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.
+ + +
(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.
+ + +
(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.
+ + +
(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.
+ + +
(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 covered us with the robe of His righteousness and who rejoices over us as a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride (Isa. 61:10, 62:5), dear fellow redeemed:
If I were to open up a new water bottle and pour the water into a glass, we would all say that is pure water. As we looked at it, it would appear clean and ready to drink. But what if I took a container of poison, a liquid also clear in color? No matter how many drops of poison I added to the glass of water, the water would appear no different. It would look just as clean as it was at the beginning, but looks would be very deceiving.
Jesus’ parable for today teaches us that outward appearances do not always reflect what is inside. The ten virgins with their lamps all looked the same. They were all eager to go and meet the bridegroom. But we quickly learn that five of them were wise and five were foolish, five were truly prepared and five were not.
These virgins are a picture of believers. The lighted lamp carried by each virgin is the living faith that burns inside of us and produces good works. But just because a person once has faith does not mean he will always have faith. We see that over time, the faith of five of the virgins grew weaker and was going out. Why did this happen?
Jesus says that “the bridegroom was delayed.” This delay, this change in expectation, caused the virgins to become drowsy and sleep. That tells us that the Christian life is more of a marathon than a sprint. Jesus gives some insight into this with His parable about the sower and the seed. He says that many hear the Word and believe it—the seed takes root in their heart. But some fall away “in time of testing” like a plant withering on a rock (Luk. 8:13). Others are “choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life” like a plant among thorns, “and their fruit does not mature” (v. 14).
We know that faith can be lost, including our own faith. That is why we are here today. “[F]aith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). We are here to listen carefully to the Word of God, so that our faith is exercised and strengthened. The Word is the way the oil for our lamps is replenished. It is the fuel source for our life of good works, and it is the means by which we are kept alert for our Savior’s return.
But many, including many Christians, think it is foolish to give so much time and attention to the Word. If they hear that you go to church every week, they might joke about what a bad person you must be if you need to go that often. Or they might tell you that they don’t need to hear the same thing week after week. They know what they believe, and they can think about God at home just as well as they can at church.
These comments show how weak their flame of faith is getting. They are thinking of God’s Word as common information and not as divine power. They are letting the temptations of the devil and the world lull them to sleep. And the same temptations are coming at us trying to do the same to us. Maybe we are strong right now, but there is a lot that could happen from now until we die or until Jesus returns. What might happen to our faith if we experienced great hardship, great pain, great loss? How strong would we be then?
All the virgins “became drowsy and slept.” None of them were as attentive—as focused and alert—as they should have been. This is true of all believers. None of us watches and prays like we ought to. But Jesus our Bridegroom is coming, and He is coming soon. How soon? Jesus tells us to expect His return at any time and says that no one knows the day or the hour except for God (Mat. 24:36). Today’s Epistle lesson says, “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1Th. 5:2).
As much as we would like to know when the last day will be, we do not need to know. What we do need to know is what God has given us in His Word. We need to know why God sent His Son to earth in the flesh and what Jesus accomplished for us. God sent His Son to earth because the world was going to hell. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and the poison of their sin worked its way down through each generation all the way to us. Babies look pure, as pure as a human being can be, but they are sinners, and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
Every one of us is defiled by sin. We deserve eternal punishment for it. No matter how good we may look on the outside, no matter how holy we may appear to be, “we are by nature sinful and unclean” as we confess at the beginning of the service (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, p. 41). God’s Son took on our flesh, but He was not infected by our sin. He was perfect and pure, the only righteous person who had walked the earth since Adam and Eve before their fall.
And even though Jesus was tempted with every sort of temptation like we are, He never sinned (Heb. 4:15). He perfectly obeyed the holy commands of our holy God. He did in the flesh what no other human could do, and He did it for the entire human race. Then He offered His perfect life as a sacrifice to the Father, so that the whole world’s sins would be atoned for by His precious blood.
His holy life and atoning death were applied to you at your Baptism. That’s what St. Paul wrote in his inspired letter to the Christians in Ephesus. He said that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her 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. 5:25-27).
You were brought into this spotless, holy Church through the waters of Baptism. The baptismal font is where Jesus applied His cleansing blood to you (Act. 22:16), where He purified your conscience from dead works (Heb. 9:14), where He covered you in His own perfect life (Gal. 3:27). This is why Jesus refers to believers as “virgins.” They are the pure ones with no blemish on their reputation, because Jesus’ perfect life covers over theirs.
Being a believer in Jesus means that no wrong you have done, no failure of judgment, no sin you have committed sticks to you anymore. The devil does his utmost to get you to think otherwise, to make you think your sins are not forgiven or even that they are not forgivable. Jesus disagrees. He suffered and died for every single one of your sins, willingly and completely. And if they were put on Him and paid for by Him, then they are not on you anymore.
