Exordium

“…you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John 16:22).” These words from Jesus to His disciples come long after the Christmas account; they’re from the time when He is preparing them for His death and eventual ascension into heaven.

But the joy He’s talking about them needing and wanting is the same as the sort you seek on this Christmas morning. All of it is part of the same package. Like Jesus’ disciples, you sit here this morning with things on your mind. You want the joy that comes from having peace with God—knowing that you are His dear child, that He doesn’t hold your sins against you, that you don’t face an angry judgment. Settle yourself here, now, in God’s House. This is the place to have come to hear the soothing message.

But you sit this morning and wonder, could such salve be intended also for me? What about the secret sins—the burdens I’ve carried all these years, things about which I’ve never dared tell anyone else (but God knows); are you telling me, Pastor, that even those things are to be addressed in this soothing Christmas morning message? Yes, it’s true: the One Whose death and Resurrection will address every one of your sins is the One Who comes on this Christmas morning. God comes to be with you. He comes to be your Savior from sin and death. He comes that your heart might rejoice forevermore.

This is where the joy comes from, which we now sing in our festival hymn verse:

Hymn #142 “Rejoice, Rejoice, This Happy Morn”

Sermon

John 1:14-18

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

St. Paul says in our epistle lesson a thing that is so appropriate to say on a Christmas morning: the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (maybe we should say that instead of, Merry Christmas!). The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Isaiah had prophesied it long before as recorded in our Old Testament lesson: the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.” In St. Matthew’s quoting of this passage, he adds that Immanuel is translated, God with us (1:23).

St. John is talking about it in our sermon text as well, though in a different way than we might be used to hearing. He isn’t giving a history lesson about a taxing that took place one time during the Roman Empire. He isn’t talking about Joseph and Mary making a long journey, with her just about ready to give birth to a child. He isn’t talking about swaddling clothes or a manger. Nothing about shepherds and their flocks, and angels bringing good tidings of great joy. Those things are in our Gospel lesson for today. They’re the things on the Christmas cards and ornaments. They’re all facts about Christmas, of course.

John’s is an alternate telling of the Christmas account in a way. While St. Luke’s -from our Gospel lesson- focuses entirely on what happens on this side of eternity—this side that takes place in time (where we wait; and at a certain moment, a child comes into the world), the origin of the Christmas account is before time. It is about the only Son from the Father—the eternal one.

John has already begun his gospel talking rather obscurely like this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Then, he talks about everything having been made through Him (this Word), Him having life in Himself—the light of men. But John doesn’t really say, yet, who this Word is. Someone reading it who doesn’t know anything about Jesus or about the Bible might ask the question: Who is this Word Who was with God in the beginning?

Knowing what you know, John’s continuing conversation about John the Baptist coming to bear witness of [this] light gives a pretty good clue. We’ve been talking about that other John these last couple of weeks, the fiery preacher, the baptizer, the friend of the Bridegroom, the one who willingly, gladly recedes into the background in order that the Christ might increase and be seen by the world as the One to Whom people should go for forgiveness and salvation.

Our sermon text is the point in John’s conversation in which what has been happening in eternity breaks into this temporal world: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It’s a magical moment. If we were seeing it in a movie, there might be a bright light out of the darkness that fills up the screen. There might be majestic music accompanying the moment. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It’s an eternally-minded way of saying what can be said more temporally-minded like this: And [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger.

But we aren’t talking about this this morning just because a child was born. Our joy in this season isn’t some mumbo jumbo about a new life symbolizing hope for a better world, or any such nonsense that someone might think simply upon seeing a baby on a Christmas card. The season isn’t about hope in general; it’s about a specific hope, a specific joy related to the coming of a specific child long-prophesied, long-promised.

St. John sets two things in contrast to each other in our text, namely Moses’ significance, and Christ’s significance. And it isn’t really about Moses specifically; it’s about what Moses represents. He was representing the same thing when he appeared with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. The same point was being made in that whole account (in which Jesus, flanked by Moses and Elijah, became white as light to the terror of the three disciples—Matt. 17:1-8). Moses is the one who had gone up on Mt. Sinai to receive from God (and then present to the people) His Law. The Bible forever links him to God’s Commandments, His requirements for all people of all time. The people must be perfect under these requirements, or be apart from God. It’s that simple.

John is writing his Gospel in order to give joy to his readers; but the mention of the Law isn’t what ever brings joy. The Law is a fearful proposition for every person who would ever read John’s words. It is everyone’s guilty conscience. It is what condemns the selfish for his selfishness, the liar for his lies, the slanderer for his slander, the hater for his hatred, the adulterer for his adultery. The Law is what makes you squirm in your seat every time the preacher hits on just the sort of sin you’re most bothered by, the sort that makes you feel especially slimy, makes you feel apart from God. The Law doesn’t bring any joy. Moses (and more importantly, the Law he represents) isn’t the star of this text. He’s the one the star is compared to so we can see how great the star is.

To that point, John continues with these words: grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. What the serpent had presented as the truth to our first parents hadn’t been the truth—that they could stand shoulder to shoulder with God if they disobeyed Him. The imagining in the nature of all of their offspring, that they can be good enough for God through the works of the Law isn’t the truth either. The righteousness of Jesus Christ given for them for forgiveness of sins and salvation is the truth. God’s grace to put the burden of all peoples’ guilt on His only Son so that He might pay their price, restoring them to God is the truth.

That Savior inviting you to His Table this morning, so that He might nourish you with the food that strengthens and comforts you as you wait for Him in this world is the truth. He gives His true body and blood along with the bread and wine so that you might have Him with you. You have in this Sacrament, the remission of sins that is promised in it, and the peace in that.

I greet you, then, this morning with the most joyous of Christmas Day greetings: the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. He has appeared also to you, so that all that kept you from God is removed. Your sins are forgiven. Eternal life is yours. The eternal Word became flesh for you. Amen.

Isaiah 7:10–14

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz,  “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.

St. Luke 2:1-14

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The Sermon— John 3:22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison).

