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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you recovered yet from your celebration of American Thanksgiving? I imagine that, whether or not tryptophan and/or alcohol were to blame, many may have taken a nap, and, after eating the big meal of favorite foods, most of us were plenty filled up. Strictly coincidentally, of course, today, the Last Sunday of the Church Year (sometimes also called the Sunday of the Fulfillment or observed as Christ the King Sunday), the Gospel Reading speaks of our need to be awake for the fulfillment of all things. (Being “awake” is mentioned three times in six verses!) With that emphasis in mind, I have titled this sermon “Awake for the Fulfillment”.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus is still on the Mount of Olives, late in the day on the Tuesday of Holy Week, continuing a conversation with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, answering their questions about when the Jerusalem Temple would be destroyed and what would be the sign that all things were about to be accomplished. You may recall that last week we heard Jesus speak both about all sorts of things that would happen and about the disciples’ and our enduring those things to the end and so being saved. As we heard Jesus describe today, after that “tribulation”, He, the Son of Man, will come, for the final time, in clouds and with great power and glory, fulfilling Old and New Testament prophecies. In the Gospel Reading, after describing that final coming, Jesus then told two parables, which together encourage us to live through all the things that happen with a calm and patient hope that is also a vigilant and responsible expectation of the Lord’s final coming.
As we wait for our Lord’s final coming, are we, to use Jesus’s word, “awake”? Obviously He is using the terms “awake” and “asleep” figuratively, as we cannot for long literally stay awake and go without literal sleep. What does being awake figuratively entail? In the Gospel Reading, Jesus mentions being awake in connection with not knowing when His final coming will occur, and we find similar figurative uses of “being awake” elsewhere in the New Testament. To be awake is to be vigilant—strong in prayer, with fervent faith, expectant hope, and active love. To be asleep is to be like someone assigned responsibilities during one of the four watches of the night but later is found not concentrating on and energetically doing those duties. Are you and I awake or asleep? Are we vigilant—strong in prayer, with fervent faith, expectant hope, and active love? Or, are we not concentrating on and energetically living our lives as Christians? As with the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, told to stay awake and pray, sadly, too often, even if our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak. We are sinful by nature, and so we are hostile to God before He brings us to faith, and, even after, we continue to struggle with sin that, unless it is forgiven, warrants death now and for eternity.
Did you notice the two opposite reactions to the Lord’s final coming in the Hymn of the Day we sang today? (That Charles Wesley hymn, “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending”, has been in Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod hymnbooks since 1969, though only the more recent hymnbooks put it back with its original tune, to which we sang it this morning.) In the hymn, those whose sins were responsible for Jesus’s death but who did not repent see the true Messiah and deeply wail. For, after one own’s death or the Lord’s final coming, it is too late to turn in sorrow from sin and to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of that sin. However, in the hymn, seeing that same Messiah is the cause of endless exultation from His ransomed worshipers. Their sins were also responsible for Jesus’s death, but they repented. Like them, when we repent, we are ransomed from our sin, and so we can anticipate on the last day gazing on the glorious scars of His passion with great rapture, that is, great happiness, excitement, or bliss.
The darkening of the sun, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky, and the powers in the sky being shaken—admittedly all of those could be frightening things, especially in and of themselves. But, as Jesus describes them, they accompany His royal return and His sending out His angels to gather the elect. Jesus is true God and true man (Who according to His human nature did not in His state of humiliation know the day or hour of His return). He is the Christ, the one anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. His Kingly body was scarred with whips and nails for you and for me. When we repent of our sin and believe that He died and rose again for us, then God the Father, for Jesus’s sake, forgives our sin. He forgives our sin of being figuratively asleep, He forgives our sin whatever it might be, and He even forgives our sinful natures themselves. When we repent of our sin, then we have nothing to fear from the coming of His Kingdom that is His return to judge the living and the dead—much less do we have anything to fear from the darkening of the sun, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky, or the powers in the sky being shaken. Our Almighty God is in control of those things that occur in the course of time, even as He is in control of the change of seasons indicated by the fig tree putting out its leaves.
Yet, since we do not know when those things will occur, we stay figuratively “awake” or vigilant—strong in prayer, with fervent faith, expectant hope, and active love. God the Holy Spirit brings about such things in us working through His means of grace, that is, through His Word in all its forms, including preaching, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion. By them we receive the forgiveness of sins. And, they help us know for sure that we among God’s elect—God’s elect, who will be gathered by His angels when He sends them out upon His return. God’s electing us in His eternal counsel, purpose, and ordinance is a great comfort to us. Our salvation is entirely His doing. God will also strengthen and increase in us the good work He has begun and preserve us to the end, if we cling to His Word, pray diligently, persevere in His grace, and use faithfully the gifts that He gives us.
As most of you know, I was in Austin Thursday with my family. While driving back to East Texas on Friday, I happened to listen to some songs by the contemporary rock group U-2, including one of their most well‑known songs, the group’s 1987 hit “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. In that song, lead vocalist Bono expresses an unfulfilled spiritual yearning, despite all sorts of attempts to reach God. He says he believed that (presumably) Jesus “Carried the cross / Of [his] shame”, and he says that he believes “in the kingdom come”, but he goes on to repeat, over and over, that he “still hasn’t found what [he’s] looking for”. Part of the song’s appeal may be that many people relate to the unfulfilled spiritual yearning it expresses. As you might imagine, there is no end of debate on the internet about exactly what the song means, even relative to Bono’s faith or lack thereof. Some give Bono the benefit of the doubt and say he simply is yearning for the fulfillment of all things at the Lord’s final coming, while others might suggest that Bono might even be looking for the wrong thing altogether. God alone knows.
Even if they yearn for the fulfillment of all things, at the Lord’s final coming, believers in the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ can at least be content while they remain “Awake for the Fulfillment”. From Holy Scripture we know that St. Paul learned to be content in all circumstances, and likewise we try to be content, with a calm and patient hope that is also a vigilant and responsible expectation of the Lord’s final coming. As in the Gospel Reading, with the servants of the man going on a journey, we have our work to do, both according to our individual vocations and as a church that proclaims law and Gospel and hands out, in its sacramental forms, the forgiveness of sins we need each and every day. We certainly can sleep literally, but we also stay figuratively “Awake for the Fulfillment”, praying, as we did in today’s Collect, that, to that end, the Holy Spirit enable us to persevere in both faith and holiness of living.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +