The Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ezra 1:1-7
In Christ Jesus, whose kingdom is not of this world and whose kingdom is not coming with signs that can be observed (Joh. 18:36, Luk. 17:20), but who will take us into His heavenly kingdom when He returns in glory, dear fellow redeemed:
When a team is preparing for a big rivalry game, the anticipation builds as the game gets closer. The players feel a mixture of nervousness and excitement as they imagine how the contest could play out. The same goes for their fans. Some get there long before the game begins, before the players have taken the field. Then more and more arrive, the noise level increases, the players warm up, everyone waits in tension and hope. Maybe today is the day! Today is a time for greatness! Today we go home victorious!
If you are a sports fan, you can appreciate that feeling of anticipation. But there are many other things that “stir us up,” that rouse us from normal, everyday life: things like our wedding day, the birth of a child, the first day at a new school or a new job, an upcoming birthday or family celebration, the approach of Christmas. These are special days, made even more special by the need to wait for them. The things that give us instant gratification are typically not the things we appreciate the most. It is the things we look forward to and dream about, the things that require patience, no matter how hard it is to wait.
When Jerusalem was destroyed and its people were either killed or taken as slaves to Babylon, it was difficult for them to believe Jeremiah’s prophecy that the LORD would bring His people back again. But this is what the LORD promised: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:10-11).
It was difficult to believe it would actually happen while the people were exiled in a faraway land. Psalm 137 expresses their deep sorrow: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” (vv. 1-4).
One of our hymns of the month expresses this same sorrow as we live as exiles in this fallen world: “And now we fight the battle, / But then shall wear the crown / Of full and everlasting / And passionless renown; / And now we watch and struggle, / And now we live in hope, / And Zion in her anguish / With Babylon must cope” (ELH #543, v. 4). Zion is the Christian Church, and Babylon is the sinful world. We don’t fit in with the world. We meet disapproval for our beliefs and sometimes persecution. In some parts of the world, Christians are marked for death simply because they acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord.
The LORD has promised an end to these trials, just as He promised an end to the exile of His people in Babylon. But why did He let His people be conquered and taken away in the first place? We heard the reason last week: “they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy” (2Chr. 36:16). The LORD had not acted impulsively or impatiently. He had not wronged His people. He sent them many prophets. They were given many chances to repent. But they chose other gods, false gods. They chose to disobey the God who created them and chose them as His own.
We face the same temptations now, temptations to pursue the pleasures and riches of the world, temptations to follow a self-made spirituality and ignore the called servants of God, temptations to despise His holy Word by choosing to think, speak, and live in ways that we know He condemns. So is it any surprise when God sends us “wake-up calls”? When we experience pain and trouble because of our sinful choices? When He takes away the things we trusted in that cannot save us?
When these sorrows and trials come, we might ask God why He is letting them happen to us. “Have You forsaken me, God? Where are You?” Those questions have us focused in the right direction—not on the empty things of the world, but on God who alone can rescue and save. In our troubles and difficulties, He does not want to push us away from Him but wants to draw us closer. Everything He does is out of love for us. Hebrews 12:6-7 says, “‘For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
Once He has humbled you and led you to confess your sins against Him, then the LORD stirs up something inside you through the Word of His grace. He declares to you that the sins that separated you from Him and were keeping you from His blessings—all those sins are forgiven. By forgiving your sins, He is telling you that He will not remember them; He will not bring them up again in the future; He will not hold them against you.
That is what forgiveness means: letting go of the right or the desire to punish someone for his wrongs. It is the cancellation of a debt; the removal of sin’s guilt and condemnation (ELS Catechism definition). This would not be possible if Jesus had not paid the penalty for your sins and taken the punishment you deserved. The shedding of His holy blood is the reason why God now freely forgives you, why He operates as though the wrong you did was never done in the first place. The psalmist says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12).
When the LORD forgives our sins, He stirs up in us the resolve to set aside our sinful habits and check our sinful impulses. He stirs up in us the desire to live the baptismal life, walking in newness of life, clothed in His righteousness, and making His glory known. He stirs up in us the hope that one day we will be free of this sinful flesh and our life in this sinful world and will join Him in the place of no sin—His heavenly, eternal kingdom.
“And now we watch and struggle, / And now we live in hope.” Jeremiah said seventy years of waiting. Long before this prophecy, Isaiah gave the name of the people’s deliverer: Cyrus. Isaiah named him some two hundred years before he made his decree (Isa. 44:28, 45:1). As far as we know, Cyrus was not a believer in the LORD’s promise of salvation. But “the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.”
His decree was that the house of God should be rebuilt in Jerusalem, that His people were free to return to that land, and that all their neighbors should assist in giving them what they needed for their journey and their work. Where else could this come from than the LORD? He also stirred up the spirits of leading Jews to leave their homes of seventy years in Babylon and return to Mount Zion to rebuild the temple and the city. As they prepared to go, they were supplied with all sorts of silver, gold, and costly goods, just like the Egyptians had done so many years before when the Israelite slaves marched out of Egypt.
The return to the Promised Land was not a foolish dream. The LORD had not lied through His prophets. What He says comes to pass. So it is no lie when our Bridegroom tells us He is coming back to take us to the heavenly Zion, to His eternal wedding feast. While we are here, He wants us to keep our lamp of faith burning with the oil He supplies in His Word and Sacraments. He wants us to stay ready for His return (Matthew 25:1-13).
But like all ten virgins in today’s Holy Gospel, we struggle against spiritual drowsiness and sleep. We need the Spirit-filled, life-giving Word of God to stir us up. His Word is what keeps us awake and sober, as today’s Epistle lesson says (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). The Holy Spirit stirs up our spirits, so that our hearts and minds are set not on the passing things of this world, but on the beautiful, joyful, eternal things to come. These things are as sure as our Lord’s promises. He will come again and take us to His kingdom.
Jesus, our heavenly Cyrus, has made His decree: It is time to prepare to enter the eternal holy city and temple. The cry has gone out, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” The anticipation is building. He’ll be here soon. Our Savior is coming! Could today be the day, the day we go home victorious? In nervousness and excitement, in tension and hope, we worship our LORD, we watch for Him, and we wait.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture of the Judean mountains in Israel)
The Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Chronicles 36:11-21
In Christ Jesus, who came into the world, yet the world did not know Him, who came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him (Joh. 1:10-11), but who still, by His grace, gave Himself humbly for the sins of all people, for your sins and mine, dear fellow redeemed:
As we review the history of the kings of Judah, it is strange to see how often the throne flip-flopped between good kings and bad kings. Ahaz was a wicked king, and he was followed by Hezekiah who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (2Chr. 29:2). Hezekiah’s son Manasseh was a wicked king before the LORD humbled him and led him to repentance. After him came Amon, a wicked king. He was followed by Josiah, a good king. Josiah’s sons once again pursued wickedness after him.
So why did it so often happen that a son did not follow his father, either in doing what was right or in doing what was wicked? The reason that some sons did not follow the wicked example of their fathers is because God was merciful to His people and continued to raise up good kings to call the people back to the worship of the true God.
On the other hand, it is troubling that so many sons did not follow the example of their faithful fathers. Was it because the fathers ruled the kingdom well but failed to lead and guide their households? Or was it because the times of peace and prosperity under faithful kings led their sons to become complacent and proud? We can imagine both to be true.
