St Matthew 25:1-13/Isaiah 65:17-25/1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
“Wake, awake, for night is flying.” Be alert. Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Be ready for the coming of the Bridegroom.
This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is to this you have been called: to watch and wait for the Bridegroom; to enter with Him into the wedding feast. Jesus said, You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Lk 12:40).
For when the bridegroom came, those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. By what wisdom, dear ones, shall you be prepared to meet Him?
It comes down to this: whether you have oil in your lamp or not.
You do not know how long the wait will be. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. You don’t know the day or the hour when the Bridegroom will come. The angels in heaven do not know! Be prepared, therefore, both day and night, waking, sleeping.
For you will grow drowsy and sleep, not unlike the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak (Mt 26:41). All of the virgins slumber, both wise and foolish. But there is a difference between falling asleep in Jesus, in His peace and rest, and falling asleep in foolish unbelief, in the drowsiness of despair or the stupor of sin.
Of this St Paul warns the congregations in Thessalonica: Let us not sleep, as others do. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. Here “sleep” is not a euphemism for death. He isn’t Shakespeare. Here St Paul preaches as our Lord Christ who said, Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming (Mt 24:42). He is not admonishing you to not die.
Rather Paul and Christ are exhorting you to refrain from a life of sin, which is a life in darkness. You are children of light. As it is written, At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children (Eph 5:8-9, 1).
The difference between wise and foolish, between light and darkness, is in the oil for your lamp; the anointing of Christ Jesus, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. For He anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over (Ps 23:5). With His oil, that is, with the Holy Spirit of Christ, you are prepared and enter in to the wedding hall. Without it, you are left out in the dark. He answered, “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
You know that Christ Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit in His Baptism, which was for the sake of your salvation. In that Spirit, from His Baptism, He met and resisted the devil’s temptations. His Baptism reached its culmination in His Passion unto death. Jesus said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is My distress until it is accomplished! (Lk 12:50). Yet He was ready, watching and waiting in prayer, alert and prepared. Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27)
Now His Baptism, His Cross and Resurrection have become yours in your Holy Baptism. There He poured out His Holy Spirit generously upon you. There, as the Psalmist sang, The Lord takes pleasure in His people, He adorns the humble with salvation. It is written, We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:3, 4-6).
By that oil of gladness, by His Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins, your lamp is fueled and burns brightly. You are made ready because you are in Christ and His readiness is yours.
So does your light shine before men, who see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. In fact, your light is a reflection of His own because His Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
And it is by His Word of the Law that His Spirit guides you in the way you should go, in the way of justice and righteousness, in the way of peace and love. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. To be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people (Titus 3:1-2).
But is by His Word of the Gospel, His Word of Absolution, that our Lord Jesus breathes His life-giving Holy Spirit into you and fills your lamp with that oil of gladness. For by His Holy Spirit, Christ not only forgiveness of all your sins but also prepares you for every good work. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.
Get you then to the dealers, that is, to the stewards of the Mysteries of God – the ministers of the Word and Sacraments of Christ. For by these you are replenished and prepared by the oil of His grace, mercy, and peace. That is to say, continue listening to His voice of the Gospel, which is the voice of your Bridegroom, calling you to Himself, to His Supper.
He has already come from heaven to seek you out, to make of you His holy Bride, by grace, and to prepare you for the wedding feast of His perfect righteousness. All of this is by His Cross and Resurrection. For 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 5:26-27).
Because He was ready, when His day and hour came, so too by His readiness He has made all things ready for you and for your salvation. He submitted Himself to the somber sleep of death in order to raise you up from death to life.
It is from His riven side, in death, that His Eve, His Bride, has been taken and fashioned for Him by the Father in love. In is from His riven side, not only in death but in His Resurrection from the dead, that He pours out the water, blood, and Spirit of the Gospel, as oil for your lamp. These are the spiritual food and drink with which He fills His Table and His Cup for you.
“Zion hears the watchmen singing, and all her heart with joy is springing; she wakes, she rises from her gloom. For her Lord comes down all glorious, the strong in grace, in truth victorious; her star is risen, her light is come. Now come, Thou Blessed One, Lord Jesus, God’s own Son, Hail! Hosanna! We enter all the wedding hall to eat Thy Supper at Thy call.” (LSB 516:2)
Behold, O Zion, here at this Altar, His holy mountain is prepared before you. Here your Bridegroom answers before you have called. Here, in His Eucharist, He is for you, His Bride. Awake, O sleeper, arise from death, eat and drink and live.