The apostle Paul wrote to another congregation, “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2Co. 11:2). That is what you are by faith in Him. You are a member of the Church, His holy Bride. Jesus is your Bridegroom who cares for you and provides for all your needs in this life and who leads you on to the eternal wedding feast in His kingdom.
He promises that there will be an end to the troubles and death of this world. He will come on the last day to separate the sheep from the goats, the believers from the unbelievers. He will bring the faithful into the blessedness of heaven and cast the wicked into the curses of hell. He tells us this, so we are not overwhelmed by the darkness or overcome by spiritual sleep. He tells us what is coming to keep us alert and prepared.
Like the foolish virgins, there are many who will be found unprepared when the Bridegroom comes. They took too much for granted. They got complacent about their faith. They gave into temptation and embraced sin. They neglected the means of grace. And the devil pounced when they were weak. Or maybe they did attend divine services, but they did not take the Word to heart. They were there to keep up appearances and nothing more. The flame of their faith diminished and then went out like a lamp running out of oil.
Jesus warns us about this, so that we are not foolish but wise. Being wise to God is foolishness to the world. Those who put their trust in Jesus must endure criticism and persecution in this world. It is not the easy path. But it is the only path that leads to salvation.
Jesus your Bridegroom meets you on this path. Though you cannot see Him now, He is present through His Word and Sacraments. He has the oil you need for your lamp. He keeps your faith going. He promises that the wait is worth it, that great blessings will be had by those who remain holy and pure by faith in Him.
In this faith, you will be ushered with perfect joy and delight through the doors of heaven where the marriage feast of the Lamb is prepared. There you will not remember the hardships. You will not remember the sorrows and pains. You will not remember how much you had to suffer in this evil world. You will join the great company of heaven, those who are saints, holy ones, pure virgins—all those who “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
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.
+ + +
(picture from 11th century painting from the Rossano Gospel)
The Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 25:31-46
In Christ Jesus, who chose us and appointed us that we should go and bear fruit, so that others may receive the blessings of God as we do (Joh. 15:16), dear fellow redeemed:
Jesus gives a description in today’s reading of what will happen on the last day. He says He will come in His glory. All the angels will accompany Him. He will sit on His glorious throne. The holy angels will gather before Him the people of all nations. It will be clear to everyone who the King is. It won’t matter who has power on earth at that time; the rulers of the world will be as nothing before Him. Everyone will be at His mercy, but not everyone will receive mercy. The sheep placed at His right hand will be honored, while the goats at His left hand will be cursed.
The sheep are believers in Jesus, those who are blessed by the Father, given the inheritance of eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus says that the kingdom was prepared for them “from the foundation of the world.” That means the sheep did not earn their salvation or somehow make themselves worthy of salvation. They were chosen for salvation from the very beginning of the world, before they even existed. This choosing, which the Bible also calls their “election,” was realized when they were brought to faith by the power of God’s Word.
And that is what happened to you. Your heavenly Father chose you to be His own from eternity and called you out of the darkness of your sin and death into His marvelous light. He wanted you. He rescued you. That means He has big plans for you. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God made us and redeemed us for a specific purpose, that we should live in His grace and do good while we are here on earth. He has even laid out the good works He wants us to do. We don’t have to search high and low looking for them; they are right there in front of us.
At the time of the Reformation, many people had the idea that the workers in the church had the most important work—the bishops, priests, monks, and nuns. They were seen as doing so much good, that they had enough to share—or sell—to others. Martin Luther once believed that too, but even while he served as a monk, he knew he was not as holy as others thought he was or as holy as he wanted to be.
Later he learned that good works are not done only or especially by the church workers. They are done by all whom God has called to faith. He said something to the effect that the mother caring for her children is doing more good than all the monks and nuns combined. The mother hardly thinks about all the good she is doing, while the monks and nuns are filled with pride for their works which do nothing for their neighbors.
You have important work to do, work which God has prepared for you, work which brings your Lord and Savior great joy. Jesus gives some examples of that work in today’s reading. Looking back over the lives of the sheep, He said they were busy with feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and supporting those who were in prison. “In fact,” He said, “you did all of those things for Me.” The sheep are shocked! “When did we do all those things for You?” they ask. And Jesus answers, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”
This remarkable statement covers every good work you do with gold. It shows how precious your life of faith is to Jesus. It shows that He is not upset with you, wondering when you will shape up and do more for the kingdom. He regards your life of faith as a life filled with good. You might think of a few times in your life when you really shined, when you really did something significant, when you know you accomplished something worthwhile.
But Jesus does not look at your life the way you do. In His view, the most significant works you have done may have been ones that you don’t even remember or ones you were never aware of. Every time you prayed in His saving name, every time you listened to His Word, every time you repented of your sin, every act of service done for those around you such as supporting your family, preparing meals, cleaning the house, working hard at your studies and your job, speaking a kind word, helping the needy, and so on—all of these are wonderful, beautiful works in the eyes of your Savior. “You have done these things for Me,” He says.
