The Lord’s Prayer: Fifth Petition

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Festival of St. Andrew

Romans 10:8-18  +  Matthew 4:18-22 + Small Catechism Review

This evening we’re combining our celebration of St. Andrew’s day, which was yesterday, with our study of the Lord’s Prayer. As usual, there’s a connection to be made between the Small Catechism and just about any lection in the lectionary.

Let’s start with the Lord’s Prayer. In the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve asked our Father in heaven that His name may be hallowed among us, that His kingdom may come to us also, and that His will may be done among us. Those three petitions dealt mainly with our spiritual needs. Then we were taught by Jesus finally to ask for something we need for the body, for today’s bread. But why should God listen to us at all? Why should He grant these first four petitions? Because we’re worthy of the things for which we ask? Because we’ve earned them or deserved them? Have we, as God’s children, done all our chores according to God’s Law? Have we loved Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Have we loved our neighbor as ourselves? No, in fact, if we look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Law, we’ll find that we have absolutely no right to expect any good thing from God. He has every right to deny us the things we’ve asked for because of our sins.

But the Lord, in His mercy, has taught us to go ahead and ask for those first four things first. “It’s all right,” He teaches us. “I know you’re sinners. But you are penitent sinners, aren’t you? You are sinners who have put your faith in Me, Jesus Christ, who have been baptized, who have been made children of God the Father. And so, for that reason, it’s all right to approach Him and to ask for those first four things and to expect that your Father hears your petitions and is attentive to them. But that doesn’t mean you’re sinless. And lest you begin to think too highly of yourselves, lest you start to depend on your own goodness or think of yourself more highly than others, there is a fifth petition you must pray: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

What does this mean?

We ask in this prayer that the Father in heaven would not look upon our sins or deny these petitions because of them; for we are not worthy of anything for which we ask, nor have we earned it; but we ask that He would give it all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. We, in turn, will also truly forgive from the heart and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

Let’s say a word about the translation “trespasses” and “those who trespass against us.” If you read Matthew 6, it says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” That’s the equivalent of how Luther translated it into German. But William Tyndale, the first real translator of the Bible into English in the early 1530’s, translated that phrase, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive our trespassers.” And that early translation stuck (more or less) when the Anglicans put together their Book of Common Prayer in 1549, where many of our liturgical phrases still come from.

Now, trespasses aren’t exactly the same thing as debts, but the debts we’re talking about here aren’t financial ones anyway. They’re the spiritual debts incurred when one person sins against another. When that happens, the sinner owes a debt—a payment, or a punishment, or both—to the one sinned against. A trespass is just another picture of sin. It’s to go where you don’t belong, to violate someone else’s property or person, to do harm where you had no business doing harm, to fail to help where you owed help. If our trespasses against our neighbor are serious, our trespasses against God are far more serious, because the only payment that satisfies that debt is suffering and death—not just the death of the body, but the eternal suffering of the soul. There is no forgiveness of the trespass or of the debt, there is no letting the trespasser or the debtor off the hook, without that payment.

But along came Christ Jesus to the Jordan River, to where John the Baptist was baptizing. And John called out to everyone listening, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Like the Passover lamb, which was spotless and innocent, but which was put to death, so that its blood could save the Israelites from the destroying angel. Or like the lambs that were sacrificed constantly on the altar of sacrifice—innocent creatures who paid with their death for the sins committed by the Israelites. That’s what Jesus was, according to John the Baptist. The Lamb of God—offered by God—to pay for, to make atonement for the sins of the world. As Isaiah prophesied about Him, The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

So He is the payment, the atoning sacrifice, the Mediator, the Lamb. Now there is a basis for God to forgive any sinner in the world. All that is needed now is faith in the Lamb. But where does that come from? As Paul wrote to the Romans in the First Lesson tonight, Faith comes by hearing what is preached. But where does preaching come from? It comes from preachers. And where do preachers come from? They must be sent. They must be called by God to preach and to be His instruments of forgiveness.

