“Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Mt 25:13)
We are in the final Sundays of the church year. Today is the
third-last. The focus of these three last Sundays is on the end, the last day,
the Day of the Lord. Just as there was a beginning, when God created the
heavens and the earth, there is also an end of this creation and the rising up
of a new creation out of the death of the old. Just as there is a death, so
there is an end to all things.
Talk of the end tends to make people a bit nervous. Edgy.
Weird even. Start looking at the goofy magazines at the check-out counter, you
know, the National Regurgitator, stuff like that. You’ll start to see all of
the headlines about end-of-times predictions. It’s the time of the year; it
brings out the nuts and the nutty ideas. End times stuff may be great for
apocalyptic action movies and pulp fiction, but the reality of the end is
considerably more than most care to consider. It is, and should be, a frightful
prospect that rolls too easily off our tongues when we say, “He will come again
to judge both the living and the dead.”
Someone asked me if I was scared about the last day,
judgement day. The answer is no. Scripture tells us that we will be saved,
judged innocent by the forensic verdict pronounced over us in our Baptism into
the death of Jesus. More than “not guilty” but “innocent,” a verdict never
heard in an earthly courtroom. There is a difference between not guilty and
innocent. Not guilty means that the prosecution could not prove "beyond a
reasonable doubt" that a person committed the crime. Innocent means that a
person did not commit the crime. Earthly courts pronounce you “not guilty,” at
God’s bar of justice you are declared innocent in the righteousness of Jesus.
But just because we are and will be declared innocent by
God’s grace through faith in Christ, nonetheless that Day of the Lord will be a
day of wrath and mercy. It will be a day of mercy for those who trust in the
merits of Christ alone. It will be a day of wrath against sin and unbelief and
all the things that get in the way of God’s good and gracious will to save, and
His mercy, undeserved kindness toward the sinner.
There’s an old joke about a new pastor who came to a
community, much like Mission Valley. Driving around, he found a man fixing the
fence, so he stopped his car to visit a bit. “Hey, fella,” the preacher said,
“are you a Christian?” Fella kinda pushed his hat back and shook his head,
“Nope; my name’s Johnson.” Preacher didn’t miss a lick and asked, “Are you
lost?” “Nah,” the man said, “I’ve lived here all my life, I know where
everything is.” “Preacher was starting to get a little frustrated and said, “Listen
– what I want to know is are you ready for resurrection day?” Fella said, “I
don’t know…when’s it going to be?” Preacher said, “I don’t know – it may be
today; it may be tomorrow.” Fella said, “Well don’t tell my wife, she’s going
to want to go both days!” (slightly adapted from a joke told by Jerry Clower; I
forget what album it was…)
But, when is it going to be? That’s the question that’s been
asked since Jesus’ ascension. There was some confusion over the timing of that
Day among the early believers. They had heard Jesus say, “Behold, I come
quickly,” and they heard it as “I am coming soon.” Soon tells you when; quickly
tells you how. Jesus will appear suddenly and without warning, like lightning,
like a thief in the night, like a groom kicking off the wedding party at the
ridiculous hour of midnight. Some who heard it as “soon” figured “what the
heck,” and quit their jobs and just hung around church all day wasting their
time and mooching off of others. What’s the point in working and investing in a
future that doesn’t exist, right?
You even get a hint
of it with Paul. Did you catch it? He said “we.” “We who are left,” “we who are
alive” when the Lord appears. Paul appears to think that he would be part of
the “we,” those who are left, those who are alive. Later, in his second letter
to Timothy, Paul realizes otherwise. He going to die, he’s going to finish his
race and wait for the crown of victory that Christ has for Him at the medal
ceremony on the Last Day.
For Paul, the Day of the Lord is not the dark and gloomy day
that Amos saw, but a bright and glorious day. Loud too. A shout of command, the
voice of the archangel, the trumpet call of God. It’s a day of resurrection and
renewal and reunion. The dead in Christ rise from their graves. The living are
renewed in the same way. And we are gathered together, reunited with Christ and
with one another. The Day of the Lord is the day that Death is finally trampled
under the foot of Jesus who conquered death for all of us.
So what’s our perspective, living in the end times, nearly
2000 years since Jesus said, “I come quickly.” How do we live as end-times
people? The parable of the wedding gives us some insight. “The kingdom of
heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the
bridegroom.” OK, you’re going to have to identify with bridesmaids here, but
just bear with it. Don’t think about frilly dresses and uncomfortable shoes.
Just focus on oil lamps. Little clay pots with a wick and a few ounces of oil
that you carried like a candle. That was their job. To show up a the wedding
with oil lamps. Five brought extra oil; five didn’t.
The Foolish Five figured they knew the time. They figured a
few ounces was enough. They figured they knew the groom and his ways. The
figured wrong, and so they missed the party. The Wise Ones, on the other hand,
were over-prepared, like a bunch of scouts. Their whole focus, the center of
their lives, was the bridegroom and having those oil lamps prepared with enough
oil to be ready at any moment, any time.
What no one figured was that the groom would be late. What
no one figured was that everyone would fall asleep. What no one figured was the
the groom was a little on the crazy side and decided to start his wedding at
midnight.
Wise and foolish in the Bible are “code,” Biblical ways of
saying “believing” and ‘unbelieving.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” It is foolish to think
you have the time to procrastinate the things of salvation. I know. I’m a huge
procrastinator. I always figure I have the time, until something unexpected
comes up, and then my foolishness is obvious. I am embarrassed to tell you how
many sermons are still being revised, or even finished, early Sunday mornings.
Going to church looks silly to the world, and (honestly)
there are days it maybe even seems silly to us, singing to a God-man we can’t
see, who works in weakness, who offers Himself as a sacrifice for the very
people who caused His death. We celebrate a bath of three handfuls of water, a
meal of a piece of flat bread and simple wine. I understand why atheists laugh
at these things. It’s easy to think that our little bit of religion that we
picked up in Sunday School will carry us through that great and terrible Day of
the Lord. It’s also foolish.
It isn’t until the end that the folly of the foolish is
revealed for what it is. Not a day sooner. Until then, the foolish appear wise,
cool, stylish. They appear so in control, so reasonable, so rational. Until the
noise begins at midnight, until they wake up in the darkness and realize they
have no oil, and there are no merchants, and there is no sharing, and the door
is slammed and locked, and no amount of pounding and pleading is going to open
it. They had a place at the wedding party. Christ died for all without
exception. They had a seat at the table with their name on it. And in their
foolish figuring, they lost out, they are unrecognized. They hear through an
eternally shut door, “I don’t know you.” He invited them, but now He does not
know them.
Only at the end, on that Day that ends all days, will the
wisdom of your faith be vindicated, and the foolishness of unbelief be
revealed.
How do we live as end-times people? Watchful, sober, alert.
Tending to the work of our vocations, but always watchful. Hearing the Word,
receiving the Body and the Blood, praying, praising, giving thanks. Focused,
with Jesus in the cross-hairs of our vision. He appears suddenly, quickly,
without warning. Not like the first time when He had John the Baptizer prepare
the way. There’s no need for that. The Church has been preparing the way for
2000 years, baptizing and teaching. He appears like a groom at midnight, and
you baptized into Him, trusting in Him, will rise to greet Him, with lamps full
of oil and wicks trimmed and ready to go. Be watchful, be sober, be ready. You
never know when the party begins.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen
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