This realization shapes our life of love. We help and serve and make sacrifices out of love for Him who loved us first (1Jo. 4:19). As we look at all the neighbors in need around us, Jesus wants us to see Him. This is why Christian wives are willing to submit to their imperfect husbands, and Christian husbands are willing to sacrifice for their imperfect wives. This is why Christian children obey their unreasonable parents, and Christian parents are patient with their unruly children. This is why Christian employees serve their inept bosses, and Christian bosses put up with their lazy employees. The apostle Paul writes, “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).
But we know how stained by sin our service has been. Yes, we have done good things for our families, our co-workers, and the people in our community. Yet so often we have done these things begrudgingly, complaining about how much we have to do. We have worked half-heartedly, telling ourselves that they do not deserve our best. We have done more for those who seem grateful and worthy and less for those who don’t.
It’s hard to imagine that Jesus will praise these weak works of ours on the last day. They are so imperfect, so tainted by selfishness and pride. How can we be certain that we will stand among the sheep on the last day and not among the goats? The absolutely essential point, the key, is not to focus on your works. If you focus on your works, you will always be uncertain. “Have I done enough? Have my efforts been good enough? Were my works pure enough?”
You and I have not done enough. Galatians 3:10 says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Unless you have lived perfectly, you cannot find comfort in your works. You will never be certain of your salvation by focusing on what you do. That’s why most of our Christian friends are uncertain about their salvation. They think their salvation depends in some part on what they do.
Your salvation depends on Jesus only. That is where your focus needs to be—not on the good you do, but on the good He has done. His works are not tainted. They were never done begrudgingly, half-heartedly, or selfishly. Jesus lived His life of perfect love for you, for your benefit, to credit these works to your account.
This is the strange reality behind Jesus’ words on the last day. While He praises the good works of the sheep, they stare at Him wide-eyed, totally perplexed that the perfect King should say anything good about their life. Is He talking about their small efforts, their insignificant works, their weak attempts? What is their life compared with His?
The reason He accepts the works of believers—your works—as good is because He has cleansed every work of yours with His precious blood. He has removed all your imperfections, forgiven all your failures. You are still aware of your weaknesses, your bad behavior, your missed opportunities. But He sees you as pure, holy, and righteous by faith in Him. On the last day, Jesus will not judge you by what you managed to do or by what you did not do. He will judge you as lacking nothing, failing never, because your trust is in Him.
There is great freedom in this Gospel truth. You don’t have to spend your life trying to make up for your wrongs. You don’t have to worry about doing everything just right. You can live your life boldly, generously, sacrificially. You can share food and drink and hospitality and clothing and kindness, because your account is overflowing with God’s goodness. He has given to you in abundance, so that you can pass on the riches of His grace to others.
You know exactly What to Do When the Days Are Few. You are the servants of the King, with whom He has shared His inheritance—all the wealth of His kingdom. The work you do is not about you; it is not for you. It is about Him; it is for Him. As He comes to you through His Word and Sacraments filling you and strengthening you, He makes you ready for the work He has given you to do.
And when your time here is ended, when your work here is complete, you will hear these gracious words of your Lord and Savior, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
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.
+ + +
(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 25:1-13
In Christ Jesus, who calls us to be alert and watchful, so that the day of His return does not surprise us like a thief in the night (1Th. 5:4), dear fellow redeemed:
In about a month, we are going to hear many references to a virgin—the virgin Mary. The reason Mary’s sexual history is so crucial to the account of Christmas is because a baby conceived in the natural way could never be the Savior of the world. Such a baby would be a mere mortal descended from sinful, mortal parents. The baby Jesus had to be conceived by God the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary’s womb, so that He could be born without sin. Then He could be our Savior, and He is.
The virgins that Jesus describes in today’s parable are virgins of a different sort. They are called virgins because of their spiritual purity, a purity they received by faith. These ten virgins “took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.” The bridegroom is Jesus, who will come in glory on the last day to raise all the dead. When He comes to raise and glorify the bodies of all the faithful, they will go up with Him to the great wedding feast in heaven.
The ten virgins were all looking for the bridegroom’s return, but we’re told that five of them were foolish. They did not take along extra oil for their lamps. They thought the bridegroom would be coming much sooner than He did. They weren’t prepared for the long wait. This waiting period is where we are today. Is the wait getting too long for you? Are you becoming drowsy?
It is easy to get that way. When you are well-rested and the sun is shining, it is not difficult to stay on the alert, watching for someone’s arrival. It’s different when you are weary and tired, and the darkness of night covers everything. Then the eyes droop and the head gets heavy, and before you know it, you are sleeping. How do we keep the lamp of our faith burning? How do we stay watchful and vigilant?