Do you remember what happened the next day, after John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Jesus walked by again. And two of John’s disciples were standing next to John, and he pointed to Jesus and then spoke privately to those two disciples, “Look! The Lamb of God” One of those disciples was likely John, the brother of James, since it’s recorded in his Gospel and he often doesn’t identify himself by name. The other disciple was named Andrew.

Andrew, a fisherman like several of the Apostles, was Simon Peter’s brother. But Peter wasn’t there that day. It was Andrew who first went to Jesus, with that other disciples, and spent the day with Him, listening to Him, hearing the Gospel preached by Jesus Himself. And then Andrew brought the good news to his brother Simon Peter. We have found the Messiah!

So Andrew was one of the very first to hear Jesus’ preaching, and he then became the first to invite another to hear it for himself. At that time, Andrew wasn’t yet preaching the gospel; he hadn’t been sent to preach the gospel. But having heard the gospel, first from John the Baptist, then from Jesus’ own lips, and having believed the Gospel, he did what every believer is called to do: he confessed Christ with his lips.

Isn’t that how St. Paul summarizes the Gospel in Romans 10? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For if a person believes from the heart, he will be justified; and if he confesses with the mouth, he will be saved. See, the Gospel doesn’t say, “Here’s what you must do in order to be saved!” No, the Gospel says, “Here is the One in whom you must believe in order to be saved! Here is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All who believe in Him will be forgiven, justified, and saved. So follow Him! Believe in Him! And then confess Him before men.” That’s the Gospel call that goes out to all men.

Some, like St. Andrew, are called to do more than that. They’re called, not only to follow Jesus, but to be “fishers of men,” as you heard in the Second Lesson. Preachers, like Andrew, who preach the Gospel in the name of Christ and who administer the Sacraments and forgive sins in the stead of Christ, who point sinners to Christ and cry out, “Seek forgiveness in Him!”, who point sinners to the Word and Sacraments and cry out, “Find forgiveness here!” And in this way, they bring people out of the sea of condemned sinners and into the boat of forgiven sinners, believers in Christ Jesus.

But even forgiven sinners still commit sins. Even though believers in Christ carry the status of “forgiven” at all times, as long as we remain in the faith, Jesus still teaches us in the Fifth Petition to continue to ask, daily, for the forgiveness of our trespasses, for “we daily sin much.” And He attaches both a warning and a comfort to that prayer. Father, forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us. God has not withheld His forgiveness from us poor, miserable sinners but has freely granted it for Christ’s sake to us who have repented and believed in Christ, though we provided no atonement of our own. So we are not allowed to withhold our forgiveness from those who trespass against us. We may not require our neighbor to make atonement for his sins against us, to make up for what he did before we forgive him. No, as Jesus teaches Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.

The one who is unwilling to forgive his neighbor who repents has broken away from Christ and should not expect God to forgive him his sins any longer. What wretches we would be if we were to say, “I want free forgiveness from God for my countless sins against Him, but I’m unwilling to show even a fraction of that forgiveness to my neighbor.” No, the one who believes in the free forgiveness God offers in Christ will also truly forgive from the heart and gladly do good to those who sin against us. That doesn’t mean your sinful flesh enjoys it or finds it easy. But the New Man will fight against the flesh and forgive, genuinely and sincerely.

And that’s the comfort. When we notice that there is a New Man within us, who treasures God’s forgiveness and wants to be like God in forgiving others, who struggles against the sinful part of us that wants to hold a grudge and remain bitter and angry—when we notice that the New Man is alive and trying to put to death the sinful desires of our Old Man—then we have evidence that we are, in fact, forgiven children of God, because only children of God have a New Man. And when the New Man forgives the one who sinned against us, we have God’s assurance that He will forgive us our sins in exactly the same way.

And so tonight we give thanks for St. Andrew, the first disciple of Jesus, who was later called to be an Apostle, a fisher of men, and who willingly faced death for his confession of Christ. He could only do that, and we can only do that, because of our Father’s promise to hear and grant our petition: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Amen.

