Isaiah 65:17-25/1 Thessalonians 5:1-11/St Matthew 25:1-13
In the Name ☩ of JESUS. Amen.
Pastor Nicolai’s parish in Unna, Westphalia was being destroyed. Plague had arrived. Between July of 1597 and January of 1598 Pastor Nicolai had buried no less than 1,400 of his parishioners. Three hundred in the month of July alone! He could have fled the plague. But he didn’t. Like the Bishop Polycarp, disciple of St John, who stayed even when the Roman persecution was at its fiercest, Pastor Nicolai stayed. He preached. He administered the Sacrament. He prayed. He buried. And then he prayed some more.
And he did one more thing. He wrote a book. A book he called The Mirror of Joy. It was all about the joy of sins forgiven, the joy of heaven opened, the sure and certain joy of the resurrection. This was the joy that filled his heart as he thought on all that his Savior Jesus Christ had done to win salvation for him and for all people upon the Cross. The joy that He would one day bring His people as they shared in His risen life in the New Heavens and the New Earth.
At the end of his little book Pastor Nicolai wrote three poems. Two of them he set to music. One is called: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” or in our hymnal, O Morning Star How Fair and Bright. The other? Well, you just sang it: Wachet Auf, Ruft uns die Stimme. Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.
In the face of unspeakable tragedy, to families where mothers had lost their sons, daughters their fathers, sisters their brothers, brothers their sisters, husbands their wives - with no family untouched by the horror of death, with nearly a third of Europe’s population decimated - Pastor Nicolai sang the hope of heaven into the ears and hearts of his people as they waited for the Day of the Bridegroom’s return. They learned, even in the midst of nearly unimaginable heartache and terror, to sing in the joy of sins forgiven and the hope of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
In the first reading this morning Isaiah spoke of how that Day will be a new creation; of how all that awful and broken, all that’s distorted and wrong in our world will be done away. Gone the weeping. Gone the death. Gone the sorrow. Gone the pain. Gone the loss. It will be a world where family is never gathered around a coffin ever again. A new heavens and a new earth where the Lord our God is nearer than our own voices and where there is no more blood stained tooth or claw, for they shall not hurt or destroy in all My Holy Mountain.
It may sound like it, but it is not a fairy tale. It is the Lord’s promise. It is His evangel that His original plan for His creation will not be sidetracked forever. What He created it to be, what He intended it to be, it will become again: a world without fear, without sin, without death.
Is there any wonder that the Church prays so often then, Come, Lord Jesus! When the sorrows of this world press hard, when you don’t know if you can bear anymore, you fall to your knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus! When the darkness lurks and the cold steels across your heart, when your eyes grow dim and the lamp flickers, you fall to your knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus! When change and decay in all around we see, we fall to our knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus!
We long for that Day, for ourselves and for the world. But we know that that Day will not be a joy to all. Those who are unprepared for it, those who don’t welcome it, who rathe relish this age as it is, for them that Day will come like a thief in the night bringing sudden destruction. There will be no escape. As labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, says St Paul. As it was in the days of Noah, before the flood, he writes elsewhere. The judgment will come. The sheep and the goats shall be separated. And that which distinguishes the wise and the foolish will be made plain: faith. To meet that day without faith in Jesus Christ is to meet that Day as the Day of Doom, the Day of irretrievable loss. The door will shut.
But faith in Christ Jesus is the key. That’s the whole point of why the five wise virgins couldn’t share the oil with the five foolish. Faith in Christ is something that the Father by the Spirit longs to give to each and every person. For such faith is necessary to escape the destruction that is coming. But faith can only be given by the Blessed Holy Trinity. No one can believe for another. Each must receive the gift of faith for himself.
The five foolish with their lamps going out did not have the faith that made it through to the end. They thought “good enough” was “good enough.” But it never is. God the Holy Trinity wants you to have faith through to the end. He can and will supply it for you. He is eager to do so. Only do not despise Him or His means. After all there is not one soul for whom the Son did not shed His precious blood. There is not one human life whose sins were not atoned for on Golgotha’s wood. There is not one human being who death was not destroyed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your heavenly Father longs to give you such faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord by His Holy Spirit. He delights to do so.
