In the Name of Jesus
Ewigkeitssonntag
Columbanus, Abbot of Bobbio, Italy. † 615
21. November 2010
1. Almighty and Everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in Your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Christus victor by the cross and the empty tomb: Mercifully grant that the people of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under His most gracious rule, for He reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever (Book of Common Prayer 185). O Christ, You bid us to watch and wait for Your second advent. Send us the Holy Spirit, for it is evening and we are tired and sleepy. Restore unto us the joy of Your salvation and the longing expectation of Your return with great fanfare and celebration. Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to St. Matthew where the holy evangelist writes: 1Jesus said to the disciples, ,,Then the reign of heaven will be comparable to ten maidens, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Now five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no olive oil with them. 4But the prudent took olive oil in flasks with their lamps. 5Now because the bridegroom kept delaying, they all grew drowsy and were sleeping. 6But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your olive oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9But the prudent answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and you; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10And while they were going away to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11Later the other maidens also arrived, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’ 12But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I don’t know you.’ 13Watch then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.“ This is our text.
3. Jesus exhorts us to ,,Watch for His second advent“, for we do not know the day or the hour in which this blessed event will occur. The first century Christians had an expectant hope that Jesus would return in their lifetime. The Apostle Paul thought Jesus was returning during his generation, so he hit the Roman roads and sailed the high seas to bring the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus to as many people as could. The Twelve thought Jesus was returning during their lifetime, especially after the Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem razed, but one by one the great apostolic band dwindled in number: first James was martyred in 44, then Peter and Paul in 68, and one by one all the apostles had been martyred for the faith until elderly John alone remained. When John the Apostle entered his sleep at the close of the first century, many thought Jesus would return soon, but He did not, and so here we are almost 2000 years later still waiting for Christ’s return.
4. This two millennia wait for Jesus’ return has effected the Church’s outlook. ,,The Lord would have us to continue to long for, to wait for, to watch for His parousia“ (Gibbs), but many in the Church have ceased longing for, waiting for, and watching for Jesus’ return in any meaningful fashion. There prevails throughout the Church a view in which the expectation of the consummation of the age and of Christ’s final victory over death and every enemy has all but disappeared under the onslaught of rampant individualism in which what really matters is ,,my own personal fate“ and ,,whether I’ll be in heaven when I die“ (Gibbs). Let’s face it, what Jesus taught in His parable has come to pass: »Now because the bridegroom kept delaying, all the maidens grew drowsy and were sleeping.« We are like adults who have lost the Wunderlust, the joyousness, of the excited expectation of Christmas that little children have. We all remember those days, how we could not sleep on Christmas Eve, because we knew the next day would be a wonderful day of gifts, good food, lights and decorations, where the gifts we wanted most were under the tree, and even a few surprises greeted us in presents we were not expecting. We long so much to get just a little bit of our childhood Christmas joy in our present lives because we remember how special that day is.
5. Likewise, the Church needs to recover the joyous expectation of Christ’s return, for like Christmas with all its good gifts, Jesus’ second advent brings good things to us. The liturgical calendar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria describes the Last Sunday in the Church Year this way: ,,Often I dream of a world without suffering and pain, without parting and tears, a world, in which death loses its horror. A new heaven and a new earth, God dwelling in the midst of mankind, is the picture that the Bible draws of that end time. An utopia? Yes, but whoever believes is blessed. Because they have now beautifully changed in vigor. The promise of this new time lets us today keep a look out for Christ, as the bridesmaids looked for the groom who would begin the feast. In the hope that God truly does what He promises, many congregations also remember on Eternity Sunday the suffering and death of their deceased of the last year“ (ELKB).
6. The first thing we want to remind ourselves is that Christ’s return is for all people. In the parable, all of humanity is portrayed. Some are prudent maidens awaiting Jesus’ return, but others are foolish. The prudent maidens are prepared for Jesus’ return, but the foolish maidens are not prepared.
7. Secondly, while Christ’s return is for all people, His return will be a day of great joy for some but a day of intense sadness for others. The prudent maidens had oil for their lamps, but the foolish maidens did not have that oil. The oil for the lamps is faith in Christ. What made the prudent maidens prudent was their faith and trust in Jesus. What made the foolish maidens foolish was their absence of faith and their lack of trust in Jesus. In this parable, Jesus teaches that His second advent will surprise us. All will grow weary and fall asleep, but Christians are prepared for Christ’s return because they have faith in Him. ,,In Christ God has atoned for all our sins and has made it possible for us in faith to be partakers both of forgiveness and of life eternal“(Giertz 123). We live ,,in Christ,“ and to us who are in Christ there is no condemnation“ (Giuertz 123). The return of Christ ushers in the day of judgment, and that judgment shall be given according to our faith in Jesus, for ,,the one who believes in Jesus has eternal life“ (Giertz 122).
8. Everlasting life in heaven is the final goal of the reign of heaven that Christ brings into our midst. Jesus ushered in this heavenly reign during His public ministry and He established its certainty by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. On the last day Jesus the Bridegroom will return for His Church and lead us in a joyous procession to His Father’s house were we will enjoy the everlasting fellowship of resurrected life.
9. For this morning’s parable, Jesus deliberately chooses the example of a wedding and its reception banquet. Such events are times of great joy and happiness. Jesus describes eternal life as a feast with great joy, singing, dancing, eating and drinking, and having fun. Yahweh describes eternal life this way, »For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind« (Isaiah 65,17). John’s apocalyptic vision explains what this will mean, »Jesus will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away« (Revelation 21,4). This is why Jesus exhorts us to long for, to have that childlike excitement, for His return. Eternal life awaits us, and it is a life full of wonders and blessings the like of which we cannot imagine. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is Eternal Life and He gives us eternal life. We have eternal life now by faith in Him. He gives us eternal life today in the Sacrament of the Altar. He is returning for us on the last day to lead us in a fantastic procession to our heavenly home. Do not become discouraged.
10. Watch and wait for Jesus’ return. May His second advent burn in your hearts with patient expectation of the good life that is to be ours. Jesus is preparing our life in His heavenly reign right now, and when He is finished He will return to bring all His Christians to their true and everlasting home. Eternal life with Jesus will be more blessed than a wedding banquet. Everlasting life in Yahweh’s heavenly reign will be more exciting than our childhood Christmas. Watch and wait, for Jesus will return for us, and that day will be a great and glorious day. Amen.
11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Path onto eternal life, bless us with Your presence and the fullness of joy so that we may not become discouraged as we await Your glorious return; we eagerly await Your return for at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Matthew © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
bayern-evangelisch.de/www/liturgischer_kalender/PreLoader.php?feld=Datum&wert=21.11.2010
Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.
Gibbs, Jeffrey. ,,Matthew 24,37-44“. Concordia Journal.
Giertz, Bo. Preaching from the Whole Bible. Clifford A. Nelson, Tr. Copyright © 1967 Augsburg Publishing House.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Evangelien-Postille für die Sonn- und Festage des Kirchenjahres. Copyright © 1859 Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. A sermon preached on Matthew 25,1-13 for Ewigkeitssonntag. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2010.
Luther, Martin. ,,The Feast of St. Barbara, the Holy Virgin: Matthew 25,1-13“. Festival Sermons of Martin Luther. Copyright © 2005 Joel Baseley. Mark V Publications. (Eternity Sunday: The Last Sunday of the Church Year)
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