The oil for our lamps comes from God, and it comes in rich supply. The oil is His powerful Gospel found in His Word and Sacraments. The Gospel is what keeps the faith of the Christian burning brightly. Our faith holds onto Jesus. When we hear again and again what He has done for us, that His righteousness is ours, and that His grace and forgiveness and life are freely given to us, our faith gets stronger.
The continued hearing of His Word means we will not be tricked when a deceptive voice calls for our attention. We know the voice of our Good Shepherd. The continued eating of His body and drinking of His blood keeps us healthy and strong. It keeps us from desiring to fill ourselves with rotten food and poisoned drink. We meet the bridegroom now in His means of grace where He promises to be found, so that we are prepared to meet Him when He comes on the last day.
But some who once were eager to meet the bridegroom are not eager any longer. They once had lamps of faith burning brightly. But now their lamps have gone out—or they are about to—because they are no longer connected to the fuel of the Gospel. Their eyes have grown accustomed to the darkness. They are not looking for the light anymore.
We can all think of people like this, fellow Christians who used to join us here at church but who don’t anymore. We do not give up on these people whom we love. We pray for them, and we take whatever opportunities we can to encourage them. We want their faith to burn brightly again. We want them to be prepared for their Savior’s return.
Those whose lamps have gone out are a warning to us. We were once all together, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, spiritually pure in God’s sight. We were the same—saved by grace alone and not because of anything in us. But the devil, the world, and our own flesh are constantly working to steal this salvation and our confidence in Christ away from us. The apostle Paul expressed this concern to the Christians in Corinth. “I betrothed you to one husband,” he wrote, “to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2Co. 11:2-3).
What are the things that lead our thoughts astray? What tempts us to forsake the light and the warmth of Jesus’ Word and Sacraments? What tempts us are the works of darkness. They are all the things that the powers of darkness promote, which God warns us about. What God wants for us is exactly opposite of what the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh want.
God wants us to have eternal life in heaven. Our enemies want us to look for heaven on earth. God wants to forgive our sins. Our enemies want us to forget about our sins. God wants us to do what benefits our neighbor and honors Him. Our enemies want us to do what pleases ourselves. God wants to save us from eternal death. Our enemies want us to live for today and today only. God wants us to follow His Word. Our enemies want us to follow our hearts, follow the crowd—anything that keeps us comfortable with the world.
The powers of darkness are persuasive. Jesus says that even the wise virgins “became drowsy and slept.” We are more vulnerable than we realize. It wasn’t long after Jesus told this parable that He asked Peter, James, and John to remain with Him and watch with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus prayed, the disciples fell asleep. He woke them up and said, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat. 26:41).
The same goes for us. Our spirit indeed is willing—here we are, eager to be strengthened through Jesus’ Word and Sacraments. But our flesh is weak. We will be tempted again to sin. We will set aside the lamp of faith to try to keep our sin hidden. We will think we can dabble in the darkness and still be ready when the bridegroom comes. We think we can make some compromises now. We think we can do what we know is wrong, because there will be time to right our wrongs later.
The bridegroom came when He was not expected. He came at midnight. The virgins were not watching for Him. We should never put off repentance for our sins until tomorrow. If we know what we are doing is wrong, we must repent of it today. There might not be a tomorrow! Jesus says, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (Joh. 3:20-21).
Where the bridegroom is, there is light. Jesus is the Light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome (Joh. 1:5). He said about Himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Joh. 8:12). The virgins in today’s parable are not ones who have never sinned. They are ones who were called “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1Pe. 2:9).
The “marvelous light” of Jesus is His great love for our dying world. In this great love, He came into the world’s darkness. He came to take all our sins to Himself as though they were His own. He was the beacon light that caused the devil, the wicked world, and death to take aim at Him. They threw everything they had at Him, but they could not defeat Him. He overcame them all on the cross and rose from the dead in total victory.
The light of Jesus’ grace, the light of His forgiveness, the light of His life, was stronger than all the powers of darkness. He shines that bright light inside us through His powerful Word. He opens our eyes to the works of darkness. He shows us where we have let the darkness creep in, where we have become drowsy. He leads us to repent of our sins and to see that they have all been dispelled by the light of His salvation.
His glorious light keeps your light burning. On your own, you would have no light. But the light of His Gospel has touched the wick of your heart and set it on fire. Your heart is not shrouded in darkness anymore. It is bathed in light. You are born again. You have left the dark womb of the world and entered into the brightness of His kingdom.
As long as you keep your eyes on your Savior’s light burning brightly in His Word and Sacraments, you will be ready for His return on the last day. Well supplied by His means of grace, your faith will be shining when the cry goes out, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then you and all the faithful—all the wise virgins—will go with your bridegroom Jesus to the marriage feast.
Then there will be no sorrow or concern over His delay, no memory of our troubled time in the darkness. There will be only singing and feasting and joy in our Lord’s kingdom of eternal light.
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.