We fathers know well our own failures in teaching the truth to our kids. We might excuse ourselves for our past failures because we had too much work to do. Or maybe we were so caught up in our hobbies and leisure activities that we told ourselves we didn’t have time to lead our families in the Word of God. God’s command to fathers is clear and convicting: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
Even when fathers lead their households well, it can happen that their children forsake the truth and chase after the false promises of the world. These children take the peace and prosperity of their Christian home for granted. Instead of seeing the blessings God gave them in the home, they only see barriers to their personal happiness and fulfillment. It is ever the case that the younger generation is critical about the older generation. “We could do it better,” they say. “When we are older, we won’t make the mistakes our parents did.” And maybe they won’t, but they will certainly make new ones.
Despite the clear evidence of God blessing the faithful kings before him, the last king before Jerusalem was destroyed, King Zedekiah, “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.” He disregarded the words of the LORD’s prophet Jeremiah and “did not humble himself.” He rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, to whom he had sworn allegiance. “He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel” and would not repent of his wrongs, and he led the people of Judah to do the same.
“He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart” against the LORD. Those are strong words! The head and the heart go together, don’t they? Zedekiah would not listen to the LORD’s Word and humble himself. He would not bow to the LORD’s will but went in a different direction. He would not turn his face from evil; he pursued it with all his heart.
We can relate to this sinful stubbornness. We have behaved like this more times than we can count. Maybe your parents or other superiors told you not to do something, so it made you want to do it even more. There was no fun in being good, so you pursued what was evil. No one was going to tell you what to do or not do. You were going to do what you wanted. If anyone didn’t like it, that was their problem. You made up your mind, so nothing would stop you from going through with it—stiff neck, hard heart.
But what did those times of sinful stubbornness get us? We acted and spoke in pride, but are we proud of what we’ve done? There is so much we wish we could undo and take back. That humble assessment of the sins of our past is a true gift from God. He is constantly calling us back from the sinful paths we’ve taken and away from our bad choices. In love, He wants to lead us to repent of our wrongs and to trust in His mercy and grace.
This is what He wanted for the people of Judah. He “sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” He wanted to save them. He wanted them to be His own and live under Him in His kingdom (Second Article Explanation). He wanted to lead them in faith from this life to eternal life with Him in heaven. But how did they respond to His gracious call? “[T]hey kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets.” They rejected God’s Word, so they were also rejecting God’s goodness and life.
This is nothing but pride. It is saying that I know better how to live my life, than God knows who gave me life, provides for my life, and preserves my life. Talk about ungratefulness to the extreme! God does not reward this; He opposes it. We see this in God handing over His prideful people to the Babylonians. Many of the people were slaughtered, Jerusalem was burned to the ground, and all the treasures of the temple and the kingdom were hauled away.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is why Jesus will reject the goats at His left hand, the unbelievers, on the Day of Judgment. In their pride, they did not fear, love, and trust in the true God. And because they rejected Him, they neither loved Him nor their neighbor as they were commanded to do.
“But Lord,” they will cry, “when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? If we knew You needed help, we would have helped You!” (Mat. 25:44). He will reply that they were only ever concerned about themselves: “as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (v. 45). No matter how outwardly good and charitable they appeared to be, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).
The reverse is also true: “With faith it is impossible not to please God.” You, dear child of God, are pleasing to Him, though you might wonder how this could be. You remember the stiff-neck, hard-heart episodes; how in your pride, you didn’t want to admit your wrongs. You think of how you have taken God’s gifts for granted and been so ungrateful toward Him, how you have fallen short in your callings to your family, friends, and neighbors. How could you be pleasing to God?
You are pleasing to Him not because of what you have done for Him or others, but because of what He has done for you. He has redeemed you, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. The price for your soul could not be covered by anything you might do or pay, not by a billion good works or by all the gold and silver in the world.
You could not do it, so Jesus humbled Himself for you. The Son of God took “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phi. 2:7-8). He redeemed you with His life of perfect obedience to God, with His holy, precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death (Second Article Explanation).
He did this for you, and the Holy Spirit has given you faith to believe it. One of the gifts that comes with faith is humility. How can I be proud when I hear that Jesus took all my wretchedness and transgression on Himself, every sordid sin, and paid for it as though it were His? How can I be proud when I know that He suffered eternal death and hell in my place to win for me eternal life? How can I be proud when I learn that He chose me by grace to be His own and that He brought me to faith by the power of His Word?
This same powerful Word that brought you to faith is what keeps you humble before Him and equips you for humble service to others. As true as it is that “God opposes the proud,” which sometimes means you and me, it is also true that He “gives grace to the humble” (1Pe. 5:5). He looks with favor upon you. He knows how you are weak, and how you don’t always do the things you want to do or should do. He does not turn His back on you or push you away from Him.
He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28), and “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Joh. 6:37). And when you stand before His throne of judgment on the last day, He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34). This is all grace, undeserved love.
Grace cannot be earned; it can only be received in humility. The LORD has looked with favor on you. He has chosen you. He has saved you. There is no other response, nothing more to say, than: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Kings 20
In Christ Jesus, who alone is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Joh. 14:6), dear fellow redeemed:
King Hezekiah, as we heard, was very sick. Our reading tells us that he had a boil, the same word used for the boils the LORD sent on the Egyptians and the boils that afflicted Job (Exo. 9:9, Job 2:7). Hezekiah’s boil had presumably caused a serious infection that had brought him to “the point of death.” The LORD sent the prophet Isaiah to visit him with this message: “Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” That was a shocking word for a king who was only thirty-nine years old at this time and had ruled well for fourteen years.
But as you know, death does not often—or even ever—come at the “right time.” From our perspective, the death of a loved one always comes too soon. Even when a medical treatment or a miracle extends a life by the grace of God, we are still not ready when death comes. No amount of time is enough time. The number of days a person will have is not known to us, but it is known to God.
When He created us in our mother’s womb, He had already determined the length of our days. Psalm 139:16 says: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” The psalmist in another place asks God to keep him from getting too caught up in his life in the world: “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (Psa. 39:4).
In the oldest Psalm in the Book, Moses makes this request of the LORD: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” There is wisdom in recognizing the shortness of our life here on earth. There is wisdom in making preparations for our death. As Christians, we know that death is not the end of our life; it is the beginning of our eternal life in the Lord’s presence.
So if a prophet visited you and said, “Set your house in order, for you shall die,” what would you do? I suppose that depends on how much time you had. What if you had two years to live? Two months? Two weeks? Two days? You would get your legal papers in order. You would contact your family members and friends to express your love for them. You might take a trip you always wanted to take.
It is good to give some thought to these things, since we don’t know when our death will come. You can save your family members a lot of trouble by making your wishes known in a will and by doing some advance planning for your funeral and burial. But it is much more important to make sure you are prepared spiritually, to get rid of any sin you have been holding onto, or has been holding on to you.
Are you keeping any old grudges that you could try to resolve? Have you been hiding something that has compromised you spiritually, endangering your faith, something that could cause embarrassment to your family if it were discovered after you are gone? Are you waiting to talk with an estranged family member or friend until “sometime down the road”—a time that may never come?
Our Lord Jesus teaches us to forgive others as God has forgiven us. We deal with anger, bitterness, and pain not by hoping they will go away, but by dealing with them through confession and absolution. This is also what we do with secret sins. We get rid of any snares in our home or life that are tempting us or leading us to sin, and we lay all our sins out in the open before God through repentance.