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

We see John again in our text for today. Last week, you recall, he was preaching stunning Law to the people in the sermon text, breaking down their tendency toward self-righteousness so that he might comfort them with the news of God’s Anointed One who makes sinners righteous before God. He was baptizing them into the name of that Savior for the forgiveness of sins.

This morning, that same one’s (John’s) ministry intersects with Jesus’ ministry. Baptizing and preaching are being done in both their camps, which, evidently, brings about some envy among John’s disciples. They say to John, all are going to him (all are going to Jesus, they mean).

What greater report of success could be said of John’s work than that? All going to Jesus is exactly what his work has been about. He has been the one preparing the way of the Lord, making His paths straight (the prophet had spoken it long before John's birth). His work had always been about pointing anyone coming to him for baptism, to Jesus, to the One Whose righteousness gives the benefit in every baptism. That’s what John means when he says, I baptize you with water…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John’s baptism is real baptism, accomplishing all of the things we talk about with it; but it’s Jesus’ righteousness that the Spirit is bringing to a person through it. He’s the one the whole thing is about. John’s work is working if it can be said that all are going to Jesus.

Then the Spirit’s work through John’s preaching and baptism has been successful. It has convinced people that Jeremiah’s prophecy from our Old Testament lesson is being fulfilled. Then they’re convinced that God is fulfilling the promise He made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, of a righteous Branch springing up for David to execute justice and righteousness in the land, to save Judah, to enable Jerusalem to dwell securely—The LORD our Righteousness, His name. Then they’re convinced that He is the One Who stands among them, coming after [John], preferred before [him], whose sandal strap [John is] not worthy to loose (these things John says in the Gospel lesson). What a ringing endorsement of the work that’s been done through John’s ministry if it is being said, all are going to Jesus.

But John’s disciples haven’t yet added themselves to that number, and they have exaggerated in saying that all are going to Jesus (in fact, John tells us toward the end of the text, that many of the people were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ). John has more work to do. And in his testimony to his own disciples this morning, we get a nice summary of his message that other of his listeners have already received.

He really focuses on Jesus’ divinity. You know, when we confess the Creed every Sunday we do the same. In addition to the things we confess about the Father and Spirit, we talk about our belief in Jesus Christ. In the words of the Nicene Creed: He is the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made. He is the eternal God. Very God of Very God means He is the genuine article (not some copy or representation of it; He is God). He isn’t a created being, like us. He isn’t less than the Father. It’s through Him that everything was made, in fact.

So, when John says to his disciples, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven he is pointing out the difference between himself and Jesus. Jesus is the eternal One, the true God among them. He is the Christ, the one Whom John precedes as forerunner. Jesus is the One Who comes from above and is above all.

In fact, speaking in terms of earthly things they understand, Jesus can be compared to a bridegroom (He often refers to Himself that way, with His bride being the Church or believers), whereas John can be compared to the bridegroom’s friend. In this illustration John is a willing and joyful servant to the bridegroom who rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. It’s in pointing his disciples and others to Jesus that he can say, Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

So, John’s response to his disciples’ concern that Jesus’ ministry is starting to, as they say, suck up all the oxygen, is to say, He must increase, but I must decrease. Everything about John that might in any way detract from sinners going to Jesus, their righteousness, their Savior, must now recede into the background so it doesn’t get in the way of what God has provided so that people can be with Him. John must not get in the way of Jesus.

Isn’t it true, dear Christians, that that must be able to be said of all of us: I must not get in the way of the One Who brings God’s righteousness, God’s grace to sinners. Certainly it’s obvious that if John’s disciples were to hinder Jesus’ ministry in some way because of their envy, they would be getting in His way. We aren’t necessarily in that situation.

But in the epistle lesson that is paired up with the others for today, we have St. Paul warning his readers about a hindering of Jesus’ ministry that is much more personal. The interference in Jesus’ ministry that he’s warning about is our tendency to wear the most shameful aspects of life in this world rather than our baptismal garment of Christ’s righteousness. We interfere with Jesus’ ministry in our own lives when we’re lulled to sleep, forgetting that He’s ever returning. He warns about it in so many of His parables.

Paul says, make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. As examples he talks about sexual desires that can certainly be an issue. He could also talk about our shameful lack of empathy for our neighbor, couldn’t he? He could talk about our tendency to want to build ourselves up by running others down—to their face, certainly, but also in our conversations they might not ever know about (not ever knowing about the damage done to their reputation). Those are the works of darkness that Paul is talking about too; that’s the gratifying of the fleshly desires for which he is warning us not to make provision. It’s an ugly picture of ourselves, and of another kind of envy that hinders the ministry among us of the One Who comes from above, and is above all.

But thanks be to God, His ministry is of God’s grace to us sinners. It is the ministry of forgiveness in the atoning blood of our Savior Jesus. He must increase in our hearts above anyone or anything else because only in Him is our joy complete. Only in His righteousness do we find our own righteousness before God, only in Him eternal life. May it ever be said that we are going to Jesus; and after it is said, let it be said again and again, that all others still questioning in their hearts about anyone else might hear the news and join us at the Savior’s side for forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-18

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD our Righteousness.’ “For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

Romans 13:11-14

You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

John 1:19-28

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

These things were done in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

Luke 3:2-18

During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
    and the rough places shall become level ways,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

What then shall we do? God’s Law preached faithfully by one of His servants, utilized powerfully by the Holy Spirit, has fulfilled its purpose if that reaction is the result: What then shall we do? An unhappy (but important) conclusion has been reached, then. Desperation has been accomplished in people who now realize they aren’t in a position to negotiate. This sort of realization doesn’t come from people hearing good things about themselves, only bad. It’s a hopeless situation. Their only recourse is to reach out for whatever help might possibly come.

Previously, the people to whom John speaks in our text have had a self-image that includes a certain association that seems to stack the cards in their favor: they have Abraham as their father. It’s not what you know, but who you know; they’re putting their trust in the reliability of that old phrase. They know somebody. They’re connected to somebody.