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An Advent in humility, an Advent in glory

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Advent 1

Romans 13:11-14  +  Matthew 21:1-9

Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Emmanuel! That’s still our every-Sunday prayer, but especially now, in the Advent season. During this short season, we first place ourselves in the shoes of the Old Testament believers, whose earnest prayers for the coming of the Christ were first answered at Christmas. But we would be foolish to look forward to Christmas without, at the same time, looking back at the purpose of Christ’s birth and the fulfillment of His first Advent, which was His coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as He prepared to offer up His precious life on the cross. And then there’s that other Advent that we New Testament believers are especially waiting for, Christ’s second Advent at the end of this age. Today’s Gospel helps us to understand both Advents, to celebrate the one while anticipating the other.

Christ’s first Advent reached its fulfillment during Holy Week as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. That coming was in fulfillment of the famous prophecy from Zechariah 9, Tell the daughter of Zion, See, your King comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey. Meek. Lowly. Humble. That’s how Jesus came the first time, not just on Palm Sunday, but from His conception and birth to His burial on Good Friday. We call it His state of “humiliation” for a reason. He came, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. Not to judge, but to call sinners to repentance before the Judgment that will take place at His second Advent. Not to force anyone onto their knees by the power of His might, but to persuade sinners through preaching to bend the knee before Him willingly, to receive not punishment but forgiveness. He came in humility, allowing wicked men to ridicule Him and to torture and kill Him, so that, by His suffering and death, sinners might have a valid plea before God—the blood of Christ as the price of their atonement, already paid, once for all.

But Christ’s Advent in humility also meant that He did not come the first time to save mankind from sickness or from suffering or from oppressors (though He did that on occasion as a foretaste of what He will do at His second Advent!). He didn’t come the first time to reform society or to mete out justice for the righteous or against the unrighteous. Those things await His second Advent at the end of the age.

It’s relatively easy for us to see that distinction as we live in the time between the two Advents of Christ. It was much harder for the people of the Old Testament. When they prayed, Come, Lord Jesus! (or perhaps Come, Lord Messiah!), they didn’t always realize they were praying for two Advents. They thought Christ’s first Advent would be His only Advent, that it would accomplish everything God had prophesied in the Old Testament, that He would come and both make atonement for sin and restore justice to the earth all at once, that He would both rise from the dead and bring about the resurrection of all the dead at the same time.

But, no. First, He had to address the root problem underlying all the other problems we face in the world, the root problem of sin, mankind’s sins against God that brought God’s curse on this creation in the first place, which includes everything that’s wrong with this world, and with you and me. First, He had to make payment for sin and send out preachers of the Gospel, the Gospel of forgiveness through Baptism and faith in Christ. And then, He had to give the world time to hear the preaching and be converted by the working of His Spirit. He had to give at least two thousand years’ worth of sinners, in every nation, time to be born and reborn of water and the Spirit. He had to give us, here, a chance to live so that we might come to know Him during this life, during this time of grace, and so become heirs of eternal life.

Even though the people of Jerusalem didn’t understand all that as Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they did recognize Him as their King. They did celebrate His coming, waving their palms and singing their Hosannas and their Psalms, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Those who wanted Him for a Savior from sin got what they wanted, while those who weren’t interested in that kind of Advent, who were unwilling to wait for Christ’s second Advent, didn’t miss out on a little thing. They missed out on the chance to be reconciled with God, to have Him as a Father, to have Christ as a Savior, to escape from death and hell and to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The same is true for people today. If you want Jesus for a Savior from sin, who allows you to stand before God forgiven and accepted, you have it! If you want Him for some other reason, if you celebrate Christmas for some other reason, if you’re in church for some other reason, then you will miss out on all the benefits Christ came to bring at His first Advent, and all the benefits He will come to bring at His second.

And there will be many! Those who trust in Christ for what He did at His first Advent have much to look forward to when He comes again. Then the King will not be meek or humble or lowly when He comes riding into His Church, which is the New Jerusalem. No, then He will come with power and great glory. No one will mock or oppress Him or His people ever again. No one will be allowed to cause suffering for Him or His people ever again. Then the King will come with power and great glory—glory that He will share with His saints. Then the King will finally bring justice to the world by ridding the world of all evil and of all evildoers and by recreating everything, with no devil, no sin, no troubles, no sorrow, no pain, no death.