We do these things each week in the Divine Service, so your attendance here is a big part of preparing for your death. Here you are taught to examine your heart and life for sin. Here you are absolved of those sins by the Word of Jesus. Here you are pointed to the work He has done to save you through His death and resurrection. Here you receive the gifts of His life and salvation through His Word and Sacraments. Here you are encouraged to pray and bring your needs and requests before Him.
After hearing the word from Isaiah about his imminent death, Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. Our reading contains a short version of this prayer. The book of Isaiah records a longer version. In the longer version, Hezekiah acknowledged that he had been prideful and not given all glory to God. He said, “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back” (38:17). This prayer of confession was accompanied by great weeping. The LORD’s message through Isaiah had hit home; Hezekiah recognized his own mortality.
The LORD listened to his prayer. He sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life.” “On the third day”—that didn’t make Hezekiah’s ears perk up like it does ours. But it is one in a line of hints about a future “third day,” the greatest “third day.”
Jonah was swallowed up by a huge fish for three days before it spit him back on shore (Jon. 1:17), and Jesus later applied this account to His own burial “in the heart of the earth” (Mat. 12:40). When the Jews asked Jesus for a sign for His authoritative teaching and work, Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple [talking about His body], and in three days I will raise it up” (Joh. 2:19). At least three times before He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus told His disciples that He would be condemned and killed and “after three days rise again” (Mar. 8:31, 9:31, 10:34).
Jesus’ prophecies about His resurrection “on the third day” were not empty words. He was crucified, died, and was buried on Good Friday, and on the following Sunday morning—the third day—He rose from the dead. Death could not hold Him because He had conquered death. And He didn’t just conquer it for Himself; He conquered it for you and me. His disciples didn’t believe it until they saw Him alive in the flesh with their own eyes. Then they wrote down what they saw. Their eyewitness account stands as a testimony to the whole world that Jesus the Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
His resurrection is why we don’t view our physical death here on earth as “the last thing.” We do not want to die, but it does not terrify us like it does unbelievers. They run from death and even distance themselves from loved ones who are dying because they cannot bear the thought of their own death. On the other hand, we Christians sing, “For me to live is Jesus, / To die is gain for me; / Then, whensoe’er He pleases, / I meet death willingly” (ELH #473, v. 1).
We meet death willingly because Jesus has turned our earthly death into the entrance to eternal life. When a believer in Jesus dies, his soul goes immediately to be with the Lord. His body is laid to rest, put to bed in the casket, for an unknown amount of time. The body rests in peace until Jesus comes back visibly in all His power and glory on the last day. He will come with a shout, and all the dead will wake up from their slumber (1Th. 4:16). Then He will gather all believers to Himself, whole, glorified, soul and body joined once again, to go with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
Until that day comes, those who have died in the Lord are only sleeping. That’s what death is to God, nothing more than a sleep. We have no power over death, but He does. He can wake us from it as easily as we can wake someone from an afternoon nap. We often use the term “pass away” for death, but that does not come from the Bible. The Bible often uses the term “sleep.”
Jesus described His friend Lazarus as having “fallen asleep” after he had died (Joh. 11:11). Several times, St. Paul referred to believers who had died as “those who have fallen asleep” (1Co. 15:6,18,20; 1Th. 4:14,15). In today’s Holy Gospel, Jesus told the mourners who had gathered at the house of a dead girl, “the girl is not dead but sleeping” (Mat. 9:24). And in our reading from 2 Kings, we hear that “Hezekiah slept with his fathers.” He died as they had died and was buried where they had been buried.
But for them—for you—death is not final. Hezekiah may have died, but he lives. His soul is with the LORD, and his body will be resurrected on the last day. This is God’s promise for all who trust in Him. He died to blot out every one of your sins. He rose in victory over your death. It does no good to try to hide your sins away or to imagine that death will not come for you. Jesus took your sins on Himself, and He paid the price for them. He took on your death, and on the third day, He overcame it to win for you eternal life. Your hope is not in what you can do about your sin and death; your hope is in what He has done to save you.
As Isaiah said would happen, Hezekiah recovered on the third day and went up to the house of the LORD. Because of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day, you also go to His holy house with rejoicing. You thank and praise Him that He has rescued you from temporal and eternal death. Though you are dying, yet He gives you His life. You receive this life through His Word of life and through “the medicine of immortality”—His holy body and blood—which He gives for you to eat and drink at His holy table.
Because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life,” because He imparts His life to you, you and all who believe in Him will live, even though your body dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die (Joh. 11:25-26).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
In Christ Jesus, the Light and Day, who drives the night and gloom away; the Light of light, whose Word does show the light of heav’n to us below (ELH 571, v. 1), dear fellow redeemed:
In the Scripture readings for today, we get a very strong sense of time—time moving, the days advancing, the sun dropping down toward the horizon as dusk sets in. The Holy Gospel describes a bridegroom delayed, light giving way to darkness, drowsiness and sleep overcoming those who watch and wait (Mat. 25:1-13). These are fitting readings for this time of the year when the daylight is diminishing and we reluctantly head into the cold of winter. They are also fitting readings for this time in the church year as we make preparations for the sunset of our life and for our Lord’s return.
In his inspired First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul acknowledges what those believers already knew, “that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” In other words, nobody will be able to guess when it is that Jesus will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. That hasn’t stopped some from trying. A simple internet search lists hundreds of predictions throughout history of the end of time. Many of you remember the increase in these predictions leading up to the year 2000 and then again with the Mayan calendar excitement in 2012.
The people who try to predict the end on the basis of the Bible have a way of reading prophecies and adding up dates, so that they think they can discover secrets from God. They are trying to sort out “times and seasons” in a way that God has not invited them to do. Jesus said very clearly, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mat. 24:36). He said this during His state of humiliation when He was not making full use of His divine powers. Now in His state of exaltation Jesus knows that day, but no one else does know it or can know it.
We can, however, see the signs that the end is near. Jesus prophesied that false christs would appear and lead many astray. There would be “wars and rumors of wars,” “earthquakes in various places,” and “famines” (Mar. 13:6-8). We see these things all around us. They should make us prepare for Judgment Day and look for it. Today’s reading indicates that many are not looking for Jesus’ return. His return will catch them by surprise: “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
How is it that you can stay prepared, so “sudden destruction” does not fall upon you? Paul writes, “you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.” Being in darkness means living in unbelief. It means going along with the world, whether along with the world’s worries or the world’s sins. It means being spiritually asleep and spiritually inebriated or impaired when we need to be spiritually alert and sober.
Now you are not unbelievers, dear friends, but you are tempted. You are tempted to look out into the world’s darkness and think that is actually light. We like the idea, for example, of unchecked freedom, freedom to say whatever we want, do whatever we want, use our bodies however we want, satisfy our every desire with food or drink or fun. It looks like freedom, but it is actually slavery—slavery to sin, slavery to the devil, and ultimately slavery to death. If freedom to do whatever we want is the recipe for happiness, then why are so many people so hopeless?
We do not live for this day, for getting as much as we can in the present. We live for that day, for Jesus’ return, when all our present sadness and trouble and pain will come to an end. We look for that day with eyes wide open. “For you are all children of light, children of the day,” writes Paul. You can see everything clearly. You can see how empty the world’s promises are. You can see how much damage the devil has done to families and friendships. You can see your own weaknesses and failings.