That association is substantial if we’re looking at it in human terms. Abraham is prominent among God’s people. Their being God's people began with Abraham, with God selecting him as the father of their nation. Nobody didn’t know Abraham. As elderly people he and his wife Sarah had begotten their son Isaac, who then begat Jacob, who begat the heads of the Twelve Tribes in Israel. The story of their people had begun with Abraham. There’s no kind of about it; he was a big deal. And John’s hearers, Abraham’s descendants, evidently figured that made them a big deal (including, in God’s kingdom). So, for them to have been brought, now, to a point of saying, What then shall we do?—clearly, they have encountered quite a revelation about themselves (and about how much significance they should put in being connected to Abraham).

In St. Peter’s ministry there’s an account similar to this. It’s in the book of Acts, Chapter 2. Peter has confronted his listeners with their having crucified Jesus, Whom God has made both Lord and Christ. It says about them, that hearing this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do (Acts 2:36-38)?”

Notice that John, in our text, is preaching the same sort of message in a way. He comes as the Christ’s forerunner—the one preparing His way (“The voice of one crying in the wilderness” and all that, from Isaiah chapter 40, quoted in our text). His message is that the Christ is coming to make them righteous before God. They need to put their hope in Him, not in their own holiness, not in having Abraham as their father. What good is that going to be if they’re still in their sins? Abraham can’t believe in God’s mercy and salvation for them. God considered him righteous because he believed His promises (Genesis 15:6). Everyone else can have the same; but they have to believe in it themselves. They have to adhere themselves through faith to the same Savior to Whom Abraham did—Jesus.

John doesn’t pull any punches, does he? “You brood of vipers!—he says. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

It couldn’t matter less, that they’re Abraham’s sons. God could make the stones into that. The thing they should be thinking about that’s significant is the fruits that they bear before God. They should be concerned that when God looks at them He sees sinners who aren’t fit for His kingdom. That’s what matters; not whether or not they are Abraham’s (or anyone else’s) offspring. What’s gonna be the solution to that? What’s gonna be the solution to the fact that God requires perfection of them that they cannot deliver? How’s the problem gonna be solved, that the axe is laid to the root of the bad fruit-bearing trees so that they might be cut down and thrown into the fire?

If John were preaching to you, he would be preaching the same message. The tone of the Law would be equally as stern. It’s present in our Old Testament lesson, in Malachi’s prophecy. Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? —related to the Psalmist’s words: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? John would preach the Law to you about the same things he says to audience in our text, a message about selfishness, a lack of love toward your neighbor, greed, a tendency to be ungrateful for what God has given; it would be preached so as to bring about an unhappy conclusion, a desperate one. He wouldn’t be telling you good things about yourself, only bad. He would be preaching to bring about the same conclusion that comes from his hearers in our text this morning: the situation is absolutely hopeless. I must reach out for whatever help might possibly come.

But he wasn’t just preaching the Law to them. He was proclaiming, Luke says, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He was preceding the One Isaiah is talking about in the quote, the one whose way is prepared so that sinful hearts can receive, can see the salvation of God. John was preaching the Law in all of its severity to people who needed to recognize their situation, so that he might follow with joyful news. They could be connected to the One Who really could do them good—the one Abraham himself was connected to through faith—Jesus. They could stop putting their hope in being Abraham’s descendants, and recognize that God’s forgiveness for their sins comes from the One Who accomplished for them what they could never accomplish for themselves.

They ask, What then shall we do? We have to be a little bit careful in how we look at this text. It can seem like John is prescribing better behavior as the solution to their problem of sin. He isn’t. It would go against his entire purpose. He is preaching and baptizing into the Name of the Christ. John points out the various way in which his hearers have been failing to fulfill God’s requirements. He has also been preaching Jesus’ righteousness that solves their problem. God has put Him forth as the One Who takes their burden. Them being associated with Him through faith means that God considers Him the one who refused to share His bounty with the needy. God considers Him the one who has stolen from, and extorted from, and falsely accused His neighbor. God considers Him the one who has been ungrateful before God. God considers Him the one instead of the real sinners, instead of you, and instead of me.

You are connected to Him through faith. Your sins are forgiven for the same reason Abraham’s were: you believe God has been merciful to you in the one He sent to live perfectly in your place, and die to make your payment. You don’t need anything else. When you share generously with your neighbor, you do it out of love for God, out of gratefulness to Him, not because you think you have things to make up for. Jesus has taken care of everything. Give joyfully, then. Give as one privileged to do so because God’s grace is yours in Christ. Amen.

Malachi 3:1-6

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

1 Corinthians 4:1–5

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

St. Matthew 11:2-10

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

Luke 12:35-48

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

We’re right in the middle of the Advent Season now. Our text answers a couple of important questions related to our theme. The theme is: Our Lord Will Come Again. To that, we might ask, What will He come again to do?—and, What would He want to find when He comes?

Jesus had just been making statements and telling parables, that encouraged his listeners to put their trust in the Lord, to value his kingdom more than anything else. He said, don’t worry about being without anything you might need; God will provide for your needs, just like he does for the sparrows, and all other creatures. He was saying the kinds of things someone would say who was getting his listeners ready for the end (though the end is always a mystery; we never know when it will be). We’re told over and over to always be ready, though. Certainly, that is Jesus’ message in this text. “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”

They have so much to gain by being prepared like this. What Jesus goes on to tell them in this text represents an extraordinary exchange—a flipping on its ear of what would normally be the case in the relationship between master and servants. It would never be the case under normal circumstances, that the servants position themselves at the table, ready to eat, and that the master would come in and serve them; it would always be the opposite. But Jesus says this extraordinary thing: when this Master returns, He serves the servants.

Of course, the serving was happening already, without them fully realizing it. Jesus had been preparing them as His followers, preparing them as the ones who are citizens of God’s kingdom even while in this world, and who then inherit eternal life in that kingdom.