Until then, we live in the age of Christ’s first Advent, which means that the Church on earth resembles Jesus as He was in His state of humiliation. Meek. Humble. Lowly. Subject to pain and suffering. Subject to death. But because of what Jesus accomplished at His first Advent, we also have the forgiveness of sins and peace with God and His promise to be with us and to strengthen us all the way up until Christ’s second Advent. And that’s no small thing. It’s what enables you to suffer here with patience, because you know that you who resemble Jesus in His humility will also resemble Him in His glory, on the day when He comes.

That day is not here, but, as St. Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, it’s almost here. The night is almost over; the day is almost here. So how shall we prepare to meet the Bridegroom? Paul tells us that, too. By taking off the deeds of darkness and by putting on the weapons of light. By behaving as children of heaven and not children of hell. One day we will rule over all things with Christ. For now, we serve everyone in love. In lowliness. In humility. Just as Christ came the first time in meekness and humility, with love for a world that hated Him for the sake of the few who, by His Spirit, would embrace Him.

Embrace Him now in your hearts. Embrace Him with repentance, with faith, and with zeal to imitate Him in His goodness, in His love, and in His humility. Embrace Christ in His humility, and embrace His Church in her humility, too. But prepare to meet the Lord at His second Advent, not to face another age of humility and suffering, but to enter an endless age of glory and of joy, with songs of Hosanna and a with a Psalm that is like a sigh of relief, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Amen.

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Giving thanks for daily bread

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Thanksgiving

Small Catechism Review: Lord’s Prayer, Fourth Petition

In the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve asked our Father in heaven that His name may be hallowed among us, that His kingdom may come to us also, and that His will may be done among us, so that the will of all who oppose God’s will, like the devil, the world, and our flesh, may be defeated. I found it convenient to plan the Fourth Petition specifically for this Thanksgiving service of ours, because in it we ask for all those things for which we give thanks today, all wrapped up in the simple little phrase, Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean?

God surely also gives daily bread to all evil people without our petition; but we ask in this prayer that He would allow us to recognize this, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Everything that pertains to the needs and necessities of this life, such as food, drink, clothes, shoes, house, yard, land, animals, money, property, a godly spouse, godly children, godly servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, trustworthy neighbors, and the like.

Our catechism students recently memorized that list of 22 examples of daily bread, of the things that we need for our life on earth. It isn’t just bread we’re praying for. Because, as Luther points out in the Large Catechism, to pray for bread, means to pray for rain, and for sunshine, and for good soil, and for harvests, and for the farmer who does the harvesting. To pray for bread means to pray for healthy bodies, or at least healthy enough to digest our daily bread. To pray for bread means to pray for a safe place to eat it, and for the necessary people with whom to eat it, and for the security and the peace in which to eat it, which requires good government, or at least good enough to keep at bay those who would steal the bread right out of our mouths. To pray for bread means to pray for all that we need, not for eternal life, but for this life.

Because our Father in heaven cares about the bodies and the life He has given us. It’s His will to provide for our earthly life, to give us what we need, even in this sinful world, even to us poor sinners. That’s what Jesus teaches us in this petition, first, that it’s God’s will to provide for us.

Second, that our Father in heaven is the Giver of everything we have and everything we need. The sad, sad reality of the American holiday of Thanksgiving is that most people who celebrate it may speak of thankfulness, but they fail to give thanks to the true Giver, to the true God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thankfulness is not a virtue if it isn’t directed to the true God; it’s just another form of idolatry that arouses our Father to jealousy as He watches the people of the earth giving the thanks that belong to Him to false gods, including themselves. But we know better. We know that all we have comes from our Father in heaven, and so we know to thank Him properly, as we have gathered here this evening to do.

But that little phrase in the petition, give us “this day,” and that little word “daily” teach us something very important. They teach us to turn our eyes away from tomorrow and next week and next year and to focus them on the needs only of today. They teach us to ask the question at the end of each day, Has my Father in heaven given me what I needed for today? You’ll find that the answer is always, yes. He may not have given you everything you wanted, or everything you asked for beyond your needs of today. He may not have removed all the troubles and hardships from your life today. But did He provide what you needed? You know He did. And so let us receive all these things with thanksgiving at Thanksgiving.