But you also know what God has done to rescue you from the darkness. God sent His Son to shine the light of His forgiveness and life into the deepest, darkest corners of the earth and into the deepest, darkest corners of your heart. He willingly accepted every sin done in the dark and suffered the eternal agony of hell for them all. He died on the cross as the sacrifice for your sins, and then He rose from the dead on the third day in total and complete triumph over your death.
You have His light and life in you by faith in Him. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me—believes in me—will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Joh. 8:12). At another time Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” (Mat. 5:14). His light of love shines in you, and it shines through you. “[L]et your light shine before others,” He said, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (v. 16).
The light of faith that shines in you, connecting you to the true Light, is why our reading refers to believers as “children of light, children of the day.” Children of the day stay awake and sober, alert and clear-minded. They put on “the breastplate of faith and love,” so they are ready for the devil’s accusations and the attacks from the world and our sinful flesh. They wear as a helmet “the hope of salvation,” which means minds that are filled with the promises of God, with His holy Word, which assures us that we will be kept safe until the day of our Lord’s return.
But what if you don’t feel completely confident about this? You don’t feel like you can see clearly to the last day. You have doubts. You have fears. Will you be accepted by Jesus when He comes? Will He look on you with grace or with anger? Will He judge you favorably or unfavorably? These are common questions and concerns that Christians have. We are always anxious about things in the future that we have never experienced, things that are out of our control. And we know how often we have sinned against God’s Commandments.
The best way to address these questions and concerns is to pray for God’s peace in your mind and heart, and then to listen to His Word where He delivers that peace. This is exactly what happens each week in the Divine Service. We confess our sins and pray for God’s mercy, and then we hear His Word of grace, His absolution, which frees us from our sin and strengthens us. Through the Word and Sacraments, God pours His light into us. It flows in and searches out the darkness of our doubt and despair. Like good medicine, His Word brings us healing. It improves our spiritual health, so we lift up our eyes and look forward with eagerness.
We have heard the cry go out, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (Mat. 25:6). We know Jesus is coming. He tells us He is coming soon (Rev. 22:20). It is not for us to know more about it than that. We wait with our lamp of faith burning brightly, and we supply fuel to it through our continued hearing of God’s Word. We prepare for the last day especially on the Lord’s Day, when we gather together at church. This is what God teaches us to do. Hebrews 10 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (vv. 24-25).
“The day is surely drawing near / When God’s Son, the Anointed, / Shall with great majesty appear / As Judge of all appointed” (ELH 538, v. 1). We don’t need to know exactly when He is coming; we just need to recognize that He is. We have hope even as darkness settles in around us. We believe what God says to us, that He “has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him.”
We don’t need to despair in the darkness of these days. We don’t need to be afraid at what the future holds. Our Lord Jesus is with us always, “even to the end of the age” (Mat. 28:20), through His Word and Sacraments. And He promises that He will come again in glory on the last day to take us to be with Him. The Bridegroom is coming. The marriage feast is prepared. This feast is for you and me and for all the children of day.
The day of our Lord’s return is a day worth waiting for. It is a day to watch for and stay awake for. “‘Wake, awake, for night is flying,’ / The watchmen on the heights are crying, ‘Awake, Jerusalem, arise!’… The Bridegroom comes, awake! / Arise! Your lamps now take! / Alleluia! / With bridal care / Yourselves prepare / To feast with Him, your Groom most fair” (ELH 544, v. 1).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from 11th century painting from the Rossano Gospel)
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In Christ Jesus, whose work and word is life for us, dear fellow redeemed:
Jairus was desperate. His daughter, just twelve years old, was sick, and she wasn’t getting better. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Her parents’ hearts were broken; their tears flowed. They would gladly have taken her place. They would die if only she could live. They felt hopeless. Then Jairus learned that Jesus had just come to the area. He hurried to meet Him, knelt before Him, and begged Him to lay His healing hand on the girl so she would live. Jesus agreed to go. Jairus felt a glimmer of hope.
But while they were on their way, a friend from Jairus’ home met them with terrible news, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more” (Luk. 8:49). They were too late. The girl’s time had run out. Her soul had left her body and gone to be with the Lord. Her body lay at rest. But then Jesus turned to Jairus in his anguish and said something strange, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well” (v. 50). They kept going. When they got to the house, a great crowd had gathered, “weeping and wailing loudly” (Mar. 5:38). Jesus now addressed them. “Do not weep,” He said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping” (Luk. 8:52, Mat. 9:24).
The people in the crowd did not respond like Jairus did. They laughed at Jesus. It was not a laugh of joy or even of surprise. It was a laugh that showed their offense at Jesus’ words and their disdain for His message. They knew the difference between sleep and death! They knew the signs: her heart had stopped, she wasn’t breathing, her skin had gone cold. There was no doubt about it—the girl was dead.
And no doubt she was. But just like the people today who tell us to “trust science” since nothing can be verified apart from science, the people in the crowd failed to account for the power of God. Death was too powerful for the people to overcome, but it wasn’t too powerful for Jesus. They were helpless in the face of death, but Jesus was not.
Jesus sent the crowd out of the house and approached the girl’s bedside. She lay there so still, so peaceful, while all around her was so much pain and sadness. Jesus reached down, took her by the hand, and said two words in Aramaic, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mar. 5:41). Immediately the girl got up and started walking.
You and I have also stood at the side of deceased people before. We have seen them lying there peacefully, maybe even touched their hands. We looked at their faces and wished that their eyes might open, that they would start breathing again, that they would step out of the casket and be reunited with us. Why doesn’t God do this for us? Why doesn’t He work a miracle? It’s obvious that He can. Nothing is impossible for Him (Luk. 1:37).
But He does not call us to put our hope in what He can do or might do. He calls us to trust in what He has promised. And He does promise to raise our loved ones from the dead, even if it is not as soon as we want. The inspired words of 1 Thessalonians address this pain of loss and the difficulty of waiting for the day of our final redemption. St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians, “we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
It is clear that these Christians were concerned that some among them were dying before the return of Jesus. Would these believers lose out on their chance to be in heaven with glorified body and soul? “No,” says Paul echoing the words of Jesus, “they are only sleeping. Through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” But how could they be certain of this? Where was the proof? They needed to look no further than Jesus, who “died and rose again.”
When Jesus died on Good Friday, no one called that a sleep. The soldiers found Him dead on the cross and thrust a spear into His side to make sure of it. Joseph and Nicodemus took down His body, put it in a new tomb, and sealed the tomb with a big stone. No one expected Jesus to come out again. The women made plans to return for a better burial. But everything changed on Easter Sunday. Everything changed for Jesus’ disciples who saw Him alive that day, and everything changed that day for you and me as we approach our own death.
Paul writes that the One who died and rose again, who triumphed over death, is going to return to raise us from the dead. He is going to come and wake us up, just as though we had been sleeping, just as He woke up the little girl. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” We think of Jesus coming on the clouds with all the angels. But did you remember this passage which says He will come down with a shout, “with a cry of command”?
What is it that He will cry out? Perhaps we have an insight from Jesus raising the young man from Nain to life when He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise” (Luk. 7:14). Or when He called to his friend Lazarus in the tomb, “Lazarus, come out” (Joh. 11:43). Or when He said to Jairus’ daughter, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mar. 5:41). Whatever Jesus’ calls out on the last day—whether “arise!” or “come out!” or something else—our reading tells us clearly what will happen, “the dead in Christ will rise.”