Part of the preparation is this call to readiness. He’s doing it in the Gospel lesson for today too, pointing out the signs of the kingdom’s coming, alerting them to dangers that exist for those who hope in it. Stay awake at all times, He says in the Gospel Lesson, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” He serves them by preparing them for His coming in glory.

Also, He serves them simply by carrying out the eternal plan that God has to save sinners through the blood of His perfect Son. He knows that every day He spends with them—teaching them, comforting them—is a day closer to the eternally appointed time when He will be arrested, tried by Jews and Gentiles, mistreated in various ways, crucified, put in the grave—all of it for the benefit of these and all others who put their trust in Him for salvation (available to every single person in the world).

The Master serves the servants. Recognize that the LORD has served you to the same extent. He called you to be His follower through the Spirit’s work in the sacrament of Baptism (the water joined with God’s powerful Word)—or He called you through the Word itself. He called you out of the darkness of unbelief (your natural state), and into a knowledge of God’s grace that is yours through faith in this LORD and Savior, this Master who is the server of servants. In answer to the first of our questions: what He ultimately comes to do, is to bring you and all believers in Him to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Our second question: What would He want to find when He comes? Jesus uses the picture of a manager that has been left in charge of the master’s possessions in his absence. In one sense this message can be thought of as specifically pertaining to those who are Christ’s under-shepherds in this world, ones who go out to speak in His Name in the Church or elsewhere. Jesus’ disciples certainly were in that category. They were being prepared, not just for the kingdom, but to lead others to that kingdom in an official sense. They were managers in training who would be managing Christ’s flock—a specific and important type of stewardship. Great faithfulness was required of them (and of those who are so-called today).

But every Christian is Christ’s steward; you, too, of course. You are a steward of this faith with which you’ve been entrusted. It is your possession; you might look at it as the invitation you have received that you present at the gate of heaven. It must remain with you throughout this life, even though numerous challenges are put up to prevent it.

Jesus had recently said to His disciples, Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God (12:8,9). This reminds us that remaining faithful even in the face of the world’s opposition is difficult. When the world is telling us to go ahead and do what God has forbidden, it’s difficult. Faith is engaged in a battle in a moment like that, isn’t it? What do I care more about; this faith, or the love and acceptance of the world? Will I acknowledge in this difficult moment, the Son of Man in Whom my faith is placed; or will I deny Him in favor of this world?

In some of Jesus’ other recent comments had been the parable of the rich fool, about a man who’d been so fortunate in his farming that he’d had to build bigger barns to store all of his vast crop. His foolishness was in thinking it was going to be some sort of salvation for him. He felt he was so rich, now, that he didn’t need to think about God. Again—challenges put up to prevent our faith from enduring unto eternal life. Wealth and success (though they can be great blessings too) can become snares that prevent the readiness, the preparedness that our Savior wants to find from us when He comes again.

When Jesus says in our text, Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, doesn’t He speak right to our hearts as stewards of the faith we possess by God’s grace? Doesn’t He stir your heart to consider how you have cared for this precious possession? Doesn’t He cause you to ask yourself, have I treasured up all these things, pondering them in my heart like Mary did with the angel’s announcement that she would the Savior’s mother (Luke 2:19); or have I been careless with it, leaving it unguarded, unprotected? When our Lord comes again, will He consider me to have been a good steward, or a wicked one? Will He find me to have been clinging to what opens heaven’s gate, or allowing it to drag along behind me as I pursued this world’s things? And these questions that the LORD stirs in your heart bring you to a difficult conclusion. You have been guilty in this matter of stewardship, as have I.

What joy it brings to our hearts, then, that our Lord who comes again, comes as the Master who serves the servants. So that you could be considered the perfect steward—and rewarded as such, He came to be considered the most wicked one. The prophet writes: And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). He was made guilty of every instance in which you have fallen short of God’s requirements in your stewardship of the faith He’s given, and in every other matter. The innocent one invites the guilty ones to ready themselves at table that He might serve them, that He might lift them from guilt and punishment to the reward of His everlasting kingdom.

Recognize it happening as you recline at the Savior’s Table this morning to receive from Him what makes atonement for you sins: His true body and blood along with the bread and wine. He serves you through the hands of His servants. He takes all of your burdens, forgiving them in His perfect blood. He has provided for every one of your needs. When this Master returns, He serves the servants. God be praised. Amen.

Micah 4:1-7

It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,

    and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;

but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    and no one shall make them afraid,
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

In that day, declares the Lord,
    I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;

and the lame I will make the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.
  

Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
    and sing to your name.”

And again it is said,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
    and let all the peoples extol him.”

And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,
    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

St. Luke 21:25-36

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

St. Luke 17:20-25

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, [Jesus] answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

1 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.

The first verse of our hymn on this first Sunday of a brand new Church Year appeals to the one people’d been looking forward to since the first time somebody sinned. Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, it says. They were looking forward to this one who’d been prophesied, who would be the solution to that problem. He would be the one Who sets sinners free.

Without Him they remain in bondage to the one who’d come to own them—God’s enemy, Satan. He was the one who was able to accuse them—to say, this person has to belong to me, because he has transgressed God’s Law; he has made himself unfit to be with God in His eternal kingdom. He has been able to say, God, you have no right to have this person because he has failed to fulfill Your requirements. You can’t lower your standards in order to be accepting of someone who has fallen short. That isn’t something a perfect God can do. So, this person is mine. No wonder the hymn-writer talks about being released from fears and sins. What could make us more afraid than being at Satan’s mercy, without God’s protecting presence? Jesus was expressing it on the cross when He said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? He was expressing what it is to considered a sinner in the Judgment.

When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and sent disciples for a certain donkey and its colt, He was coming—the One long-expected, born to set His people free. His welcome by Jerusalemites was complicated. One could wish that God’s eternally-conceived solution for sinners would just be recognized by everyone, and received with joy and thanksgiving. Our text demonstrates that it was not to be. The Pharisees (who were always Jesus’ adversaries) ask, When will this kingdom of God be coming?