Now, what’s the opposite of thanksgiving? It’s not malice or hatred toward God. It’s taking all these things for granted. It’s a terrible but common sin. It doesn’t harm anyone physically, but it does harm your relationship with others and with God. Children are very good at taking things for granted. They tend to assume they’re entitled to all the things they have, from the clean clothes in their drawers, to the food in the pantry or the fridge, to the plates in the cupboard to the furniture on which they sit, to the heat or to the air conditioning in their homes. How did all those things get there? Children often don’t know and, honestly, don’t care what mom or dad or someone else had to invest or spend in order for them to have what they have. It’s a sign that a child is growing up when he or she can finally think about the good they have instead of the good they don’t have, and when he or she can finally appreciate the giver more than the gift.

But, in some ways, we’re all still children in that regard, aren’t we? Except that we (adults) don’t have the excuse of being children—although even the thanklessness of children is sinful and a sign that they, too, carry around a sinful flesh. The Lord provides us with everything we have and need, every moment, even though we don’t fear or love Him as we should. And still, how much of it do we take for granted? How much do we feel entitled to? Sin keeps us from recognizing the Giver of all that we have, and sin keeps us from trusting in Him to provide what we need. Sin has us looking around, seeing everything we need for today and so much more, and saying, “Yeah, but, I had that coming.” Or worse, “Yeah, but, that’s all worthless. Because, what about tomorrow? What about next week? What about next year? God hasn’t provided all that yet. And I don’t know if He will.”

Take this opportunity to repent of such thoughts and attitudes, to take all the entitlement, all the taking for granted, all the distrust—in short, all the thanklessness of your heart—and lay it on Jesus. See our Father in heaven punishing His Son for it—His thankful Son, His Son who always praised His Father for every good thing. And trust your Father’s faithful promise to forgive all who look to Christ in faith. That right there, that’s the source of all true thankfulness, what God has done for you through Christ and in Christ, forgiving you every sin and choosing to see you as His beloved child, with a perfect record of obedience and with a perfect righteousness in your thoughts, words, and deeds.

Considering that gift of God, we turn toward Him in thanksgiving in a special way this evening as we’re about to celebrate the Eucharist, that is, the great Thanksgiving of the Lord’s Supper. Here we give thanks to God for His greatest gift—for the body and blood of Christ that won our forgiveness on the cross and that are given to us for forgiveness in the Sacrament. Here our Father provides both for our earthly needs and for our eternal needs, in giving us the forgiveness we need to enter the kingdom of heaven, and in giving us the strength we need for today to face this earthly life with peace, with joy, and, yes, with thanksgiving.

We’re facing various trials in our congregation at the moment. Some of our regular members couldn’t be here this evening due to sickness or frailty. Some are suffering bodily pain, others emotional pain, others anxiety of spirit. We would all like to see the problems go away. We would all like to see our church and our diocese bigger, to see these chairs filled with new brothers and sisters in Christ. But now, at the end of the day, in spite of all the challenges, ask yourselves, has our Father in heaven given us all we needed for today? You know that He has. And so, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in a few moments, pray it with thanksgiving in your hearts. And when you go to pray it tomorrow on your own and you come to the Fourth Petition, Our Father, Give us this day our daily bread, know that He has, and that He will, and let that fill your hearts and your homes with thanksgiving. Amen.

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A parable for in between Sundays

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year

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1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  +  Matthew 25:1-13