Jesus’ word of command will awaken the dead. It will wake them up just as though they had been sleeping, just as you might wake up someone from a nap. That’s what His Word has the power to do. It gives life. His Word is how you and I were brought to faith in Him. It wasn’t by a decision we made. It wasn’t because we put ourselves in a good position to be influenced by God. It is because God in His mercy and grace looked with love upon us and called us to believe through the Gospel, through the good news of what Jesus did to save us.
When we hear this message, God the Holy Spirit is at work. He is working to plant faith in the hearts of unbelievers and to strengthen faith in the hearts of believers. This Gospel message comforts us when we mourn the death of our loved ones, and it prepares us for our own death. The promises of Jesus are why, though we are certainly saddened by death, we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
Grieving without hope is celebrating a life without celebrating the life of Jesus and the life He won for us. Grieving without hope is looking for some sign of a loved one’s presence in nature or in the coincidences of daily life instead of rejoicing in their bliss in the presence of God. Grieving without hope is removing all trace of a loved one’s life because it hurts too much to think of them, or setting up shrines to them in our homes as though we can keep their spirit with us.
Grieving without hope is separating ourselves from the means God has given for our comfort and strength—His holy Word and Sacraments. There is no hope apart from God in the face of death. The crowd showed their hopelessness when Jesus told them the girl was “not dead but sleeping.” They laughed at Him. They did not trust His Word, so they received no comfort and encouragement.
But how can we be sure that what the Bible says about the last day will happen? How can we know that the dead will be raised, that we will see the people we love again, that we ourselves will wake up from the sleep of death? Besides the fact that there is no hopeful alternative to what God says, the Bible has never been proven false. Everything the Old Testament said about the coming Savior was clearly fulfilled in Jesus. Everything Jesus said would happen, including His suffering, death, and resurrection, did happen.
So why should we doubt what He tells us about His return in glory on the last day? Paul did not make up the words of today’s reading. “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,” he wrote. And, “encourage one another with these words.” The words we are privileged to hear today are words of life. They are words that cut through our pain, dispel our sadness, break up the clouds of doubt we have. These words point us to what Jesus has done—died on the cross and rose again for our salvation—and to what He will do—descend from heaven in glory to bring all believers with Him to heaven.
So rest well, dear friends in Christ. At the end of your life, you can close your eyes without a care knowing that through Christ your sins are forgiven and eternal life is yours. By His grace, you will drift into the gentle slumber of death. Your soul will immediately fly to the Lord, and your body will lie in peaceful sleep until the day of our Lord’s appearing.
Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abram’s bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
My Savior and my Fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end. Amen. (ELH #406, v. 3)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Gabriel von Max, 1878)
The Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 25:1-13
In Christ Jesus, who has not delayed His return due to disinterest or other distractions but out of patience and love for you and all sinners, so there is time for us to repent (2Pe. 3:9), dear fellow redeemed:
One of the most exciting moments in sports across the board, is the moment just before the action begins. At that moment, anything is possible. The kicker starts his approach to the ball, the referee throws the basketball into the air at center court, the pitcher on the mound begins his windup. But where this moment is most intense is on a racetrack.
The runners are called to the starting line: “On your mark!” They jump up and down a few times and shake their arms. They crouch down and dig their feet into the blocks. They carefully plant their fingers behind the line. Then silence. The anticipation builds. Hearts beat faster. You can hear a pin drop. “Set!” Backs raise, legs straighten, muscle power pushes down to the toes to provide the catapult forward. The runners have to be especially careful right now. This is the time when many get disqualified. They can’t wait. The pop of the gun seems to take forever.
If you remember being in races as a kid, this was the toughest part. “On your mark! Get set!” Sometimes your parent or your coach would hold off on the “Go!” longer than usual. They wanted to teach you discipline. You have to be patient. If a sibling or friend started the race slow like this, they just wanted to see you suffer. You can picture it now: kids anticipating the call and leaning forward, then flailing their arms and falling in a heap on the ground. It’s so hard to wait for that “Go!” while staying ready to explode off the blocks.
That sort of waiting is what we find in today’s reading. Jesus shared this parable with His disciples to teach them and us how to prepare for His return. He speaks about ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom in order to join him at the wedding feast. Their description as “virgins” indicates that they were pure in faith, holy by virtue of their connection with the bridegroom.
It is a picture of the righteousness you have because you are united with Jesus. It is a strange reversal. A virgin who joins bodily with another is no longer a virgin. But we whose bodies are joined through Baptism with Jesus’ holy body, change from ones who are sinful and guilty to those who are clean and pure. Paul described this change in his letter to the Corinthian Christians. He wrote, “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2Co. 11:2).
That is stunning language! Paul was writing at a time that was much like ours, with a culture just as much focused on personal pleasure and sexual permissiveness as ours is. Many of the people who had joined those congregations organized by Paul were ashamed of the things they had done in their past. They wished they could go back and undo what they had done, but they couldn’t.
Paul directed them to the work of Jesus to save them. After listing sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God, sins like sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, greed, and drunkenness, Paul acknowledged the reality, “And such were some of you.” Christians are not those who are unstained by sin. Some have sinned so much, that they might think it is impossible for their many sins to be forgiven. Then Paul continued with this comfort: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co. 6:11).
You know the sins of your past. You wish you could go back and change a lot of things. But even if you did that, you would still be a sinner. You could change your actions in certain situations, you might be able to avoid some things, but other temptations would have come up. You weren’t just a bad choice or two away from perfection, you were far from it.
But in Jesus, you are holy. You were baptized into His victory over sin. Although you were impure, you have become pure. Although you were guilty, you have been absolved. Although you were dead in your sins, you have become alive in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He cleansed you and all the members of His church, as Ephesians says, “by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26-27). That is a description of you, a virgin holding a lamp of faith, called out of the darkness to meet your Bridegroom.
So you are ready, but are you set? All ten virgins were ready at first, but only half of them were actually set. I’ll tell you what being set does not mean. It does not mean being able to say that you were baptized and confirmed in the church, or that you have been a member here your whole life. It does not even mean that you regularly go to church and contribute to the church’s work. Those things do not ensure that you are set.
The important thing is that the flame of your faith is being fueled. Going through the motions or keeping your name on a membership list does not fuel your faith. But humbly repenting of your sin, eagerly hearing the pure Word of God, and receiving the Sacraments—that does fuel your faith.
All Christians must take this seriously. Just because you once had faith, does not mean you will always have faith. The five foolish virgins took their faith for granted, and when the Bridegroom was delayed, they became weary. They did not prioritize fuel for their faith, and when they realized their error, it was too late. The door to the wedding banquet was shut, and they weren’t allowed in.
This is a powerful warning for us. You couldn’t tell the difference between the wise and foolish virgins by looking at them. But there certainly was a difference. At one point, they all had their eye on the finish line; they were all ready to go. But not all of them were set. They relaxed too much. They took their eye off the prize. They became disqualified. They did not finish the race.
And notice that in fact all the virgins—all ten of them—relaxed too much. “They all became drowsy and slept.” The gun did not go off fast enough for them. And here we are, still waiting. The Bridegroom called us out of the darkness into His marvelous light (1Pe. 2:9). The midnight cry has gone out, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” But He has yet to return.
So what are we supposed to do? Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” But how do we watch? We watch by keeping our eyes on the Leader of the race, the Man standing ahead at the finish line. He has been in our shoes. He knows the difficulties and challenges we face. But He never slowed down. He never changed course. He never took His eyes off the prize, not even when the whole world stood against Him, not even when they nailed Him to a cross to suffer and die.
