24th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27) – November 12th, 2023
Trinity Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Matthew 25:1–13
“Surprise!”
Theme: God does not scare you into faith, but he invites believers to wait with patience.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
There are different kinds of surprises. There are plenty of funny videos on the internet of people scaring others. One of the ones I remember the most is of a dog whose owner painted with orange and black stripes like a tiger. As it walked through the alley, someone rounded the corner and got so surprised you would swear their soul jumped out of their body.
Not every surprise is like that though. Many are joyful, like marriage proposals. With some of them, the girl has no idea what’s coming. Now, this can go horribly wrong too. There are also plenty of videos of boys proposing to their girlfriends on the giant Jumbotron at a sports arena, only to get rejected. On the other hand, there are some proposals that are all planned out. You even have a photographer in the bushes snapping photos as it happens. I don’t know about that, to be honest. It’s not really a surprise. Just take the pictures of the proposal after it happens.
My proposal to my wife was in the middle, I think. She didn’t know I had the ring with me when we went out to eat, but we had gone ring shopping, so she wasn’t caught totally off guard. She knew the proposal was coming, just not when.
I think this mirrors what Jesus tells us about the Last Day when Jesus will come again. It will be a joyful day for those of us who know that it is coming. But, we do not know when it is coming. It might even happen after we pass away.
But here’s the thing. There are a lot of false beliefs about the Last Day. One of the biggest is when pastors believe they can predict when Christ will return. You get this on the news every so often. Someone makes the headlines that they have put together the Hebrew letters in just such a way that the return of Jesus will happen in two months. They get a large gathering, big headlines, but nothing happens.
The truth is, there are multiple verses reminding us that we cannot predict the Last Day.
Jesus himself says in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”
2 Peter 3:10, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
What we should learn from these passages is that Jesus is going to return with a bang. There will be a shout of command, and the trumpets of God will blare, and everyone will know for sure that Jesus is back.
One other thing you might hear is that there will be a rapture of believers where believers will be taken away secretly, and unbelievers given yet more time to repent. I’ve even seen bumper stickers that say, “Warning! In case of the rapture, this vehicle will be unoccupied!” It’s kinda funny, but this idea of a rapture is a misinterpretation of Matthew 24. When Christ comes, it’s going to be for everyone, believers and unbelievers.
Finally, another way that some preachers describe the End Times is to do so in a scary sort of manner. There’s a lot of vibrant imagery from Revelation that they can draw on. I’m not sure that they are interpreting Revelation correctly, but I also wonder if there is an attempt to scare people into faith, so to speak. This is not a new thing in American Christianity, hearkening back to Jonathan Edward’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
The Last Day will be a source of panic and distress for those who have been given time to repent and believe in Jesus, but what God wants you to approach the Last Day with a sense of joy and happiness and eagerness. He doesn’t want you to dread his coming. What woman dreads the day when her man will propose to her? No, she’s waiting for it eagerly.
This is why Jesus’s parable from Matthew 25 is so wonderful. There are ten virgins who are waiting for a bridegroom to come to his wedding. In the ancient customs, it was not the bride who walked down the aisle to meet her groom, but the groom who entered the city to where the bride was with all her glory. The bridegroom here stands for Jesus who will come one day to his bride, the Church.
Five of these virgins are wise, and five are foolish. The wise ones brought extra oil, but the foolish ones did not. So when the cry came out, the foolish ones asked for more, but the wise virgins could not give them any of their own. So the foolish ones go to buy more, but the bridegroom comes while they are away, and the door is shut. The wise virgins enter the city with the bridegroom, leading him to his bride. Matt 25:11 ends, “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.’”
The encouragement we have is to be ready for Christ’s coming. The oil in the parable signifies whatever is needed to be ready for that day. That could be having the Word of God in your hearts. That could be forsaking worldly pleasures to be in church, hearing about Jesus. It could be having a sense of joy about God and the salvation he has won for you. Whatever the oil signifies, Jesus does not want you to be empty on the day when he comes. Be ready for him, and be ready to rejoice.
Our encouragement for friends and family to attend church is centered on this. We want them to know Jesus Christ. He has come, he is here today for us, and he will come again. So many people have fallen asleep into unbelief. They don’t care. Their lives are filled with so many things that they are not filling the lamp of faith.
There is a warning in our text for them. If someone does not believe when Christ comes again or when you die, they will not join him in joy and paradise. The surprise that Jesus has for them will not be a glad one. They will be left outside in loneliness and darkness. Jesus will say to some on earth, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Why? Because they did not know him.
But for you who know Jesus, take heart in this. Your joy will be full in heaven. You will not have regrets over friends or family who are not there with you. Your cup will be full with the joy of Jesus. We get a taste of this here on earth. We live even now in a sort of tension. We live in the “now” but we await the “not yet.” We love what God is doing for us, especially as we get an opportunity soon to thank him for his gifts to us in this world. But we should always have our eyes on our bridegroom who will surprise us one day with a glorious surprise to take us, the Church to be with him forever in bliss.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office