Collect of the Day: O Lord, we implore You, absolve Your people from their offenses, that from the bonds of our sins which, by reason of our frailty, we have brought upon ourselves, we may be delivered by Your bountiful goodness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect for the End of the Church Year: We thank You, Lord God, Heavenly Father, that in the past Church Year You have preserved Your Word among us in purity and by it have effectively enlivened our souls; and we implore You, that You would graciously forgive us all our neglect, unbelief, and disobedience with respect to Your Word, and continue to give us this precious treasure with Your blessing forevermore; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus! When do people pray that prayer (besides the common table prayer that we often use, asking for the Lord’s spiritual presence and blessing on our meal)? Come, Lord Jesus! We pray that, one, when something really bad happens, or in those moments when the state of the world appears truly bleak, so maybe you’ve said that prayer quite bit lately. Come, Lord Jesus! And you mean it! But two, most of all, we pray it on Sundays. That’s when we’re most focused on the Lord’s coming, and focused on His call to repentance before then, and on His redeeming work on the cross, and on His glorious resurrection from the dead, and on the forgiveness of sins, and on the sanctifying work of His Spirit. Sundays, at our Divine Service (where, ironically, we aren’t even gathered today for reasons our members know). But normally, on Sundays, that’s when we’re most engaged in prayer, in praise, in actively contemplating the Lord’s words and promises to His people and His plans for this world, culminating in His coming, in His return to put an end to this world, to raise the dead, and to give the inheritance of eternal life to all who are found faithful when He comes. Yes, if Jesus came back on Sunday morning, while we’re in the midst of praying, Come, Lord Jesus, which of us would be taken unawares?

Of course, the likelihood of Jesus appearing during the brief time we’re (normally) gathered together on Sunday mornings is not very high. It’s much more likely He’ll come in the in-between times. We’ll call it, “in between Sundays,” when we’re not actively engaged in worship. Now, yes, some of us also gather regularly on Wednesday evenings, and you may well spend some time in Bible reading and in prayer during the week. But there are plenty of moments between Sundays when you’re going about the business of your vocations, living life as usual, tending to your daily routine. Most of our lives are lived in between Sundays.

If we’re wise, we take that into account ahead of time and prepare for those in-between times, for those moments of normalcy, for those times of “life as usual,” so that if Christ returns when we’re looking down instead of up, when we’re not directly focused on His return, we’re still ready to receive Him. We bring along extra oil for our lamps, as it were.

But if we’re foolish, we won’t give it a thought. We’ll just enjoy our Sunday morning gatherings at church (when we can have them), pray for Jesus to come, and then forget about Him until next week. Or maybe it won’t even be next week. Maybe we go a longer time between Sundays. No big deal, right? Surely Jesus will plan His coming around our worship, so we’re sure to be ready! That’s called, not bringing along any extra oil for our lamps.

I hope you’re starting to see the connection with today’s parable of the Ten Virgins. It’s a perfect parable to end the church year with, because another year has passed in the Church, and still Jesus hasn’t come back. And the longer He takes, the easier it becomes to focus on other things, just as the excitement of those ten virgins who went out to wait for the Bridegroom eventually waned, the longer they waited, and they fell asleep. Now, that’s OK for those who were wise enough to bring along extra oil. But for those who weren’t, things turned out terribly when the Bridegroom finally arrived. And so we have here an important parable, a sobering parable for in between Sundays.

The Bridegroom in the parable was obviously a very important man, and the wedding an important one. These ten young ladies were to be a special part of his entourage, waiting near the wedding hall for him to arrive so that they could escort him on the final leg of the journey. When they entered the wedding hall together, that’s when the great and endless celebration was to begin.

All the virgins had to do was wait and be ready with burning lamps when the bridegroom finally arrived. Five of them took their simple job very seriously. They also took seriously the fact that the bridegroom never told them at exactly what time he was coming. Their wait could be short or long. It’s easy to be prepared for a short wait. But for a long one? For that, they needed extra oil for their lamps, and they brought it.

The five foolish virgins, on the other hand, didn’t give any thought to the length of the wait they would have that night. They assumed the bridegroom would come quickly, within a few hours. They were ready for him when they first went out. They were ready for a while longer. But they didn’t use the opportunities they had early on to prepare for the longer wait they would have. So when the cry came at midnight announcing the Bridegroom’s arrival, they woke up and realized it was too late. Their lamps were going out. There was no more time to get oil. By the time they went out and bought some, it was too late. The doors were closed. And when they knocked and cried, “Lord, Lord, open the door for us!” all they heard was that terrible reply: “I do not know you.”

The Bridegroom in the parable represents the Lord Jesus, who as the model Husband, loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. The wedding in this parable is when He finally comes to pick up His Church and to bring her into the new heavens and the new earth that He will create after He judges and destroys this world. He’s told us that He’s coming. But He has intentionally not told us when.