The author of Hebrews writes, “[F]or the joy that was set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). He endured that for you. He kept going, moving forward, for you. The Bridegroom knew what He was competing for; it was for you, His bride, His Church. The course He took was hard, harder than we can imagine, but He finished in victory. He won the victory over sin, devil, and death for you.
You stay ready and set by keeping your eyes on Him, your Savior. You watch for His return by listening to His promises. He speaks them to you today. He is not far away from you. He is present through His Word and His Sacraments to give you His encouragement and strength. He speaks His forgiveness as oil for your faith to keep it burning strong. He gives you His grace when you grow weary and drowsy along the way. He blesses you with His unseen presence now, so that you are prepared to rise up and go when He comes in glory.
That time is approaching and coming soon. The midnight cry was no false alarm. Now is the time to be ready for the Bridegroom’s return. We don’t know if His return will be sooner or later, so we stay set, alert, watchful, by continuing to fuel our faith through the powerful means that God has given us. We wait with patience for that day when a sharp sound will pierce the air, like a bullet from a gun.
Jesus will come “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1Th. 4:16). And if we are no longer living here on earth, if we are sleeping the sleep of death, that sharp sound will awaken us. Then we will surge with power out of the tomb, up into the sky, and directly to our Lord.
That’s the day that we will “Go!” Until then, we stay Ready, we get Set, and with the help that God provides, we Wait.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from 11th century painting from the Rossano Gospel)
The Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year
Text: St. Matthew 25:31-46
In Christ Jesus, who judges us not by the love we have shown others, but by the love He has shown us, dear fellow redeemed:
Are you ready for “Judgment Day”? We can’t help but feel some fear at the thought of it. On that day, Jesus will peel back the barrier between heaven and earth and reveal His glory to all mankind. He will come with a shout, with the sound of a great trumpet, accompanied by the angels. All the works of darkness will be exposed by His holy light. There will be nowhere to hide. Jesus says that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Mat. 12:36). That is terrifying, because we have filled our life with careless words.
But the way Jesus describes the last judgment in today’s reading gives us a different perspective on the day. We are told of a King sitting on His glorious throne, but then He is described as a Shepherd. Those are very different pictures. A king gives orders; he exercises his power. A shepherd dutifully cares for the sheep. Here we see Jesus separating “people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
For the sheep, He only has sweet things to say. He calls them ones who are “blessed by My Father.” He says they will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Then this Shepherd-King does something remarkable. He starts recounting all the good things the sheep have done for Him! They gave Him food when He was hungry, drink when He was thirsty, a home when He was a stranger, clothing when He was naked, encouragement when He was sick and in prison.
The sheep are dumbfounded, as sheep often are. They ask, “When did we do all these things for You, O Lord? When did we sheep do these things for You, our Shepherd, our King?” And He will reply, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” This happy exchange is probably not the first thing that comes to our minds when we think of Judgment Day. But it is how Jesus describes it, so it is good for us to dwell on His words and to find comfort in them as the last day approaches.
On the other hand, Jesus does not only speak words of comfort regarding that day. The goats at His left hear a very different message. Jesus does not say, “As long as you tried to be good and do what is right, you can enter My kingdom.” Or, “as long as you were sincere in your beliefs and followed your heart, that’s all that matters to Me.” This is the way the unbelieving world speaks. We hear many people—including professed Christians—say that all religions worship the same god, or that all religions are different paths to get to the same place. This is “Universalism,” and Jesus never teaches it.
He makes a much more exclusive claim about Christianity. He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Joh. 14:6). Those who deny the Son of God incarnate cannot have the Father. The apostle Peter once told the Jewish religious leaders that in rejecting Jesus, they had rejected “the cornerstone.” Then he added, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Act. 4:11,12).
This is why the goats ended up at Jesus’ left. They denied Him. They rejected the salvation He won for them. They did not want to hear His Word of truth. They wanted to go their own way. So Jesus will say to them on the last day, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” He will explain that when He was hungry, they did not feed Him. When He was thirsty, they gave Him no drink, and so on.
In their desperation, the unbelievers will cry out, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?” Their thinking is that if only they had the chance, they would have helped the King. If they knew of His needs, they would have stepped up. But they miss the point. The point is not that they failed to do enough good works for God to earn their way into heaven.
Doing good works doesn’t get anyone into heaven. Ephesians 2 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (vv. 8-9). If we wanted to get ourselves to heaven by our own works, we would have to live a perfect life in every way. But none of us has even come close! We have broken each of God’s Commandments more times than we could count.
This is why the sheep are so surprised to hear their Shepherd-King recount all the good things they had done for Him. We know how much we have sinned and how far we have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). But the sheep are not those who have always excelled at doing what is right, or who have sinned less than others have. The sheep are believers. Their trust and confidence are not in themselves and what they do, but in Jesus and what He has done.
The opposite is the case for the goats, the unbelievers. They may have been really nice people, but they did not trust in Jesus as their Savior. Because they rejected Him, nothing they did was actually righteous in His sight. That is what Hebrews 11:6 emphasizes, “without faith it is impossible to please him.” No matter how much money a person gives to the hungry and the poor, no matter how many strangers they welcome or prisoners they visit, if these are not done as fruits of faith, the Shepherd-King does not count them as being done for Him. It is impossible to please God without faith.
But then it is also the case that with faith it is impossible not to please Him. Faith produces good fruit. So when you and I go about our day, serving the people around us, these are good fruits in God’s sight. Usually we aren’t even aware of the good. We go to work, pick up groceries, clean the house, and pay our bills. We have devotions with our family, and we pray. There is never enough time to get everything done, and we probably feel guilty for not doing more.
But Jesus considers all these little things that barely seem to matter to be great works. He looks at our imperfect and lowly efforts like a parent looks at the scribbled drawings of a little child. In His eyes, the scribbled efforts of our humble lives are beautiful. On the last day, He will put our good deeds on display, like a child’s drawing showcased on the kitchen fridge. He counts all the things done for “the least of these [His] brothers,” as being done for Him.
We know that He looks at us like this not because we are so good, but because He is so good. Whatever good we accomplish starts with His good. Our love for others starts with His love for us. We learn what it means to serve the least by watching the Son of God humble Himself to serve the world of sinners. The world was happy with His miracles. The sick and demon-possessed were glad to be healed. But most people walked away from Him. Some even conspired to kill Him.
Still He went forward. He lived a perfect life according to the law of God, showing perfect love to God and to His neighbors, a life free from sin. He did not “repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling” (1Pe. 3:9). He did what He teaches His followers to do. He loved His enemies. He did good to those who hated Him. He blessed those who cursed Him. He prayed for those who abused Him (Luk. 6:27-28). Then He willingly gave up His life, so that all sin would be atoned for, and sinners would have salvation.
The holy life He lived is the reason you now stand holy in God’s sight. When you were brought to faith in Him, your sins were removed from you, and His righteousness was placed over you. This is why you can get ready for Judgment Day without being afraid of what will happen to you. You will not be judged for your careless words or any of your sins, because Jesus paid for them all. And you will not be judged as failing to do enough good, because Jesus’ life of good works, His life of perfect righteousness, is credited to you.