John the Baptist had sent his disciples to ask the same sort of question. They’d asked Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another (Matthew 11:3)?” Jesus’ answer on that occasion had been, Look what I’m doing. It’s what the prophets said the Messiah would do: “…the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them (11:5).” To the Pharisees in our text, Jesus says, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” He means it isn’t something one needs to wait for. It is laid hold of through faith, through believing, through knowing God’s anointed One Who brings His grace to sinners—the one long-expected, the one our Old Testament lesson calls, ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ The hymn writer says of Him,

2 Israel's strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art

It’s interesting in the text, that in the beginning, when Jesus is talking to Pharisees (who wouldn’t have been believers in Him), He indicates to them, that they should be recognizing God’s kingdom among them even now. But then to His disciples just after (who are believers in Him), He kind of says, don’t let anybody confuse you about what the kingdom is. You already see it because you know Me. There isn’t anything to wait for; you already have it!

St. Paul is talking in the same way to his readers in our epistle lesson. He’s also talking to believers in Jesus. And his message to them is the same sort of thing: they already have the kingdom; they’re citizens of it even now by faith. There isn’t anything to wonder about. Certainly, there is nothing to be afraid of. They know this long-expected Jesus, born to set [His] people free. They aren’t in darkness anymore. Through Jesus, they’re released from their fears and sins; in Him they already have their rest.

His instruction for them, then, is, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on this One Who makes you righteous before God. Put on this One Who has answered all of the devil’s accusations against you, putting them all on Himself as the perfect substitutionary sacrifice. The accusations that had been directed at you came to be directed at Him on a cross, by God’s design. The Father’s forsaking, His removing of His protective presence; it came to be applied to Him instead of you. Our theme for this First Sunday of Advent can be summarized in Paul’s words to the Philippians: And being found in human form, [Christ] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (2:8). That’s what He was riding into Jerusalem to do.

It’s important that we think about how a person comes to know Jesus, to have this kingdom—to be a citizen of it even now by faith. Jesus is specifically saying in this text, that it isn’t by some sort of amazing sight that someone could show you, someone saying, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’. He tells His disciples, if someone says something like that, Do not go out or follow them.

It was just before our text that Jesus had told the parable about the rich man and poor Lazarus. Remember that the point of view of the rich man (who’d been placed in hell upon his death) had been that he had no interest in God’s kingdom without some sign to prove it. His brothers would be of the same mind. But if there was the sign of a man appearing to them from the dead they would believe. But that isn’t how we lay hold of God’s kingdom. That isn’t how it becomes ours even now, how we come to be citizens of it even during our time in this world. It is through faith.

You are a possessor of this kingdom; you have this faith, either because you were baptized into Christ—the Spirit opening your heart through water and the Word so you came to lay hold of it, or, through the Spirit’s work in the Word itself. Regardless by which means it happened, you came to be one of the ones who perceives God’s kingdom. You don’t wait to see some sign of it before you’ll believe like Pharisees or like the rich man in Jesus’ parable. You know it as having come in the one Who rides into Jerusalem in our Gospel lesson—God’s anointed one, Jesus.

But Jesus doesn’t warn His disciples without any cause, that they not get drawn in to worldly ideas about the kingdom. Paul doesn’t warn his readers without any cause, to wake from sleep, to cast off the works of darkness. They do this because there is danger for those who have come to perceive the kingdom of God. There is danger that what one has today, he might not have tomorrow unless it is protected. The hymn writer implores:

4 By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone

He means, don’t let this world’s ideas cloud what we have already come to possess through the Spirit’s leading. Don’t let us buy into false ideas about God’s kingdom. Don’t let us imagine like Pharisees, that we come to possess the kingdom through righteous things that we do. Don’t let us, like Paul warns, get entrenched in the sinfulness of this world that becomes a sort of sleep for us, an unreadiness for the kingdom. Instead, let this king who comes be the sole ruler in our hearts. Let our attention be on Him. Paul’s and Jesus’ warnings could just as well be called accusations, because Paul’s readers and Jesus’ disciples, and we—have hesitated sometimes to consider God’s Word and Baptism to be all-sufficient in bringing us the kingdom. We have wanted signs and wonders to further convince us. We have even wanted our godly actions to be considered important in bringing us the kingdom (as if anything we could do could outweigh our sins).

Instead, we pray with the hymn writer this morning:

By Thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Christ’s merit is all-sufficient. What else could we need if we have Him? He has answered our accuser with the merit of His perfect righteousness. He became for you the one who transgressed God’s Law, who made Himself unfit for the kingdom (He took it from you and suffered for it Himself). He made Himself the one God had no right to accept, who’d failed in His requirements, who’d fallen short. It’s true that the perfect God can’t lower His standards; so He punished Him instead of you. With Him standing in your place, for a moment the devil could say of Him, He’s mine. So then, Jesus cries out that He’s been forsaken by the Father. But this One is the Desire of every nation, the Joy of ev’ry longing heart. He rises from death, victorious over it. You are set free. From your fears and sins, you are released. You are raised to His glorious throne. You are no longer considered a sinner in the judgment, made righteous in the blood of Christ. God be praised. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-18

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

Romans 13:11-14

You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

St. Matthew 21:1-9

Now when [Jesus and his disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

St. Matthew 25:1–13

[Jesus said], “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. All have in common in the parable, that they become drowsy and sleep, and that at a certain time they rise and trim their lamps. The Bridegroom for whom they’ve been waiting comes at the same time for all—at midnight. But there is an important difference between them that will mean everything.

St. Paul uses a slightly different image in order to make the same point in our epistle lesson; rather than as a bridegroom coming for a wedding feast, he says that the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The images of the parable’s midnight return and the epistle’s late night intrusion both amount to a situation in which people tend to be off their guard—even vulnerable. In both cases, early and well-conceived preparation will be necessary for anyone wishing to come out on the good end of things; to have been wise rather than foolish.