+ + +
(picture from 11th century painting from the Rossano Gospel)
The Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 25:31-46
In Christ Jesus, who in His mercy does not give us what we deserve, and in His grace gives us what we do not deserve, dear fellow redeemed:
You could see it coming. She wasn’t as mobile as she used to be. The yard that she had kept so meticulously was beginning to get overgrown. So you offered to help her. You would be happy to mow her lawn, shovel her sidewalk, do any odd jobs she needed done. That’s what neighbors do. And she was always very grateful. She offered to pay you, but you told her it was easy to run over and take care of things since you are outside anyway. So she paid you with smiles and waves and thank yous and fresh-baked cookies. You got close to your neighbor and she got close to you.
But her health declined still more. The time came for her to move from her home to receive more care. You continued to keep up her lawn and visit her in the nursing home. You were not surprised when you received the call that she had died, but you were sad—a good neighbor and a good friend gone.
A couple weeks later, your phone rang. It was your neighbor’s lawyer asking you to be present for the reading of her will. That was a surprise! It was even more surprising to find no one else in attendance on the appointed day. The lawyer began to read. Your neighbor left a message of love and thankfulness for all your kindnesses. Then she proceeded to say that everything she owned she was giving to you. Unknown to anyone around her—including you—she had a significant fortune. Just like that, ten million dollars was yours!
You were in shock. Sure, you had helped her, but not ten million dollars’ worth! You helped her out of kindness, not expecting anything in return. This was truly humbling. In fact, you felt some guilt. You wished you had done more for her, spent more time with her. Your effort was so small compared to this massive gift. It was a totally incomprehensible and undeserved inheritance.
This is how it is with the inheritance our heavenly Father gives us. We don’t deserve it. We haven’t earned it. But He freely gives it. Notice how when Jesus names all the wonderful things the righteous do, the righteous wonder when they have done all these things. In their estimation, they haven’t done anything. And Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”
Every good thing that we do out of love for God and for one another is counted as a good work before God. Many of these things are small in our sight: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house, pitching in to help our co-workers, sharing a kind word, encouraging the hurting, praying for those in need. Jesus sees it all. He delights in it, as though it were done directly for Him.
That is comforting to hear. But then we think about all the times we have not done good. We didn’t want to change our plans to help someone else. We complained when a hurting soul wanted more of our time than we wanted to give. We decided not to reach out to someone who had experienced loss because we weren’t sure what to say. We accepted all the praise for a job well done, but we passed the blame for a job done poorly. Would we treat Jesus this way? He said to the unrighteous, “as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”
The scene in today’s Gospel is Judgment Day, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and sits on His glorious throne. “Judgment Day” has a scary sound to it. It sounds like a dark day, a day we would rather avoid. Jesus says that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Mat. 12:36). And in words that are included in the Athanasian Creed, He says that on the last day all the dead will come out of their tombs—“those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Joh. 5:29).
Are you ready to stand before the holy Son of God and give an account for every careless word you have spoken? Are you ready to give an account of all you have done? This is where some think they can balance the ledger themselves. “Let’s see: I said something that wasn’t very nice, but then I made up for it by giving some compliments. I used to be more selfish, but now I am generous with my gifts. I ignored my neighbor once when he needed help, but I have helped many others since then.”
But there is no excuse for our bad behavior, and there is no making up for our own wrongs. Trying to justify ourselves puts us in the camp of the unrighteous who unsuccessfully argue that if they had seen Jesus in need, they would have certainly helped Him. If we think we can stand before Jesus and plead the cause of our own righteousness, we will be condemned to eternal punishment.
So what hope do we have? If we can’t make things right with God, how can we possibly gain eternal life? We have eternal life because God made things right with us. It is strange for us to hear Jesus list all the good things the righteous have done. Compared with Jesus, the righteous really haven’t done a thing! He is the one who gave food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. He is the one who welcomed strangers and treated them kindly. He is the one who helped the sick and needy. He perfectly fulfilled the law of love toward His neighbors. He did not fail anyone in any way.
And that is the key to the words that Jesus speaks about the righteous. They are not righteous because of what they have done. They are righteous because of what He has done. Our righteousness comes from Him. It is bestowed on us by Him. Romans 4:4-5 says, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” We have not earned righteousness by our own works; we receive righteousness by faith in Jesus.
His righteousness is complete. It does not require anything from us. He has fully kept the law for us. Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” The gift of His righteousness is reflected in His words to the sheep at the right of His throne. “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus says that the righteous are those who are blessed by God the Father. They are the ones who are credited with Jesus’ righteousness. They are the ones who are cleansed by His holy blood. These are invited to inherit the Father’s kingdom. To leave no question how the righteous obtain this inheritance, Jesus says that “the kingdom [has been] prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” If the inheritance has been prepared from the foundation of the world, it can’t be something the righteous have earned. The kingdom of heaven is a gift. It is like the ten million dollar inheritance that you do not deserve.