Extra oil in the flasks? That means that you live your life on the receiving end of the Lord’s giving. This is true wisdom. Those wise virgins showed forth their wisdom by bringing along extra oil. They supposed the Bridegroom might be delayed. Dear people loved by God, hear the Word of the Lord: you cannot keep faith going on your own. It was never something you came up with on your own; nor will it last to your last day or to that Day by your own effort or will or strength. Saving faith is given you through God’s Word and Spirit. Saving faith is sustained and strengthened only through the self-same Word and Spirit.
Is it any wonder that the wise ones tell the others to go to the dealers for oil? Not that faith can be bought, but that the Lord does not despise means. This is what St Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning the dealers of the heavenly oil: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1). In order to create such faith which saves, our Lord has given His Church, the ministry of the Holy Gospel and blessed Sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith.
When St Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he told them he knew that God did not destine them for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. So that whether awake or asleep, that is whether alive or dead, we might live with Him and in Him. This holds for you too. You are not destine for wrath. Our Lord’s holy Gospel is for the forgiveness of all of your sins. His blessed Sacraments are for your eternal comfort and joy, not for terror or doubt. You are destined for life with Christ.
The key to living faith, being strengthened for the Day of His coming, and it growing every brighter in the gloom and darkness, is to cling to His Word and promises through which He bestows the oil of His Spirit. Even now the Lord your God uses His steward to bestow upon you the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord, for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the strengthening of your faith, and for the gift of life that triumphs over death.
That’s why Pastor Nicolai wrote his little book and composed his hymns - he wanted the people to know that in Christ God the Father has given them a life that no plague could rob from them, a peace that no terror can take from them, a joy that no sorrow can steal from them. Not now. Not ever. And so:
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 ris’n, her light has come.
Now, come, Thou blessed One!
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son!
Hail! Hosanna! We enter all
The wedding hall
To eat the Supper at Thy call.
To eat the Supper at Thy call. Here before you is the great joy of the Foretaste of the Feast to Come, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. Where you are not just bridesmaids, but the very Bride of Christ, His Church, holy and blessed, pure and spotless, without stain or blemish. Come, receive the outpouring of His love and mercy, forgiveness and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name ☩ of JESUS. Amen.
Pastor Nicolai’s parish in Unna, Westphalia was being destroyed. Plague had arrived. Between July of 1597 and January of 1598 Pastor Nicolai had buried no less than 1,400 of his parishioners. Three hundred in the month of July alone! He could have fled the plague. But he didn’t. Like the Bishop Polycarp, disciple of St John, who stayed even when the Roman persecution was at its fiercest, Pastor Nicolai stayed. He preached. He administered the Sacrament. He prayed. He buried. And then he prayed some more.
And he did one more thing. He wrote a book. A book he called The Mirror of Joy. It was all about the joy of sins forgiven, the joy of heaven opened, the sure and certain joy of the resurrection. This was the joy that filled his heart as he thought on all that his Savior Jesus Christ had done to win salvation for him and for all people upon the Cross. The joy that He would one day bring His people as they shared in His risen life in the New Heavens and the New Earth.
At the end of his little book Pastor Nicolai wrote three poems. Two of them he set to music. One is called: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” or in our hymnal, O Morning Star How Fair and Bright. The other? Well, you just sang it: Wachet Auf, Ruft uns die Stimme. Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.
In the face of unspeakable tragedy, to families where mothers had lost their sons, daughters their fathers, sisters their brothers, brothers their sisters, husbands their wives - with no family untouched by the horror of death, with nearly a third of Europe’s population decimated - Pastor Nicolai sang the hope of heaven into the ears and hearts of his people as they waited for the Day of the Bridegroom’s return. They learned, even in the midst of nearly unimaginable heartache and terror, to sing in the joy of sins forgiven and the hope of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
In the first reading this morning Isaiah spoke of how that Day will be a new creation; of how all that awful and broken, all that’s distorted and wrong in our world will be done away. Gone the weeping. Gone the death. Gone the sorrow. Gone the pain. Gone the loss. It will be a world where family is never gathered around a coffin ever again. A new heavens and a new earth where the Lord our God is nearer than our own voices and where there is no more blood stained tooth or claw, for they shall not hurt or destroy in all My Holy Mountain.