The ten virgins represent active, believing Christians who truly start out waiting eagerly for the Bridegroom to come. They truly acknowledge their sins, repent of them, trust in Christ alone for forgiveness, are baptized, receive the Lord’s Supper. They all start out praying, Come, Lord Jesus! At least, that’s their prayer on Sunday.

But half of them, in this parable, don’t consider that their wait may be long, and so they don’t take the simple measures to make sure they still have a burning, living faith when Christ comes, which must still be burning at the end if we are to enter the heavenly mansions with our heavenly Bridegroom.

What are those measures? What does it mean to bring along extra oil? Most simply, it means using the means that God has provided to keep our faith alive. Hearing the Word and pondering what you hear. Receiving the Sacrament with seriousness as well as with joy. And making plans to continue to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament regularly, from Sunday to Sunday, throughout your whole life, knowing that faith needs to be fed and nourished if it’s going to keep burning.

And then there’s prayer, another simple tool God has given us to keep us from going astray from Sunday to Sunday, to keep our hearts and our minds set on Christ and on the things above.

If you take the Word that you hear on Sunday with you into the rest of the week, if you go back and ponder it, if you add prayer to your weekly routine, then even when you’re not actually reading the Bible or thinking about the sermon or saying a prayer, even when you’re sleeping, you have the oil you need for your lamp at the ready. And faith will not die. It’ll be there on Sunday and in between, so that, whenever Christ comes, you won’t have to scramble and go searching for it. You’ll be ready for the Bridegroom to come.

Come, Lord Jesus! We pray that prayer again today. We’ll be praying it every Sunday in earnest for the next four weeks during the Advent season. “Come, come, Emmanuel!” And in between Sundays, you have today’s parable to warn you not to grow apathetic about your faith and about the things God has given you to sustain it, because the Bridegroom will come when the world doesn’t expect Him. Yes, even the troubles and challenges life throws at us and the worsening state of affairs in this world are means the Lord uses to keep us from getting distracted, to keep us longing for the Bridegroom’s return, to keep us focused in between Sundays, and praying more and more, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Yes, Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

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The Judge is watching how His Christians are treated

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Second to Last Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 26)

2 Thessalonians 1:3-10  +  Matthew 25:31-46

(No audio or video of today’s service is available. Service folder can be downloaded here.)

Collect of the Day: O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit that, being ever mindful of the end of all things and the day of Your just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with You forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Last Day is coming, the day we are all waiting for as Christians. It was still a long way off when Jesus spoke today’s parable to His disciples during Holy Week. But it’s much closer now. It’s the day when God will finally make a distinction between believers and unbelievers. He sees that distinction now already, but we don’t experience it. Believers and unbelievers live side by side in this world, and we suffer many of the same things. Even within the Church, among those who outwardly confess Christ, there is a mixture of weeds and wheat, sheep and goats.

But on that day, the Lord will make a visible separation of the people of the earth, moving them into two separate groups. And what will be the basis of the distinction? Not race. Not gender. Not social status. Not the number or the severity of sins committed. Not the number of good works done. The deciding factor on God’s part is faith in Christ Jesus, genuine faith that knows the Lord Jesus who died for our sins, and that relies on Him and on Him alone for justification before the judgment of God. Where there is faith in Christ, God has chosen to see sheep, people who have been baptized into Christ and clothed with Christ and made sheep of the Good Shepherd. Where there is unbelief, He sees only sinners clothed with nothing but their own sins. He sees only goats. And He will make what is already visible to Him visible to everyone when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, when he sits upon his glorious throne and gathers all nations to Himself and separates them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

But lest we think that our Lord is unconcerned about people’s works, as if salvation by faith alone meant that God doesn’t care what we do or don’t do, Jesus focuses in this parable on just one simple piece of evidence that He tells us He will find among the sheep and among the goats. Among the sheep, He will find simple deeds of kindness done for “His brothers” (we’ll talk about that in just a moment), evidence that they are rightly counted among the blessed, while among the goats, He will find a lack of such deeds, evidence that they are rightly counted among the cursed.