This eternal inheritance is yours. Jesus’ death on the cross secured it, and His resurrection from the grave verifies it. The righteous are all those who deny their own righteousness and trust in Jesus only. The unrighteous are those who rely on their own efforts and expect God to reward them for their good behavior. You are righteous by faith in your Savior. You do not lack anything because He did everything for you.
He will not make a mistake on the last day. He will not send you to punishment. Every careless word you have spoken, every sinful thing you have done, has been blotted out by Jesus’ blood. Through Your Baptism, Jesus’ forgiveness was applied to you, and His perfect righteousness was placed over you. You are clean and holy in God’s sight.
As His righteous one, you reflect His righteousness by what you say and do. You help and serve your neighbor not because you are trying to build up righteousness before God. You help and serve your neighbor because you are righteous. And all those righteous words and actions which are possible only because of what Jesus has done for you, He counts them as having been done for Him!
So we do not look toward Judgment Day with dread. We look toward Judgment Day with confidence and anticipation. On that day we will be judged right with God by faith in Jesus. Jesus tells us that on the day of His glorious return, we should not cower in fear. You and I should “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luk. 21:28).
Judgment Day for us is Inheritance Day. It is the day when all that our merciful Father has promised us, all that is already ours by faith, we will enjoy in all its fullness. In Jesus’ holy presence, we will not be thinking about anything we have done. We will praise Him for everything He has freely given to us—an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]” (1Pe. 1:4)—to enjoy for all eternity.
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.
+ + +
(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10
In Christ Jesus, the Judge who comes with mercy and might to terminate the evil and crown the righteous (ELH #534, v. 1), dear fellow redeemed:
At the end of the Athanasian Creed, we confess that at the second coming of Jesus, “all will rise again with their bodies and will give an account of their own works. And they that have done good will enter into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire” (ELH, p. 30). So have you “done good” or have you “done evil”?
Certainly sometimes you have done good, but not always. If you had to stand before your Lord and King on the last day and give an account of every good and bad thing, what would there be more of? Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Mat. 12:36). “Every careless word”!?! Where would we even begin? There are so many of them!
That’s why hearing about “Judgment Day” makes us feel a little nervous. It doesn’t sound like a very nice day. Jesus Christ, whom the world of men crucified, is coming again to judge the living and the dead. How will He judge us? In the Holy Gospel for today (Mat. 25:31-46), He explains that He will place the righteous who did His will at His right hand. And He will place the cursed who did not do His will at His left. You are counted among the righteous, but the credit for your goodness does not go to you.
If you try to take comfort in the good you have done, you will have no comfort. For every good deed, you can think of a bad one. You may have served someone in deep love, but you have also shunned another in deep hatred. You acted generously toward one, but selfishly toward another. You confidently spoke the truth and cowardly spoke a lie. You obeyed the authorities on one occasion and broke the law on another. For every righteous thought, word, and action, you can remember an opposing infraction.
But Judgment Day will not be a bad day for you. It is going to be a good day—a great day. You will not receive the Lord’s wrath as you stand before Him. You will receive His mercy. Jesus will say to you: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34). How can that be? It is because you will not be judged by your own life. You will be judged by Jesus’ life, by the perfect good He carried out on your behalf.
This is why Jesus calls us the “good” and “righteous” ones. We are those who were claimed as His own in Holy Baptism and covered in His righteousness. We are those who time and again have partaken of His holy body and blood in the Supper. We are those who have no good to boast of in ourselves, but who are declared righteous by faith in Jesus. This faith binds us to Him and produces the fruit of love toward the people around us, which Jesus counts as work done for Him.
That means Judgment Day is not a day to be feared. It is our day of victory. Jesus tells us that when we see the signs of the end times happening all around us, then we should “straighten up and raise [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near” (Luk. 21:28). We should not worry about Judgment Day; we should look forward to it.
One reason we look forward to it is because “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,” He will grant us relief from our afflictions. Being a follower of Jesus is not all roses in this world. Jesus tells us to expect trouble here on account of His name. He says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (Joh. 15:18-19).
Why would the world hate Christians? We do not pursue violence toward those who oppose us. We deal kindly with our neighbors. We help the needy. Shouldn’t the world praise us? But then Jesus did all those good things and more, and He was despised and rejected and nailed to a cross to die. The world’s hatred of Christians is not rational. It’s demonic. The devil is behind it. He wants to make our lives miserable, so that we deny our Savior and Lord.
But God turns the devil’s wicked schemes into good for us. Paul told the Thessalonian Christians that despite all the afflictions and persecutions they were enduring, “we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith.” Amidst all that trouble, Paul gave thanks to God because, he said, “your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”
God used their afflictions to purify their faith like gold purified in a hot fire. That is hard to accept. Nobody wants to endure persecution and suffering and pain. We want God to give us only peaceful times and pleasant things. But if we received all the good things we wanted, what would that do to our faith? If we never suffered, we would cling to this life. We would not long for a better life to come. Suffering increases our desire “to depart and be with Christ” (Phi. 1:23), to join the great company in heaven around His throne.