It may sound like it, but it is not a fairy tale. It is the Lord’s promise. It is His evangel that His original plan for His creation will not be sidetracked forever. What He created it to be, what He intended it to be, it will become again: a world without fear, without sin, without death.
Is there any wonder that the Church prays so often then, Come, Lord Jesus! When the sorrows of this world press hard, when you don’t know if you can bear anymore, you fall to your knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus! When the darkness lurks and the cold steels across your heart, when your eyes grow dim and the lamp flickers, you fall to your knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus! When change and decay in all around we see, we fall to our knees and pray, Come, Lord Jesus!
We long for that Day, for ourselves and for the world. But we know that that Day will not be a joy to all. Those who are unprepared for it, those who don’t welcome it, who rathe relish this age as it is, for them that Day will come like a thief in the night bringing sudden destruction. There will be no escape. As labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, says St Paul. As it was in the days of Noah, before the flood, he writes elsewhere. The judgment will come. The sheep and the goats shall be separated. And that which distinguishes the wise and the foolish will be made plain: faith. To meet that day without faith in Jesus Christ is to meet that Day as the Day of Doom, the Day of irretrievable loss. The door will shut.
But faith in Christ Jesus is the key. That’s the whole point of why the five wise virgins couldn’t share the oil with the five foolish. Faith in Christ is something that the Father by the Spirit longs to give to each and every person. For such faith is necessary to escape the destruction that is coming. But faith can only be given by the Blessed Holy Trinity. No one can believe for another. Each must receive the gift of faith for himself.
The five foolish with their lamps going out did not have the faith that made it through to the end. They thought “good enough” was “good enough.” But it never is. God the Holy Trinity wants you to have faith through to the end. He can and will supply it for you. He is eager to do so. Only do not despise Him or His means. After all there is not one soul for whom the Son did not shed His precious blood. There is not one human life whose sins were not atoned for on Golgotha’s wood. There is not one human being who death was not destroyed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your heavenly Father longs to give you such faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord by His Holy Spirit. He delights to do so.
Extra oil in the flasks? That means that you live your life on the receiving end of the Lord’s giving. This is true wisdom. Those wise virgins showed forth their wisdom by bringing along extra oil. They supposed the Bridegroom might be delayed. Dear people loved by God, hear the Word of the Lord: you cannot keep faith going on your own. It was never something you came up with on your own; nor will it last to your last day or to that Day by your own effort or will or strength. Saving faith is given you through God’s Word and Spirit. Saving faith is sustained and strengthened only through the self-same Word and Spirit.
Is it any wonder that the wise ones tell the others to go to the dealers for oil? Not that faith can be bought, but that the Lord does not despise means. This is what St Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning the dealers of the heavenly oil: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1). In order to create such faith which saves, our Lord has given His Church, the ministry of the Holy Gospel and blessed Sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith.
When St Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he told them he knew that God did not destine them for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. So that whether awake or asleep, that is whether alive or dead, we might live with Him and in Him. This holds for you too. You are not destine for wrath. Our Lord’s holy Gospel is for the forgiveness of all of your sins. His blessed Sacraments are for your eternal comfort and joy, not for terror or doubt. You are destined for life with Christ.
The key to living faith, being strengthened for the Day of His coming, and it growing every brighter in the gloom and darkness, is to cling to His Word and promises through which He bestows the oil of His Spirit. Even now the Lord your God uses His steward to bestow upon you the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord, for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the strengthening of your faith, and for the gift of life that triumphs over death.
That’s why Pastor Nicolai wrote his little book and composed his hymns - he wanted the people to know that in Christ God the Father has given them a life that no plague could rob from them, a peace that no terror can take from them, a joy that no sorrow can steal from them. Not now. Not ever. And so:
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 ris’n, her light has come.
Now, come, Thou blessed One!
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son!
Hail! Hosanna! We enter all
The wedding hall
To eat the Supper at Thy call.
To eat the Supper at Thy call. Here before you is the great joy of the Foretaste of the Feast to Come, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. Where you are not just bridesmaids, but the very Bride of Christ, His Church, holy and blessed, pure and spotless, without stain or blemish. Come, receive the outpouring of His love and mercy, forgiveness and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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