Last Sunday of the Church Year

Today, on the Last Sunday of the Church Year, we sang the King of Chorales, “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying.” This hymn, written by a Lutheran pastor in the 1600s, is regarded by many as one of the best and most beloved hymns ever written. This is a bit of an irony when you consider the topic of the hymn: Judgment Day. Does anyone even believe in that anymore? Judgment Day has become a joke. How long has it been since Jesus told this parable? Two thousand years? If Jesus hasn’t returned in the last 2,000, why should anyone think he’ll return anytime in the next 2,000 years? The Holy Spirit anticipates this question, and caused St. Peter to write, “[Know] this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:3–4). But Jesus says, “For as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Mt 24:37–39).

Nobody knows when Jesus will return. Anyone who says he does is either lying or deluded, because Jesus made it very clear, “You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch therefore!” (Mt 25:13). Our task as Christians is not to know the hour, but to be ready for the Day of our Lord. There are ten virgins in this parable. Five are ready; five are not. Five are wise; five are foolish. Five have oil for their lamps; five do not. What does this mean?

The first thing we can learn from Jesus’ words is that the wise and the foolish appear to have many things in common. Both groups have lamps. Both groups are gathered in the same place to await the return of Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom. Both groups fall asleep and are surprised when he comes at an hour they did not expect. But on that day, the foolishness of the five is revealed – they had not prepared. They did not take the return of Christ seriously. They had no oil in their lamps. And now it was too late.

There are many folks who have some connection to the church. Perhaps they were baptized as a child, because it’s what Grandma wanted. Maybe they were one of the many young people who left the faith on the day of their confirmation, after promising to hold fast to their confession even until death. Technically, they’re still listed as members of the church, but this is not what it means to be prepared for the coming of Christ. Jesus will not be examining the church membership rolls. He won’t be looking at tithing records. Only those who have oil in their lamps will be prepared to meet him.

What is this oil that is so important? It is the living and abiding word of God that lasts forever. It is the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit, who leads you into the truth. It is the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit that sets you before God as a spotless bride before her husband. It is the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. The oil is the Gospel and Sacraments of Christ. This is what you need on earth to prepare for his coming. And where do we find this oil? Where Christ has promised to give it: In and among his holy Church on earth, where his Word is taught in truth and purity and his Sacraments are rightly administered. We don’t go to church to do God a favor. We go because we need to be filled again with his holy Gospel and Sacraments. If our lamps are not filled again and again, the oil runs out. The flame of holy zeal splutters. The seed of faith withers and dies if it is not fed and nourished by the Word of God.

You can’t have faith for someone else. The foolish virgins said, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out” (Mt 25:8), but it doesn’t work that way. No one can believe for another. Grandma’s faith won’t do you any good on the Final Day if your lamp is empty. The wise answered, “There will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves” (Mt 25:9). The ancient church fathers understand the dealers of oil to be the holy prophets and apostles who testified of Jesus. These faithful men called God’s people in every age to repentance and faith in Christ. They wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. These are the words of life and there is no other source of oil. Those who refuse the treasure of Holy Scripture in this life will be destitute indeed in the hour of our Lord’s coming.

The long day of grace is drawing to a close. The door once shut, will never again be opened. The foolish virgins knocked in vain, “Lord, lord, upon to us!” But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I know you not” (Mt 25:11–12). In life it was hard to tell wise and foolish virgins apart. The sheep and the goats feed in the same pasture. The wheat and the weeds grow up together. But on the Day of Judgment, God he sees the heart shall reveal all. The wise and foolish virgins alike fell asleep in death, as they awaited the return of Christ. And at the moment of his coming, at their awakening, the faith by which they had lived, or the lack of it, was revealed. That which was hidden in life within the lamp, now shone forth or did not shine at all.

Jesus concludes with a warning: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour [in which the Son of Man is coming]” (Mt 25:13). There will be no time when Jesus comes to get ready. You must be ready all the time. You cannot put it off. Christians who are taught the faith in their childhood and neglect God’s word after they are grown will often claim that, while they may not be regular church goers, they know what they believe. They know the Gospel. They know what it means to believe in Jesus. They were taught as children and still believe today what they believed then, so they are fine. No need to secure any oil for the lamp. The wick is ready to light.

What these Christians don’t reckon with is that the Gospel is not something that we can believe by our own natural powers. Faith is not a switch that can be turned on at the moment of need. Faith comes only by hearing the Word of God. The Gospel that makes faith burn is the Gospel of Christ’s humble obedience, his suffering, and his death by which he paid to God what we owed. The oil that burns into the fire of faith is Christ. It is his righteous living, his innocent dying, and his resurrection from the dead for you. He gives us forgiveness of all our sins. He is this oil, which is the substance of all our preaching, our liturgy, our hymns, and the Sacraments.

Jesus will come to bring his church home. Those whose faith is kept alive by the Word of God will enter into the wedding celebration that knows no end. No marital bliss this world has ever known can compare with the joy that Jesus the heavenly bridegroom has prepared for his church, his holy bride, in heaven. We will know God as he knows us and that knowledge will be a never ending source of happiness. No sin will mar that perfect joy. It will never fade or grow old. It will last forever. We don’t know when Christ will come to take his church home. We don’t need to know, we have his oil to light our way. Until that day, we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen.