. No way we are good enough.”

Then the King will say to the goats, the ones on His left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” And the goats also protest, but in a much different way. “Lord, when did we see you in need and NOT serve you? Just look at our lives! When were we NOT good enough?”

Do you see what separates the sheep from the goats? It’s a matter of what they trust IN. The sheep don’t trust in their own works. They thought they were bad, but they go to heaven. The goats do trust in their own works. They thought they were good, but they go to hell. So it is still salvation by faith alone, and not be works. It’s all a matter of what your faith is IN.

There will be some surprises on the Last Day, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him. Then He will sit on His glorious throne, and the books will be opened and the court will be in session, and the King will judge. There will be some surprises. The ones who know they don’t deserve heaven, will get it in. And the ones who think they do deserve it, won’t.

And yet, hell was never prepared for the goats. Hell was never prepared for any humans. The King says that the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. The only humans who go there are those who insist on their own way. You don’t go to hell because you committed sins. And you don’t go to hell because you didn’t do any good works. The only way you go to hell is if you don’t believe, if you reject the grace of God in Jesus Christ, if you don’t trust Him, if you reject God’s way and insist on doing things your own way, if you insist on your own goodness. If you want to be judged by your works, then you will be. Do you dare to stand before the Judge and say, “Yeah, I think I did pretty well. I think I’ve been a good enough person.” Then the King will tell you, “Depart from me, you cursed.”

The difference between the sheep and the goats is not only in their deeds but in their trust. God has made atonement for all of them in the death and resurrection of Jesus. He loved the whole world. And Christ redeemed the whole world, so that whoever believes in Him would have eternal life. So the sheep who do not trust in their own works, who even protest the King’s judgment that they did all those good things, they are the ones who trust in Jesus. “No way we did all these things, Lord. No way we’re good enough.” But the Lord gets the last word: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to me.” We might even expect the sheep to scoff a little at that. But they don’t. And they still don’t take credit. They don’t say, “Oh You’re right, Lord. Now I know what You’re talking about. That’s right. I am a good person. I did do all those things.” No. The sheep are silent. It’s all up to what the Lord says. And the Lord says, “Truly, I say to you… I don’t care what you think you’ve done, or how it seemed to you, or how you feel about it. This is what’s true: This is the great and happy exchange: I give you credit for My good work. I complete and bless what you have done – all your works that you did begrudgingly, the works you did without realizing it, I bless them and make them perfect. And, even more than that, I give you full credit for everything you have NOT done! I have kept the Law perfectly in your place – you get all the credit. You are blessed by My Father and heaven is for you. The Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Pay attention to that, dear sheep: heaven is prepared for you. It wasn’t prepared for the holy angels. Hell was prepared for the devil and the evil angels, not for the goats, but they go there because they insist on their own way. But heaven is prepared for you, for sinful humans redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. It’s not for good people, not for people who never had any doubts. The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for you. You are meant to be there.

That also means that the verdict of Judgment Day won’t really be a surprise for the sheep, because they’ve already heard the Judge’s declaration during their life here on earth. The verdict was said at your Baptism with water and the name of God: “You are My beloved child, with you I am well pleased.” The verdict is repeated every time you hear the Lord Himself speak the words of absolution through the mouth of His minister: “I forgive you all your sins.” The verdict is given and confirmed as you eat and drink the body and blood of the Lamb: “This is for the forgiveness of all your sins and will preserve you to life everlasting.” With faith in Christ’s promises such as these, you know what’s in store for you on Judgment Day. You know you’ll only be judged on the basis of what the King Himself as done in your place. Christ’s work counts for you and everything you do in faith is a good work and pleasing to God your Father. Christ’s holy death and vindicating resurrection are yours.

And none of this is from ourselves or based on what we have done. It’s not even because we chose the winning team. We are the miserable beggars who have been chosen by a King. We are unworthy and yet He has declared us to be worthy. The King says to you now, as He will on the Last Day, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Come quickly, Lord + Jesus. Amen.