But before that time comes, we often endure terrible things here on earth. You may have wrongly been accused of someone else’s crime. You may have had something precious stolen from you. You may have been the victim of malicious lies, and your reputation never recovered. You may have been betrayed by someone you thought you could trust. You may have been taken advantage of or abused, and the offender got away with it. You may have been treated like dirt by someone who was supposed to care for you.
Where is the justice for these wrongs? Doesn’t God see what is done to His people? Don’t these vicious attacks and persecutions bother Him? Yes, they do. He sees every wrong done to His dear children. He knows how severely they are wounded, how deeply they are hurt. This is why He gave up what was most dear to Him. Out of love for the afflicted, He gave up His only Son.
God the Father sent His Son to take every wrong, every wound, every hurt into Himself. He came to bear that injustice, so you would have a way out from the anger, the pain, and the tears. “Surely he has borne [your] griefs and carried [your] sorrows” (Isa. 53:4). Jesus came to free you from these terrible burdens and to wash you clean not only from your sins, but also from the sins others have committed against you. His holy blood cleanses you from all sin (1Jo. 1:7).
But what about the wicked who have done horrible things and gotten away with them? What about those who piled up wrong after wrong and were never brought to justice? The mighty God assures us that the unrepentant will be brought to justice. Regarding the one who has “spurned the Son of God” and “outraged the Spirit of grace,” the Lord says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Heb. 10:29-30).
Our text says that “indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you.” Hardened sinners will suffer for the evil they have done. When Jesus comes again in glory “with His mighty angels in flaming fire,” He will “[inflict] vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.”
This is our Lord’s promise, that all the wrongs done to us here will be set right. The people of the world who attacked Jesus and His Word and His faithful followers will not be able to find anywhere to hide. Even the deepest cave will not save them from His wrath (Rev. 6:15-17). “And these will go away into eternal punishment,” says Jesus, “but the righteous into eternal life” (Mat. 25:46).
We do not want to see anyone damned to hell, although we know that many will be. For our part, we pray that the wicked repent of their wrongs before they must face the terrible wrath of God. And we ask God to lead us also to daily repentance and a humble trust in His grace. We are saved only by His grace. We do not deserve salvation, but He gives it freely and fully because of His great love and compassion for us.
There is no doubt about it: Justice Will Be Done on Judgment Day. Those who have rejected the Lord and His Word of grace will answer for all the wrong they did on earth. They will be condemned to eternal torment in hell because they were not righteous before God. But those who have trusted in God’s promises in His Word will not see His anger. They will be judged according to the life of Jesus, who was perfectly righteous.
So you do not need to be afraid of Judgment Day. It is the day of your victory over all that is wrong in this world. It is the day when justice will finally and fully be done, and you will take your blessed place in the presence of the holy God.
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.
+ + +
(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Third to Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In Christ Jesus, who gives us hope in our uncertainties and comfort in our struggles and sorrows, dear fellow redeemed:
We could list a lot of things that make us feel more pessimistic than optimistic about the future. Our country is divided politically, and the sides seem to be moving further apart rather than closer together. We have ongoing concerns about a virus that infects more people each day. We wonder how stable the economy will be going forward. But in the middle of these divisions and uncertainties, the inspired words of today’s text give us hope.
The apostle Paul sent these words to the Christians in Thessalonica. He had preached and taught among them for only a short time before he was forced to leave the town. Some jealous opponents had stirred up a mob against him and even dragged one of the new Christian converts before the authorities (Act. 17:1-10). From this time forward, it would have been uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous to be a Christian in Thessalonica.
But the Thessalonians remained faithful. They endured suffering and waited eagerly for Christ’s return in glory. They were told to expect His second coming very soon. But as time passed, these new Christians faced a new problem. Some of their fellow believers were dying. What were they to make of that? Would the dead miss out on the glorious return of Jesus and the promise of eternal life in heaven?
Paul’s letter brought them great comfort. He referred to the dead in the same way Jesus had spoken about a deceased little girl, that she was “not dead but sleeping” (Mar. 5:39). The crowd laughed at Jesus then, but they weren’t laughing when He took her by the hand and brought her back to life. For Jesus, waking the dead is just as easy as waking someone up from a nap. Death is only a sleep to Him, a temporary, peaceful slumber.
We should not wonder if Jesus can do this. We have the examples of His raising the little girl, the young man from Nain, and His friend Lazarus. But the most compelling evidence of Jesus’ power over death is His own resurrection from the dead. Not only could He raise others, He could even raise Himself! Now that’s power!
A whole bunch of people regard Jesus as a good teacher but nothing more. They lump Him in with teachers like Confucius, Buddha, or Muhammed. But when those men died, they stayed dead. Their flesh decayed, and perhaps by now their bones have even turned to dust. Jesus died, but His flesh did not see corruption. Death held Him for parts of three days—and only because He let it.