Being foolish in this matter amounts to very serious consequences. Jesus had just been comparing His second coming to the days of Noah, those days before the flood when people 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 (24:38,39). There, too, Jesus was talking about wise and foolish people when it comes to God’s kingdom. Noah was entering the ark he’d built in obedience to God, trusting in His Words, relying on Him. Others were existing in a false sense of security, imagining that whatever God had to say (which Noah had been preaching to them for a hundred years while he built the ark) was of no consequence; they might as well go on about their lives without care or concern. St. Paul says similarly in our epistle lesson: While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Of course, all of this darkness that’s being discussed in these verses speaks to the corruption of this world, and goes back to the problem all of us have—the problem of sin. We’re reminded here, of the fact that Jesus talks about two groups of people; but describes them as all being in the same situation: all get drowsy and sleep, all rise to trim their lamps. Similarly, all people are in this world for an unknown amount of time. The world is filled with interesting distractions. It even has God’s enemy in it, whom He calls the Prince of the this World, whose every aim is to distract people from God’s Word so long that they find themselves unprepared in the end, to meet Him—without what was required of them in order to be with God in His eternal kingdom (with hell as the only other possibility).

Jesus’ parable is about ten young women who have an opportunity to which they have looked forward with great excitement. They have served a bride as attendants at her wedding. Now, they would attend also the marriage feast held at the home of her new husband, the bridegroom. After the wedding they would customarily walk from one house to the other in the darkness with lamps lighting their way. The lamps require oil to continue burning. When they reach the bridegroom's home, they need to wait outside until he comes with his bride to begin the feast.

But the bridegroom is delayed in coming. It having become even the middle of the night, they have all gotten tired and fallen asleep. But, in a certain moment, all together are awakened to the call: the bridegroom is here! All together they rise and begin to trim their lamps, to provide for themselves the necessary light so that they might go and meet the Bridegroom and attend the marriage feast.

Here’s where a little detail we were told becomes important. While five of the ten have brought along extra oil for their lamps (prepared for any length of wait), the other five have not. In this crucial moment they are finding themselves without what they needed in order to be prepared so that they might go and do what they have desired to do, to meet the bridegroom at his coming. Having been in this fashion caught unawares, they react desperately; they turn to their wiser counterparts who’ve brought extra oil, and say, give us some of your oil. But there isn’t enough to share. It’s too late. These haven’t prepared themselves, and there isn’t any more time to do so now.

Their surprise at finding themselves in this situation reminds us of our Gospel lesson from last week, doesn’t it; the one in which Jesus separates the sheep from the goats? Those who are being sent away are surprised to be finding themselves divided from Christ and from His kingdom. They’ve presumed all along that they were headed there. Similarly in the parable, the bridegroom comes and brings those who are there, prepared, with him into the house for the marriage feast. When the others come later, they are turned away with the very haunting statement, I do not know you.

Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah speaks to this unpreparedness that is our tendency, and that Jesus warns against in the parable. It provides perspective. Nothing that would distract us here, that would get in the way of us being prepared for Christ’s return will even be remembered or come to mind in the new creation of God’s eternal kingdom. Whatever it was that was turning your attention away from God’s salvation; you didn’t need it—that’s what many will hear. It’s the former things. Nothing of it is worth missing out on what Christ—the Bridegroom brings On That Day. I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” These words have a meaning in the present about God’s exiled people returning to the earthly Jerusalem; but they’re prophetic also of the end of this world that passes away, giving way to Christ’s eternal kingdom (that’s why they’re included here, with this text on this Last Sunday of the Church Year).

Among which group of those Jesus mentions in His parable are you to be counted; among the wise, or among the foolish? That the young women need working lamps to meet the bridegroom, and that God’s Word is called a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, isn’t a coincidence. He prepares you to meet your Bridegroom—Christ at His second coming through His Word that is preached and read to you, and through it as it is present in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper. Though Christ returns at any time, like a thief in the night, like a Bridegroom returning for the wedding feast, God’s Word prepares you to meet Him. The Spirit works through it to preserve the faith He began in you in Baptism, or through the hearing of His Word. Having this faith, you are prepared by being connected to the Savior Whose perfect life provided the perfect sacrifice on a cross to pay for your sins.

That perfect blood has also paid for the sin of your unpreparedness. It has paid for every instance in which something in this passing world became more important to you than what God had to say. It has paid for an attitude you’ve sometimes had in which you figured a shallow knowledge and understanding of God’s Word is good enough (we might compare that to young women showing up to meet the bridegroom without enough oil to endure the wait for his return). It has been a dangerous situation; you’ve put yourself at spiritual risk in those moments (the result is disastrous in the parable; Jesus wants you to take note of that).

But He speaks to you His words of grace at this very moment. His very clearly stated desire is that you hear Him, and that you be counted among those who are wisely prepared for His return.

It’s why He says this morning in the Sacrament, This is My body which is given for you; This is My blood shed for you for the remission of sins. Through His sacrifice you are forgiven of sins; He gives you this very body and blood that has purchased it to assure you that it’s the case—to comfort you as you wait for Him in this world—because it might get to seem like a long wait. You will get weary of the waiting (like young women waiting for the bridegroom’s return). During this wait, were it not for Christ’s careful tending in this way (with Word and Sacrament), you might even start to wonder whether He’s coming at all. You might grow weary of waiting, and be among those who are surprised at His return, and unprepared for it. The world might have taken up your spiritual education since you have set aside God’s training. You might have become like young women who need oil to light their lamps but have none.

Certainly this warning of Christ’s won’t find its sad fulfillment in you, dear Christians. You are under the careful tending of the Bridegroom, benefiting from early and well-conceived preparation. What could be more so than the Spirit’s training through the means God has provided that sinners might reach His kingdom? You are under that training that leads to eternal life. It is none other than the declaration: Jesus died for your sins and rose to life again. Your sins are no longer held against you. You will rise to be with Him in His eternal kingdom. That is the oil that lights the lamp that leads to Christ. You have it. No matter how long the wait, at the Bridegroom’s call you will rise with everything you need to be with Him. God be praised. Amen.