In the Name of the Father + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
“Wake, awake, for night is flying.” Be alert. Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Be ready for the coming of the Bridegroom.
This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is to this you have been called: to watch and wait for the Bridegroom; to enter with Him into the wedding feast. Jesus said, You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Lk 12:40).
For when the bridegroom came, those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. By what wisdom, dear ones, shall you be prepared to meet Him?
It comes down to this: whether you have oil in your lamp or not.
You do not know how long the wait will be. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. You don’t know the day or the hour when the Bridegroom will come. The angels in heaven do not know! Be prepared, therefore, both day and night, waking, sleeping.
For you will grow drowsy and sleep, not unlike the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak (Mt 26:41). All of the virgins slumber, both wise and foolish. But there is a difference between falling asleep in Jesus, in His peace and rest, and falling asleep in foolish unbelief, in the drowsiness of despair or the stupor of sin.
Of this St Paul warns the congregations in Thessalonica: Let us not sleep, as others do. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. Here “sleep” is not a euphemism for death. He isn’t Shakespeare. Here St Paul preaches as our Lord Christ who said, Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming (Mt 24:42). He is not admonishing you to not die.
Rather Paul and Christ are exhorting you to refrain from a life of sin, which is a life in darkness. You are children of light. As it is written, At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children (Eph 5:8-9, 1).
The difference between wise and foolish, between light and darkness, is in the oil for your lamp; the anointing of Christ Jesus, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. For He anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over (Ps 23:5). With His oil, that is, with the Holy Spirit of Christ, you are prepared and enter in to the wedding hall. Without it, you are left out in the dark. He answered, “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
You know that Christ Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit in His Baptism, which was for the sake of your salvation. In that Spirit, from His Baptism, He met and resisted the devil’s temptations. His Baptism reached its culmination in His Passion unto death. Jesus said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is My distress until it is accomplished! (Lk 12:50). Yet He was ready, watching and waiting in prayer, alert and prepared. Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27)
Now His Baptism, His Cross and Resurrection have become yours in your Holy Baptism. There He poured out His Holy Spirit generously upon you. There, as the Psalmist sang, The Lord takes pleasure in His people, He adorns the humble with salvation. It is written, We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:3, 4-6).
By that oil of gladness, by His Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins, your lamp is fueled and burns brightly. You are made ready because you are in Christ and His readiness is yours.
So does your light shine before men, who see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. In fact, your light is a reflection of His own because His Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
And it is by His Word of the Law that His Spirit guides you in the way you should go, in the way of justice and righteousness, in the way of peace and love. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. To be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people (Titus 3:1-2).
But is by His Word of the Gospel, His Word of Absolution, that our Lord Jesus breathes His life-giving Holy Spirit into you and fills your lamp with that oil of gladness. For by His Holy Spirit, Christ not only forgiveness of all your sins but also prepares you for every good work. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.
Get you then to the dealers, that is, to the stewards of the Mysteries of God – the ministers of the Word and Sacraments of Christ. For by these you are replenished and prepared by the oil of His grace, mercy, and peace. That is to say, continue listening to His voice of the Gospel, which is the voice of your Bridegroom, calling you to Himself, to His Supper.
He has already come from heaven to seek you out, to make of you His holy Bride, by grace, and to prepare you for the wedding feast of His perfect righteousness. All of this is by His Cross and Resurrection. For 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 5:26-27).
Because He was ready, when His day and hour came, so too by His readiness He has made all things ready for you and for your salvation. He submitted Himself to the somber sleep of death in order to raise you up from death to life.
It is from His riven side, in death, that His Eve, His Bride, has been taken and fashioned for Him by the Father in love. In is from His riven side, not only in death but in His Resurrection from the dead, that He pours out the water, blood, and Spirit of the Gospel, as oil for your lamp. These are the spiritual food and drink with which He fills His Table and His Cup for you.
“Zion hears the watchmen singing, and all her heart with joy is springing; she wakes, she rises from her gloom. For her Lord comes down all glorious, the strong in grace, in truth victorious; her star is risen, her light is come. Now come, Thou Blessed One, Lord Jesus, God’s own Son, Hail! Hosanna! We enter all the wedding hall to eat Thy Supper at Thy call.” (LSB 516:2)
Behold, O Zion, here at this Altar, His holy mountain is prepared before you. Here your Bridegroom answers before you have called. Here, in His Eucharist, He is for you, His Bride. Awake, O sleeper, arise from death, eat and drink and live.
In the Name of the Father + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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