He entered death when He wanted to, and He left it again when He wanted to. There was nothing death could do to stop Him. Death was utterly overcome, defeated. Jesus triumphed over death and will never be subject to it again. That means death won’t be able to overcome us who trust in Him. “But how can you be so sure?” the skeptic asks. “Show me an example in modern history of someone being dead for a matter of days and coming back to life again.”
The world always wants proof on its terms. Past evidence does not count. They need to see it with their own eyes today. We sinners repeat the same mistakes as the sinners of the past. We hardly ever learn. Each generation thinks it is better and smarter and more righteous than the generations before it. It is our common human pride and conceit.
This self-centeredness is why many refuse to believe that Jesus rose from the dead two thousand years ago or that He will raise the dead in the future. They are like doubting Thomas. They won’t trust the multiple eyewitness accounts of others. They need to see it with their own eyes, or they won’t believe it (Joh. 20:24-25). “If Jesus has this power,” they say, “let Him come down here and show us. If He brings someone back from the dead, then we will believe in Him.”
But even that wouldn’t be enough. Sinful people always find something to question, some reason for doubt. If Jesus came back and raised a dead person to life, many would say it was a trick. They would come up with some logical explanation for it. Seeing would not lead to them believing.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Joh. 20:29). He wants us to take Him at His Word. He has the right to expect that, doesn’t He? After all, He is the one who predicted His own resurrection and then followed through on it. If He made good on that promise, why wouldn’t He make good on His promise to raise the dead on the last day?
Paul made it clear that he wasn’t putting down his own opinions or wishes in his letter. He said, “this we declare to you by a word from the Lord.” The Lord promises that those who are alive when He comes on the last day will not have any advantage over those who are asleep in their graves. He will come with a great shout, and His powerful Word will awaken the dead. Then all believers will rise with glorified bodies that no longer show any effect of sin.
After the dead have risen, “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The word translated “caught up” has the sense of a sudden and intense action. We will be snatched up to the clouds by the Lord. We won’t have to wait for our redemption. It will happen immediately when Jesus comes.
It won’t come a moment too soon. We long for Jesus’ return. This world is not where we want to be. As Christians first sang in the 12th century, so we still sing, “The world is very evil, / The times are waxing late” (ELH #534, v. 1). In the Holy Gospel for today (Mat. 24:15-28), Jesus describes the tribulation of the end times. “[I]f those days had not been cut short,” He said, “no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
So what is Jesus waiting for? The apostle Peter reminds us “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2Pe. 3:8-9). Jesus is not sleeping on the job or dragging His feet. He is showing patience with sinners. He wants them all to repent and be saved and join Him in heaven.
But we are not patient like our Lord is. This is why many are tempted to follow after “false christs and false prophets” (Mat. 24:24). We are tempted to follow after the smooth-talking liars who promise a prosperous life here on earth, a life without suffering, a life without trouble. Even if they could deliver on those promises, these false teachers can’t give life to the dead. Anyone who promises hope and salvation apart from the crucified and risen Christ is of the devil.
Apart from Jesus, there is no reason to be hopeful about anything. But with Jesus, we are filled with hope. So while our country is divided, and many of our politicians seem more interested in serving themselves than others, Jesus reigns as King over all things at the right hand of the Father. While people are getting sick this year at higher rates than usual, Jesus has the power to heal the sick or bring the souls of believers to heaven to be with Him. While there may be uncertainty in our financial plans and holdings, Jesus has secured eternal riches for us that will never pass away.
You can wring your hands and worry and lose sleep trying to control things you can’t control—and we all do plenty of that. But the Lord calls you to trust in Him, to trust that He will keep His promises toward you. Now leaving your life and your future in God’s hands like this is difficult. Your sinful flesh does not want to give up any of its independence or its perceived power. If you are going to place your trust in Him, you want proof that He isn’t going to let you down.
“You want proof?” He says. “Then look at Me hanging on the cross for you, shedding My blood to cleanse you from your sins. And come look into My empty tomb. I left it because death could not conquer Me. I rose from the dead to win victory over your death. I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus will not leave you to fight for yourself in this evil world. He came to save you not because He had to but because He wanted to. And He still fights for you, coming to give you strength through His Word and Sacraments and dwelling within you by faith.
As long as you have Jesus, your situation will never be hopeless. He promises to carry you through all your pain and sorrow in this short life and to take your soul to be with Him when you breathe your last. Then He promises to come again to wake your body from its peaceful sleep, so that you can enjoy the eternal bliss of heaven in both body and soul.
You can be certain of your resurrection because His resurrection is certain. The Holy Spirit states it definitively through the mouth of Paul: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” Put Your Hope in the Resurrected One. Then you will have a living hope, a hope that no one can take from you, a hope that will never die.
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.
+ + +
(woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)