Matthew 25:1-13 "Keep
Watch!"
26th Sunday after Pentecost -
Pastor Troy Slater, Our
Jesus said, "Keep watch for you do not know the day
or the hour."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
.. It has awaken me from many a dream; it has summoned me many a times out of a
warm bed; it has warned me again and again that yet another day is getting
started; and because of all this it wins hands-down the title of being the
least favorite thing that I own; and yes it is my alarm clock. Actually as someone who is definitely NOT a
morning person, I would have to say that I even despise my alarm clock. When it goes off there is nothing more I like
to do than to silence it by hitting the snooze - of course that only means that
I will hear that same annoying sound exactly 9 short minutes later. .. No I do
not like my alarm clock.
But you know as much as I despise the
thing, it obviously - and especially for those of us who are NOT morning people
- it obviously serves a very good purpose.
I mean over the years how many times has it saved me from oversleeping
for a class or a meeting. When we are
sleeping we don't know what time it is - probably don't care what time it is
and so it becomes a necessity for many of us to have an alarm clock to wake us
up when needed. And so I guess I would
say that for me, my alarm clock becomes a necessary evil; necessary to wake me
from my sleep.
Well this morning, in our Gospel
text, we have an alarm clock going off.
This morning with Jesus words we have a call, a summons to wake up and
to be ready. To wake
up and to be ready. "Keep watch," Jesus says, " for you do
not know the day or the hour."
"Keep
watch for you do not know the day or the hour."
Of course Jesus is speaking here of
the Last Day - His return to "judge the living and the dead." But you know probably one of the greatest and
deepest shifts that has occurred in the minds of
Christians over the past couple of centuries is that we no longer seem to give
much serious though to the fact that there exists a judgment court that every
person must someday stand before. I mean
do we rally give any serious thought any more that one day we will each stand
before our Creator and there all will be revealed, all hidden sins exposed and
every lie uncovered? Do we show much
concern for the fact that there will be a court in which we will have to give
an accounting of how it was that we spent the time, managed the resources, used the gifts that the Lord blessed us with during our time
on this earth? Do we? Or have we been sleeping? Has the teaching that God will come again to
judge the living and the dead become just an old outdated doctrine of the
church that doesn't affect our lives today?
Do we confess it with our lips as we have done here this morning, but then
ignore it with our lives? Are we
sleeping?
Now certainly we are a blessed
people, as citizens of these
I mean consider this morning for
example. Obviously only a minority of
our congregations members are here gathered around our Lord's Word. Plus, lest you think I'm just preaching to
the choir, how many of our confirmed members were in Sunday School
this morning - sharpening the sword of truth as we gathered around our Lord's
Word for Bible Study? 3 of us! 3! Add
the 4 who were teaching the children and that makes 7 of our nearly 250 confirmed
members in Sunday School. 7! Are
we sleeping? Are we sleeping?
You know that alarm clock is going to
go off - like it or not. Jesus will come
again - the day and the hour we don't know - and there will be no pushing the
snooze button. Could be today, could be
tomorrow; or perhaps it will go off for us individually as the time of our life
here will run out at death. Meanwhile, are
we sleeping?
We don't have to be. We don't have to be. For today into our comfortable, middle-class
American lives comes a cry that awakens us from our night-time sleep. Today comes an alarm that stirs us from our slumber, that summons us from our comfortable surroundings; for
today we hear that the bridegroom approaches.
Today we are called to "Come and meet Him"; to repent of our
sin and slumber. Today we are called to rejoice
in our salvation, to grow in faith and knowledge of our Lord who will come to
judge the living and the dead. "Are
we ready?" "Are you ready for the good news that comes to us this
morning that Jesus, the bridegroom, will come again? And yes I did say "the good news"
that Jesus, the bridegroom will come again, for it is a wedding banquet that we
are awaiting. In our Gospel text Jesus
relates to us the parable of the 10 virgins who were awaiting the bridegroom to
return. They didn't know when he would be back, didn't know the hour, but they
knew he would come back - he had promised.
For he had left them to go get his bride from her house and then to
return to be escorted by the 10 virgins into the banquet hall where there would
be a joyous celebration.
For you see in the days of Jesus a
wedding meant a huge party - days of celebration and yes it included much food
and wine. It was a party - a huge
banquet. We of course still have
weddings and they are of course great celebrations in which a lot of work
usually goes into them. But there is a
reason we are willing to go through all the work and hassle beforehand - a
wedding is a day to celebrate, to rejoice in, to throw a party for. We look forward to wedding celebrations.
And as Christians - as those marked
with the blood of Christ - as those whom He has chosen to bear His name - we
can look forward to the wedding celebration to end all wedding
celebrations. We can look forward to the
wedding celebration that awaits us when this world's final alarm goes off, when the trumpet call sounds and all the dead are
awaken. We can look forward to the Day
Jesus returns and receives His bride, the church. We can be watchful, alert, awake,
for it its a day to long for. We can
live in joyful anticipation of that day for as Christians, we know that Jesus,
the bridegroom, has made us ready for that day.
Of course 5 of the virgins in Jesus' parable weren't ready - they were
unprepared for the long wait. But we are
prepared. Jesus has prepared us by
coming down from heaven the first time in order to give up His life on a
cross. Our risen Lord has prepared us by
coming to our defense against sin, Satan and the grave. He has prepared us by His Word and His waters
of Holy Baptism. He has clothed us with
the wedding garment of salvation. He has
prepared us. And so having been
prepared, we can look forward to receiving the goal of our faith - the coming
of our Lord Jesus when He will escort us into the banquet hall - the eternal
celebration where the pain, the suffering, the sorrows and disappointments, the
broken relationships and the broken hearts of this world will be no more. We can look forward to it, we can rejoice, we
can be ready, we can be watchful and awake.
We can be watchful and awake.
Certainly there is that temptation to
hit the snooze, to sleep a little longer, after all it has been a long time since
Jesus left and said he would come again - almost 2,000 years in fact. Yes there is the temptation is to get caught
up in the hear and now - the stuff and the fluff of
this world. But Jesus' return is certain
- He has promised - and God keep His promises.
So wake up, the alarm is sounding, keep watch for you do not know the
day or the hour. Look to Jesus, trust in
Jesus, grow in Jesus and look forward to His return and the wedding feast. Look to Jesus and join with all of God's
saints in praying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come. For we are awake, we are ready. Come, Lord Jesus come." Amen.
And may the peace of God which passes
all understanding