The Last Sunday in the Church Year – November 24, 2024Psalm 39; Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11St. Matthew 25:1-13
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At the end of the year, it is helpful
to take stock of how things are going. Businesses do this every year. They must
review not only the budget but see how sales went over the last year and based
on last year’s trends, they must decide whether to stock more or fewer goods
for the coming year. Athletes must take stock of their performance and make
decisions on how to adjust their training to meet new challenges, see greater
improvement, or manage an injury. Individuals do this when they start making resolutions
for the new year. They find a vice they want to stop doing or set a new goal to
improve over the coming year.
This is a helpful practice even for
Christians. This, the Last Sunday of the Church Year, is a good time to reflect
on your own faith and spiritual disciplines. This isn’t for the purpose of
feeling bad about what you have failed to do or the sins you’ve committed over
the last year, those I’ll address those in a minute. Rather, such an exercise
is for the purpose of being honest with yourself. How has your prayer and
devotional life been? If it hasn’t been consistent, now is the time to
recognize that and renew your effort to engross yourself in Scripture and
prayer. How has your attendance at the divine service been? If it hasn’t been
great, now is the time to consider what has gotten in the way and renew your
efforts to be in the Lord’s House and to be here with joy.
How about your acts of charity toward
others? Not just financial charity but simply kindness, conversation, and
mutual consolation of the brethren? Now is the time to make an effort to seek
out the lonely and offer the right hand of fellowship. Now is the time to feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned. And more
importantly, now is the time to consider how you might make a consistent practice
of these blessed activities.
Lest you think this is just a list of
things to do, remember that this is the purpose of the parable of the virgins.
Our Lord admonishes us, “Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the
hour in which the Son of Manis coming.”[1]
That word, “watch,” means to take careful notice of or carefully examine, or
the phrase I used earlier, “take stock.”
Now the parable of the virgins is a
parable concerning the church, specifically the church on earth. We know that
it is the visible church on earth because five virgins are wise and five are
foolish. All have been invited to the wedding feast of Christ and all are in
attendance but five have taken great care of the faith that has been delivered
to them and five have not. The five foolish virgins are hypocrites, that is,
they have all the outward trappings of Christians, but they do not attend to
the flame of faith that was born within them in Holy Baptism. They do not
retain the faith once delivered. They are more interested in the outward show
of faith. They have all the outward good works of Christians. Perhaps their
lamps even shown more brightly than that of the wise, at least at the beginning
of the night.
But when the herald’s call comes, they
are found without oil, that is, they are found without the faith by which their
works are made good before God. They must run to those who sell—in the middle
of the night, no less—and try to draw the attention of men, thinking this will
also get them attention before the Bridegroom. Even at this last hour, they
have deceived themselves into thinking that what impresses man will also
impress Christ. This fatal mistake leaves them outside the wedding hall.
In the days of Noah, mankind was given
100 years to repent. Noah preached the Word of God to all around him and built a
giant ark, a physical preaching of the Word, and yet the world refused to
listen. They shut their ears against God. Then there came a day when all the
animals, Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives boarded the ark for
the last time. And God shut them in, sealing the side of the ark against the
sins of the world. So too, when the Bridegroom comes, the door is shut against
the sinful world. The five foolish virgins are left outside the wedding hall in
the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The Lord has great patience and is
willing to delay the return of the Bridegroom for the sake of the faithful but
even His patience has an end. He has clearly stated that there will be a last
day, and no one knows the day or the hour.[2]
It will come as a thief in the night and the Bridegroom will return as quick as
lightning flashes from the east to the west.[3]
“Watch, therefore, for you know neither
the day nor the hour in which the Son of Manis coming.”[4]
If, in taking stock of the last year, you find there are sins that burden your
conscience, or even the idea of reviewing the last twelve months is a burden on
your soul, then flee toward the things of God. Repent of your sins and receive
the Holy Absolution. Do not slumber and sleep on your sins. Come to your pastor
for confession and absolution. This blessed gift of God will help you to unburden
your soul. Conversation with your pastor can help you sort out the confusions regarding
your spiritual life that are weighing down your soul.
And you, beloved in the Lord, are not in darkness. You know of the coming of the Lord even if you know neither the day nor the hour. In fact, as you daily pray the Lord’s Prayer, you pray that He would come quickly, that He would return and gather you home.[5] “You are all sons of light and sons of the day.”[6] The coming of the Lord is a joyous occasion for the wise virgins and all the elect, those who endure unto salvation. As those wise virgins, the Lord is encouraging us and admonishing us to remain vigilant, “putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”[7]
Whenever we consider the Last Day, we
must remember that it is a joyous occasion for Christians. It is the
culmination, the consummation of our faith. It is the day when all that we’ve
hoped for comes to fruition. Even the blessed saints who have fallen asleep in
Christ look forward to that day because their souls will be reunited with their
bodies made glorious. The sometimes terrifying descriptions of Scripture are to
be used as warning, lest you should fall into the deception of the foolish
virgins. The terrifying aspects of that Last Day are terrifying for the
unbeliever, the apostate, and the sons of darkness. For the sons of light, they
serve as a call to vigilance, but vigilance for the sake of receiving your
eternal reward, your eternal inheritance as sons of the Father and brothers of
Christ.
After the floodwaters receded, even
faithful Noah fell into drunkenness and sinful sleep. His faithful son, Ham,
fell into even worse sin. Yet Noah was called back into the fold, back into
faith, and repented of his own sin. He remained vigilant in the face of his own
sinful flesh, attending to the Word of God and guarding the oil of his own
faith. In like manner, we too, will fall to temptation. The Old Adam was
drowned in Holy Baptism but is a great swimmer. So we, like Noah and the wise
virgins, must watch, take stock, and guard our hearts and minds against sin. We
must turn our thoughts, words and actions toward Christ that we too, would be
found faithful, vigilant, and heir of the eternal glory that is made ours in
Christ.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