Isaiah 65:17-19

[The LORD says], “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

St. Matthew 9:18–26

While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went through all that district.

The lessons for this Trinity Season—(which comes to an end in a couple of weeks along with the church year) have been especially about your life as a believer in this world, about the unique perspective you have being one of those. You’re here, but really heading there—to the place God has prepared for you in His kingdom. The hymn writer states it so well:

Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care [care meaning, worries];
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.

There is eternal rest; There is a mansion with the blest—the hymn writer goes on to say.

This isn’t that place. It’s filled with struggles—physical ones among them, like for the woman in our text. It’s filled with death too, like for the daughter of the man who comes to Jesus in the text.

Who of us hasn’t seen our share of these struggles as well? The Last Sundays of the Trinity Season—the end of the church year—are about the end of the world, the end of our lives here. Fitting.

Speaking of our hymn, you might have been thinking to yourself, “What a strange title for a hymn—The World Is Very Evil! It’s not a happy sentiment, is it? But not every hymn we sing is called something like that. Through the hymns you express what it is to be a believer in this world. Sometimes, that’ll have you singing: Rejoice, Rejoice, this happy morn; other times: The world is very evil. And of course, we note that a hymn like this points out the great darkness of this fallen world—not as an end, but as a comparison to the joy that waits for us as believers in Christ (which the hymn goes on to do). St. Paul talked like this one time: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).

In our text, too, we see the darkness of this world. What else can we call it when a man comes to Jesus announcing, “My daughter has just died.” What could be sadder than that? What darker? What more likely to cause a person to say something like, the world is very evil? Reminds me of Jacob’s statement from the Old Testament book of Genesis, at the thought of losing his young son: If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol” (42:38). The world is very evil, The times are waxing late—that isn’t an overstatement of the way we might feel here in certain moments. And in between those moments it doesn’t do us good to pretend that it isn’t the case.

It also doesn’t do us good to forget our own contributions to this world’s evil. The nature that you’ve inherited is the same that your first parents took upon themselves when they disobeyed God in the Garden. The death sentence that you have isn’t an unjust one. What you, and the girl in our text who has died, and all others born of sinful human fathers and mothers in this corrupted world deserve is for God to abandon you to the eternal death, the eternal punishment you have earned by your sins.

But dear believers, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus in this text. Note how He responds to the cries of His people who are overcome with the darkness of this world. These are believers like you. They know Jesus. As far as the man is concerned, death isn’t even too big for Jesus. Even that isn’t too late to be asking HIs help. The man says, Come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. What a strong faith that is! And Jesus’ response is to get up and follow him. The woman doesn’t think Jesus even needs to be bothered to hear her story, go with her somewhere, or anything like that; she only need touch His garment to be healed of her condition. And of course, she’s right about it—it happens, and Jesus commends her faith.

But Jesus goes with the man, follows him to his house.

There’s a section of hymns in our book under the theme: Death: A Sleep [as if to say, death is merely a temporary situation; it’s an entrance to eternal life, no more lasting than a sleep]. These hymns come up in the Trinity Season (this season that is about our lives in this world). I Know of a Sleep in Jesus’ Name; I Fall Asleep in Jesus’ Wounds—these are some of the hymn titles in that section. It’s interesting here, this morning because of what Jesus says to the flute players and crowd making a commotion outside the man’s house. He says, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.”

Now, it’s important that we recognize what Jesus is doing here. He isn’t saying that it only seems like the girl is dead—maybe having some condition that causes a person to appear dead, even appearing to have stopped breathing. “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation” is how a lot of Bible critics would speak about a text like this. Jesus doesn’t mean that when He says, the girl is not dead but sleeping.

The man had left his house and gone to find Jesus, after all, and announced to Him that his daughter had died, most likely after investigating in every possible way to determine whether or not it was the case. His great hope was that he would discover some sign of life in her, of course. But people know what death is. Nothing about the girl indicated in any way that she was still alive, because she was dead. Having gone and found Jesus, then, He and the man had gone back to his house to find that the mourners had already come (another very clear sign that she had certainly died). They found Jesus’ suggestion that the girl wasn’t dead to be laughable. Of course, she was dead.

Jesus’ statement, the girl is not dead but sleeping is an indication of what He is doing (or maybe has already done). He is there, now. It is His will that the girl be restored to life in this world. He is the almighty for Whom nothing is impossible. So, it is the case. The girl who had been dead is alive! Had it been Jesus’ will not to restore the girl to life in this world, His referring to her as sleeping would still apply, because to a believer in Christ, wearing the garment of His righteousness, death is a but a sleep from which the person wakes to eternal life.

And now we watch and struggle—Another one of the lines from the hymn. We struggle with things that happen to us in this world, and with things we do ourselves. We cry out to the Lord, Why are you letting this happen to me? Aren’t you going intervene? Won’t I have relief? And we cry out, Forgive my sins, O Lord! Take this guilt away from me that burdens me so. Strengthen me to do Your will instead of my own.

See God’s answer in our text. See it in the power and compassion of the Christ—the object of God’s merciful salvation for sinners. He hears the cries of His people, and He responds in loving care—not like we deserve, but according to incomparable mercy. He can help you, and He wants to help you—this One Who chose death for Himself in this world, chose to die a criminal’s death—having taken your crimes and everyone else’s on Himself (having taken them away from you). Fix your eyes on this Savior, Jesus. As you watch and struggle, know that the outcome is set: you have the victory over anything that happens to you in this world, and over the guilt that burdens you. He has seen to it for you. He invites you to keep bringing your burdens to Him. He has paid every debt. You are forgiven in Him.

O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest,
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest. Amen.

Isaiah 51:9-16

Awake, awake, put on strength,
    O arm of the Lord;
awake, as in days of old,
    the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?

Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
    for the redeemed to pass over?

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

“I, I am he who comforts you;
    who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
    of the son of man who is made like grass,

and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
    because of the wrath of the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
    And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.

I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.