The King who will sit on His glorious throne on Judgment Day is a “King of love.” He is your Savior. Like a Shepherd, He will gather you and all His sheep safely to His side. Then you will never again hunger, never again thirst, never be left out or go without. You will be with Him, so you will have everything you need. On the last day, you will respond to His love for you like the hymnwriter expresses it:
The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His,
And He is mine forever. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary 370, v. 1)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 22:15-22
In Christ Jesus, who reigns in power over all things in heaven and on earth, and who shares His righteousness and glory with us sinners, dear fellow redeemed:
Jesus called the people who tried to trick Him “hypocrites.” Our English word comes right from the Greek word: hypocritai. The word literally means “play-actors,” people who play the part of someone else, who pretend to be something they are not. These people pretended to be friendly toward Jesus, admirers of His. They pretended to be on His side, but they were actually opposed to Him. They didn’t really care about truth. They cared about maintaining the influence they had in society.
That sounds like the way some government officials operate today. They pretend to care about their community. They claim to stand for higher principles. They use flattery to win people over to their side. It doesn’t matter where you stand politically. Each of us can think of politicians who fit this description. They are hypocritai—play-actors, pretenders—people who pursue their own interests above all else.
We certainly wouldn’t expect God to tell us to respect people like these. By their selfish actions, they should be disqualified. We shouldn’t have to give them any obedience or honor. But that is not what Jesus teaches in today’s reading. Without saying anything about Caesar’s worthiness to demand or receive tax money, Jesus said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” In other words, “Honor the ruler. Follow the law. Pay your taxes.”
Jesus is teaching us about authority. We need this lesson, because all of us are inclined to want things our own way. That is the old Adam in us: “I don’t care if God told me to stay away from this fruit. I’m going to eat it!” Each of us can think of examples from our childhood when we disobeyed our parents, because we didn’t want to do what they said. Or maybe when we were older we talked back to a teacher, a boss, or a police officer. We might have felt strong in our defiance, but we learned that the consequences for actions like these are often unpleasant.
The apostles sent out by Jesus taught this same respect for authority. The apostle Paul wrote: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God…. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Rom. 13:1,7, NKJV). The apostle Peter said much the same thing: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors” (1Pe. 2:13-14a, NKJV).
What is remarkable about these statements is that they were made at a time when the Roman officials were not friendly toward Christianity. Christians were persecuted, not because they refused to pay their taxes or obey civil laws, but because they would not regard the emperor as divine, as a god. Even at this time of unjust persecution, the apostles said, “Respect the authorities.” But why? Why is it so important to respect those who are not respectable, to honor those who are not honorable?
If you only respected the people you thought deserved it, what would your relationship with your parents have been like when you were younger? Did you always feel like your parents deserved your respect? Of course not! A lot of the time, you probably thought their perspective on things was unreasonable, mean, or just plain dumb. Why couldn’t they just trust you to make your own choices? It’s not like you were going to go commit crimes or anything!
But as you got older, you realized that your parents maybe weren’t so crazy after all. It’s like the son who as a teenager thought his dad was not too bright, but then couldn’t believe how much smarter his dad had gotten just a decade later! As we get older and wiser, we can see why our parents didn’t let us do everything we wanted. They were trying to protect us from bad choices, from situations that we weren’t mature enough to handle. Far from being unable to understand, they understood well the challenges we were up against.
This is why God gives us governing authorities in the home, the church, and society. It is to maintain order, so that everyone does not do whatever he feels like doing. And it is to protect us from harm, so that we are free to pursue what is good. Paul writes that this is why we pray for the authorities, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1Ti. 2:2, NKJV).
But what if the authorities want to take away our peace? What if they frown on our godliness and reverence toward God and act like our enemies? This happens when government officials forget who gave them their authority, when they act like there is no authority higher than their own. Jesus reminded Pilate about this when Pilate wasn’t getting the answers he wanted. Pilate said to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” And Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (Joh. 19:10,11).
All authority comes from God who is the ultimate authority. That is why we honor our earthly authorities. We honor them because “there is no authority except from God.” We honor them “for the Lord’s sake.” We honor them because God put them in their position for His purposes—purposes that may or may not ever become clear to us.
Now that does not mean we have no recourse if the authorities act wickedly or unjustly. In our country, we have the freedom to vote against any current office holders and to vote for other candidates. We can also challenge the decisions of the officials through our freedom of speech or through the court system. These are rights we are granted by the constitution as citizens of this nation.
At the same time, the Word of God cautions us against putting too much hope in government officials. Psalm 146 says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (vv. 3-4). The elected officials we have are all the same in this respect: they are all sinners. None of them will rule perfectly. None of them can save us from the problems we face. They can help point us in a better direction by their adherence to the moral law of God. But we will not have and we cannot make a perfect society on earth.
That is clear enough by the reception Jesus received—the only perfect person to walk this earth. His disciple Peter wrote: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1Pe. 2:22-23). This is how Jesus was treated by the civil and religious authorities. He was reviled. He was abused. He was nailed to a cross to die. And through all of this, He continuously entrusted Himself to His Father in heaven, “to him who judges justly.”
And how does God judge us? Have we like Jesus honored the authorities even while they mistreated us? Have we been willing to suffer for doing what is right and good? Have we continued to put our trust in our Lord, even while everything in society seems to be going wrong? We know the answers to these questions. We may have done well sometimes, but God knows the times we felt anger and hatred in our hearts toward the governing authorities. He knows when we willingly broke just laws. He knows when we failed to trust in His help and His strength.
But God does not judge us by our many violations of His holy law. He judges us by His Son. When Jesus was sinned against, He did not retaliate, He did not threaten, He did not punish. He took the suffering that we and every other sinner deserved. He made our sin His own. He appealed to His Father, the just Judge, to judge Him in our place, to judge Him instead. And God the Father did. He let the earthly authorities do their worst, so that they, and you, and I would have a Savior.
Because Jesus suffered and died in your place, your failure to respect the authorities by not following the laws of the land, not paying your share of taxes, not speaking well of them, and not praying for them—these sins are all forgiven. God does not hold them against you, not your sins of today or your sins from years ago against your parents and any others whom God placed over you. Jesus shed His holy blood to wash these sins away.
Through Baptism He has applied His forgiveness and holiness to us. He has made us His people, and He calls us to “follow in his steps” (1Pe. 2:22). No earthly authority can take away the victory we have in Him. No matter how bad it gets in this world, Jesus has triumphed over death itself and now reigns at the right hand of His Father. Nothing happens that He does not see. No injustice is done that will not be set right on the last day. Earthly authority is temporary. Earthly kingdoms and rulers come and go. The authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom are eternal.
After describing how we should respect the authorities in the home and the workplace, Paul writes this, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23-24). This is our motivation. This is our confidence. No matter who is ruling over us here on earth, we see the opportunity through our respect and obedience for the governing authorities to give honor to our almighty Lord and Savior.
It is because of Him that our debt with God is paid. It is because of Him that we stand righteous before the throne of heaven. It is because of Him that we are free to help and serve our neighbors, including the authorities, just as He helped and served us. We Give to Caesar out of Love for Christ.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Tribute Money” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Festival of All Saints (observed) – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:18-26
In Christ Jesus, who conquered death so that we may live, dear fellow redeemed:
Death can be a scary thing. This is especially true for those who have no hope. To them, death is the end. So, to make death seem less scary, they try to “soften it” by describing it in nice sounding terms, such as “he is playing eighteen holes on the golf course in the sky,” or, “he lived a good life, and now his legacy lives on,” or, “he will continue to be with you forever, so long as you keep thinking about him.”
