The Last Sunday in the Church Year – Sunday 24 November A✠D 2024
✠ Psalmody: Jeremiah 29:11-12, 14;Psalm 85:1, 7, 9, 11;45:14–15;Revelation 21:2
✠ Lection: Isaiah 65:17–25;1 Thessalonians 5:1–11;Matthew 25:1–13
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We have now come as far as we can in our observation of the Church’s life in this age on Earth. Timewise, we’ve learned of the significant events that now have us standing at the edge, on the brink of the Last Day, longingly looking into the sky for the glorious return of Christ, the Church’s Savior and Bridegroom, praying with all His Virgin Bride, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” And though we’re called to lift up our hearts and our eyes to the heavens in yearning expectation, we have the call here to continue living humbly in our days until God’s perfect timing is revealed for the ushering in of the Last Day. Oh, how these days seem to get more chaotic, more pressing, more tumultuous for us both individually and collectively adding fuel to our fiery cry of “How long, O Lord.” We all struggle against this world, against the evil foe, against our own sinful, unceasingly deteriorating physical and spiritual flesh, and are consistently being reminded by God of what this life is truly all about. No matter the storms that have and will come, we are continuously being taught to stand firm in faith upon the One Who cannot be shaken by anything that occurs around or within us.
Unlike the outward, obvious appearance in the division of sheep and goats from last week’s Gospel, today’s parable draws us to inwardly examine ourselves, seeing that not one of us can measure the exact condition of another’s heart or revel in pride that we have oil for our lamps while the foolish don’t. There were ten virgins, not five virgins and five harlots. All ten had the outward appearance of purity, of belief, of expectancy, yet some were foolish, and some were wise. All had the appearance of wisdom and purity until the time when appearance came to count for nothing. Our outward appearance as good Christian people doing what good Christian people should do warrant us nothing in the end. The virgins’ readiness wasn’t connected to their outward condition, to the fact that they looked the part, but instead to condition of the heart. Yes, they all gathered and awaited the Bridegroom, but did they have faith? Yes, we come to church, but do we repent of the sin in our life and cling to Jesus in faith that He has saved us from the wrath due them? The wise virgins were ready because they possessed the oil of faith; faith that their Beloved would indeed come to them as He had promised to; faith, for us, that our Redeemer comes as He promises now, before the Last Day, to give and nourish faith by His grace in the Word that we hear and in the heavenly Feast of His Body and Blood that we receive. We cannot increase our oil, our faith; only God can when and where it pleases Him in the means by which He has promised to deliver them in His Church.
We are to prepare for Him with the oil of faith, an oil that has no price and cannot be bought of our own effort. We see that being prepared for the Last Day is to possess that which is necessary and as our fallen minds so craftily tend to do, we ask and wonder how it is that we are to make it happen. May we always understand that salvation was, is, and always will be a purely passive reception of the gift of God. Oh, how beautiful is this place! There is nothing we may do to obtain it yet there are actions we do to neglect it and risk becoming foolish virgins with empty lamps. We receive the gifts of having opportunity and desire to come to where the Lord’s Holy Word is faithfully proclaimed and His blessed Body and Blood are rightly administered. We see that we ourselves only act contrary to the goodness of God and His loving guidance in our lives. Only by the power of His Holy Spirit, purely given to us out of His grace, do we then desire to see our Bridegroom come to us and wash us clean in forgiveness; only by Him do we prepare ourselves by responding in the love He creates in us to keep the Commandments; only by Him do we act upon the opportunities to have our oil of faith constantly replenished, constantly nurtured and preserved in the places and times and by the things He promises to use to keep us in body and soul in the one true faith; and only by the Holy Spirit do we look to His gift of faith as that which is able to see Him lighting our way in this dark night that is flying.
Beloved, do not forget the promised One by falling asleep on Him in thought, word, and deed. He desires you not to sleep the sleep of death but to have rest in Him even now, before the Last Day. He comes to you that you come to Him, weary and heavy laden, for He gives you rest. He would be right and unarguably remain infinitely pure and holy to allow us to stay asleep in the eternal darkness of the self-centered urges we continue to satisfy. But because of Who He is and the great love with which He loved us, He gives heralds, watchmen on the towers, pastors in the churches to cry out to you not on the Last Day, but right here, right now, “Here is the bridegroom! Your sins are forgiven! Come out to meet him.” Yes, your great God and Savior will come like a thief in the night… for those who live and die by the darkness. But you, dear children, are of the light and that glorious return will be nothing but relief and joy and singing and dancing and feasting and sublime celebration. Such joy you are not deprived of until that Day because, as He has promised, here He comes for you again this day. Here is where you taste your salvation. Here is where you taste forgiveness and life everlasting. “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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