And I have put my words in your mouth
    and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
establishing the heavens
    and laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

Colossians 1:9–14

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Our text talks about being free. Martin Luther wanted that. I hope that the reason you leave your comfortable homes on Sunday mornings to come to this place, is because you want that too. I hope that it’s worth everything to you, in fact. Reformation Day is a good day to consider how gathering like this on these mornings relates to making you free.

To Luther, the desire to be free was worth closing himself away from 16th century Germany, becoming a monk in a monastery. There, with a heavily regimented and spiritually-directed life, maybe—he thought, he could escape the temptations of the world and avoid being sent to hell for his sins. Luther wasn’t imagining this need to be free from sin. He knew enough of the Bible to know that. Jesus says right in our text, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

But in the monastery, Luther found he couldn’t escape the world’s temptations. They were still there. The sin was inside him (Jesus says that too). It’s an inherited condition—a person’s guilt, his inability to stop sinning. The more Luther tried not to sin, the more burdened and guilty he felt. He would confess to his superior, “What if I do resist temptation?  Am I not then proud of that resisting?” (Another sin). No matter what he did, Luther still felt imperfect before the perfect God who would surly send him to hell. Looking back on this time, Luther wrote: “I lived without reproach as a monk, but my conscience was disturbed to its very depths and all I knew about myself was that I was a sinner. I could not believe that anything that I thought or did or prayed satisfied God. I did not love, nay, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.”

Again from our text:

John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Again, that’s what Luther wanted; to be spiritually free. He didn’t want to feel guilty (or be guilty) anymore. He found that freedom; but it wasn’t because of any effort to live a better life.

Jesus had said, “If you hold to my teaching…the truth will set you free.”  Jesus’ teaching was available in Bibles. Therein the Spirit could instruct a person. Very few had them though. Bibles. They were costly, and rarely (if ever) in the language regular people could understand. So people weren’t really reading the Bible. And the problem is that, spiritually, a person is always being instructed by someone—either by the Spirit through the Bible or by someone else (something for you to keep in mind this morning). The Bible not being available to people in Luther’s time was big problem.

To make matters worse, the church on earth on earth had lost its way in that time. Due to its earthly-minded teaching, what people generally believed is that you had to do enough good things to make up for the bad things you’ve done. Good things were acts of penance; pilgrimages; prayers to saints (who could potentially make you better with their goodness), viewing relics (religious junk the church had collected); even purchasing indulgences (papers that announced forgiveness to people living and dead). As a monk in the monastery, Martin Luther even abused his body, hoping it would make payment for his sins. He thought of Jesus as an angry judge (certainly not anyone to whom he could turn to be made free). It’s sad to say that in that day, the church’s way of making a person spiritually free didn’t work. It’s often said that the liturgy of the church is to be credited with a lot people’s salvation because God’s Word is the basis of it (it remains so today, by the way; that’s why we continue to hold to it today). The Scripturally-based Liturgy was reliable to make people free even though the church’s teachers were peddling worthless human doctrines.

By God’s grace, Luther’s superiors at the monastery ordered him to study the Bible.

But when he did so, he noticed that the church wasn’t teaching the message of the Bible. He hadn’t known the Biblical Jesus; He’d known someone else who was called that—someone that scared him. The Bible certainly taught that people need to be freed from the spiritual bondage of sin. But it wasn’t saying that that freedom comes from penance or pilgrimages, saints or relics, or indulgences. It wasn’t to be found by traveling to the “holy” city of Rome, or joining a monastery.

“If you hold to my teaching…the truth will set you free.” That’s what Jesus says in our text. In studying the Psalms, Luther learned that God is not merely an angry judge who wants to punish people for their sins, but rather a merciful God who wants to give people His righteousness. In studying Paul’s letter to the Romans, Luther found that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ. God gives us faith through His Word and in baptism. He preserves that faith in us as we receive the Lord’s Supper.

Luther wrote these words in a letter after making this discovery: “Therefore, my sweet brother, learn Christ and him crucified: despairing of yourself, learn to pray to him. Saying, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin; you have taken on yourself what you were not and have given me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you no longer wish to appear to yourself, or to be, a sinner.”

He meant, you’re never going to be perfect and sinless no matter how hard you try. God doesn’t want us to think of ourselves as being in a position to ever be deserving of good things from Him, or to somehow save ourselves. He wants us to do exactly as Luther advised his friend: “Pray to Jesus, saying, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin; you have taken on yourself what you were not and have given me what I was not.’”

In his commentary on the book of Romans, Luther wrote, “Note well that you will really be pious and free from sin if you believe that Christ makes you free by dying for you, shedding His blood, rising from the dead, and sitting at the right hand of God.” (vol.23,p.410)

• Christ has made the payment for your sins. You need only believe that to be saved.

• You know the truth, and the truth has set you free.

Martin Luther couldn’t keep this to himself. As the famous seller of indulgences, Johann Tetzel was approaching the town of Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther walked up to door of the Castle Church and posted 95 theses against the selling of indulgences. He wanted to discuss; to debate with theologians of the University and church. But it wasn’t meant to be. Before the Holy Roman Emperor, who demanded that Luther take back what he had said in opposition to the church, Luther said the famous words: Unless I am convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds and reasoning –and my conscience is captive to the Word of God – then I cannot and will not recant, because it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen.”

Martin Luther had wanted to be free. He’d found the means of attaining—through the blood of Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Luther translated the Bible into German so that his people could know the truth, and compare the church’s teachings to the Word of God. They could hold to [Jesus’] teachings, and be his disciples, as it says in our text, knowing the truth that makes a person spiritually free.

When you are burdened by sins, robbed by Satan of the freedom that Christ has secured for you and wants you to experience for yourself, then consider Martin Luther’s strong statement on the subject:

“For if some complaint should be registered against a heart that believes in Christ, and testify against it concerning some evil deed, then the heart turns itself away, and turns to Christ, and says, ‘But he made satisfaction. He is the righteous One, and this is my defense. He died for me, He made my sin His own; and if He made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.’”

You are free. AMEN.