Now, who are Jesus’ brothers? People regularly misunderstand this parable, thinking it’s about how we treat anyone in the world. But when Jesus says, “these My brothers” (which includes both brothers and sisters, by the way), He isn’t talking about all mankind. Yes, in the sense that Jesus, like all men, was descended from Adam according to His human nature, He is the Brother of all men. But whenever Jesus talks about His brothers, He’s always talking about Christians. As He once said, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” The same goes for the whole New Testament, where the believers are referred to dozens of times as simply “the brothers” or “the brethren.”

So, in the parable, Jesus first addresses His brothers, that is, His sheep. Come, you who are blessed by my Father! St. Paul uses the same word “blessed” in Ephesians 1 to describe God’s treatment of us in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

On the Last Day, the King will confer on His believers that ultimate blessing for which we were chosen before the foundation of the world. He says, Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The Day of Judgment is, then, a purely joyful day for those who are faithful until the end. No former sins will be recalled or mentioned. No guilt will be imposed. Only the joy of finally receiving the inheritance that has been promised to believers since the beginning.

And why are they invited to inherit this kingdom? Or rather, what is the evidence that proves the King right in giving it to them? For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’

Those words are confusing to the sheep in the parable, because they know very well they didn’t do any of things for Jesus. We’ve never even seen Him with our own eyes, much less given Him material help in need. But the King explains: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.

Now, Jesus could have mentioned many good works done by His believers. He could have commended them for loving and honoring His Word and teaching, or for suffering patiently under the cross, as He does in the Book of Revelation with the faithful churches. But here He chose to mention and to highlight those simple acts of kindness done toward His brothers, toward their fellow Christians. The Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. He accepts those acts of kindness done toward His brothers as acts of kindness done toward Himself, because, after all, believers are all members of one body, His body, of which He is the Head. See how much He cares for each member, how much He cares that His believers carry out His great commandment, “That you love one another, as I have loved you.”

The question is, why does Jesus tell us this parable of how it will be on the Last Day? Why does He focus only on this one thing? First, so that we see how earnest He is that His brothers be cared for in the midst of all the suffering of this world. Second, so that we might repent for ever neglecting a fellow Christian in his or her need, whether it’s the Christians in your own home, or a fellow church member, or any Christian at all who has been placed in your path to help. And, third, so that, having received His forgiveness, we might make it a top priority in our lives to do this thing that matters so much to Jesus, to care for His brothers, for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

After addressing the sheep, the King turns to the goats. Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What horrible words to hear from the mouth of the King on the Last Day! Depart from Me, you who are cursed! Notice, by the way, that these cursed people are sent into the everlasting fire, originally prepared not for men but for the devil and his angels. Still, men will experience that eternal torment along with the devil and his angels if they are found on the left side of the King when He comes.

And why are they sent away into the everlasting fire? For I was hungry, and you did not give me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you did not take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’

Those words are confusing to the goats in the parable. What do You mean, Lord? When did we see You hurting or in need? And the King will explain: Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Again, Jesus could have mentioned any one of the sins of those unbelievers. But the only piece of evidence He needs to vindicate His own verdict as the Judge is their neglect of His brothers, their failure to do these simple deeds of kindness to His Christians.

The Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. How angry He is when the world mistreats His brothers and sisters, or in this case, even when the world fails to show them a little kindness. His people should be treated with the greatest care and respect and kindness by everyone, at all times. That’s what God commands. He knows that the world will disobey His commands, but He sends out this parable to warn the world ahead of time. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know! I will bring down all your mistreatment of My people upon your heads! Even the good you don’t do for My precious Christians, you don’t do for Me. And you will not get away with it.”

It seems right now that the world will get away with it and that Christians must be forever marginalized and isolated and mocked. But it will not always be this way. Soon the King will come and reveal His righteousness judgment. The distinction will be made between the righteous and the wicked. Until then, the Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. And even now He is sending Christians, even you, to treat His brothers and sisters with kindness and love, so that we all have all the support we need to make it safely through this life until that great and glorious Last Day, when the wicked will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Amen.

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