The New Testament describes death as a peaceful sleep for those who die in Christ. To the world, describing death as a peaceful sleep is another one of those ways to try to “soften it” and make death seem less scary, but the world does not expect a waking up from that sleep. We can even think this way too, especially when we have just experienced the death of a loved one. However, while (1) death seems like the end to us, in reality, (2) death is only a sleep that Jesus will wake us from. Jesus gives us hope.
Our reading for today begins with a ruler kneeling before Jesus and asking him to lay his hand on his daughter so that she will live. We find out from the Gospels of Mark and Luke that this ruler was named Jairus. We also find out from these two Gospels that Jairus’ daughter wasn’t dead yet, but she was near death. This doesn’t mean that the Gospel of Matthew is giving an inaccurate report of what happened. The account was simply condensed.
Even though Jarius’ daughter wasn’t dead yet, she was so close to death that Jairus had little to no hope that she would be able to recover. The only hope he had was that Jesus could heal her. Jairus wasn’t basing his hope on nothing. Jesus had already healed many people who were sick. He healed an official’s son who was at the point of death (John 4:46–54). He healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years (John 5:1–17). He healed Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a high fever (Luke 4:38–39). He healed a paralytic (Mark 2:1–12). And he healed many others besides these (Matthew 8:16–17; 4:23–24).
Jairus had more than enough proof that Jesus had the power to heal his daughter. And then he watched Jesus heal a sick woman who touched the fringe of his garment on the way to his house. Seeing Jesus heal someone right in front of him no doubt gave him even more hope than he already had that Jesus had could save his daughter’s life. He had no reason to fear that his daughter would die so long as Jesus made it to his daughter in time.
Then the bad news came. According to Mark and Luke, after Jesus healed and reassured the sick woman, some men arrived to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. Jesus didn’t make it to Jairus’ daughter in time after all. Hearing this news could cause anyone to lose hope, but Jesus reassured Jairus by saying, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well” (Luke 8:50).
What Jesus said to reassure Jairus he also says to reassure us. Jesus entered this world to save us from death by his own death and resurrection. As Jesus said to Martha when her brother Lazarus died, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26).
Despite knowing this, death can still be a scary thing. We can fear the deaths of our loved ones, not wanting to experience the loneliness caused by them no longer being by our sides, or worrying how we will provide for ourselves and our families without their help. We can also fear our own deaths, worrying that it will be painful or that we will leave our families without the help that they need.
But it’s not just physical death that we can fear, but also eternal death. We know that we are by nature sinful and that we rightfully deserve eternal punishment in the fires of hell because of our many sins, a fact that can become clearer to us the closer to death that we get. As a result, we can wonder whether we lived a good enough life or whether we have a strong enough faith to get to heaven.
When any of these fears enter our minds, Jesus offers us reassurance and hope by telling us, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36). Jesus gives us the faith we need through his Word and Sacraments. Because of this, we believe that Jesus experienced all our sufferings and took all our sins on himself on the cross. We believe that he paid the price for all our sins by his innocent suffering and death. We believe that he did everything necessary to save us. And we believe that he will remain with us through all our struggles, giving us the strength to persevere until the day we enter the peaceful sleep of death and enter eternal life in heaven.
Jairus believed and put his hope in Jesus, even after he received the terrible news that his daughter had died. His friends did not have the same confidence. In fact, the men who came to deliver Jairus the bad news also told him not to bother Jesus anymore since his daughter was now dead (Mark 5:35). In addition, the people who had gathered at Jairus’ house to mourn his daughter’s death laughed at Jesus when he told them that “the girl [was] not dead but sleeping” (verse 24).
Like those who didn’t believe that Jesus could raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, we are tempted to doubt Jesus’ power over death. We know that God has revealed through his Word that we will rise again on the Last Day and that our bodies will be reunited with our souls. However, despite knowing what the Bible says, it can be difficult for us to have hope that we will rise from the dead. After all, Jesus’ power over death doesn’t change the fact that our loved ones are, for the moment, gone. We might even wonder why Jesus didn’t prevent the death of our loved ones if he has so much power.
Additionally, when our loved ones die and we are faced with the immediate reality of death, we might think that death is the end. Since we have only ever experienced life on earth, we tend not to give much thought at all to life in heaven. So, knowing that we will not see our loved ones again in this life might cause us to think that we will never see them again, despite knowing that the Bible says that we will see them again in heaven.
When we are tempted to doubt Jesus’ power over death and think that death is the end, Jesus gives us reassurance and hope. Jesus simply saying that he has power over death is one thing, but he also backed up his words with his actions. One of the ways he did this was by raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
Even though no one besides Jairus seemed to believe that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead, Jesus proved them wrong. He entered Jairus’ house, took his daughter by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41). And she arose.
This is not the only time that Jesus raised someone from the dead. He later raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11–17). He raised Mary and Martha’s brother, and his friend Lazarus from the dead not long before his own death (John 11:1–41). And, in the greatest raising of all, Jesus raised himself from the dead on the third day after his death.
If Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would have no hope. If death had kept its hold on Jesus and kept him in the ground, then that would mean he isn’t God. And if Jesus wasn’t God, then he would not have paid the price for our sins. But Jesus did rise from dead, and by his resurrection, he proved he is God and defeated death, giving us hope.
But it was not just physical death that Jesus saved us from. He also saved us from two other kinds of death: spiritual death and eternal death. We are all by nature sinful, meaning that we were spiritually dead from the moment we were conceived and could only sin all the time. Even our good deeds were like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:4). Because of the sins we committed, we rightfully deserved to suffer for all eternity in the fires of hell. We couldn’t escape this fate on our own, because we couldn’t choose to do good, let alone choose to believe in Jesus. However, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for all of our sins so that we will not enter eternal death in hell when we physically die, but eternal life in heaven. Additionally, he applied his perfect life to us so that God the Father no longer sees us as his enemies who deserve eternal death in hell, but as his own dear children who deserve eternal life in heaven. So that this reality can be ours, Jesus brought us to faith through his Word and Sacraments. In the waters of Holy Baptism, our sinful natures were drowned, and our new selves rose up.
Through Baptism, Jesus has already raised us from the dead, making us a part of the saints triumphant, even though we have yet to physically die. Jesus has made us members of his holy body, as he does with all believers. Therefore, our believing loved ones who are already sleeping are not so very far away from us because we are all united in Jesus. Now, whenever we pray to God, join together in praising him, or receive his body and blood at his holy table in his Supper, we are joining in praying, praising, and feasting with the saints triumphant who are already sleeping.
Since Jesus defeated death in all of its forms, the death of the body is no longer the end for those who believe in him, but a peaceful sleep. Death is no different than falling to sleep peacefully in our beds. When our bodies enter the peaceful sleep of death, our souls will be with Jesus in heaven. Then, on the Last Day, the sure hope that we have in Christ will come to pass. When Jesus returns, he will wake all those who believe in him from their peaceful sleep, which include us and our loved ones who are already sleeping, and will reunite our bodies with our souls. But our bodies will not be the imperfect bodies we died in. They will be perfected, and we will never experience the sufferings of this world ever again. Then, Jesus will take all believers in him to heaven—all the saints—to live with him for all eternity.
Those who have no hope do not believe that this could possibly be true. To them, the sure hope that we will live again is a misguided and empty attempt to make death seem less scary. However, this sure hope is a reality for those who die in Christ. Jesus has conquered death by his innocent death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Because Jesus has conquered death, we will not die, but live. Because Jesus has conquered death, we have hope.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Gabriel von Max, 1878)