1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
or our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. A Happy New Year to all of you! As we gather together today to mark the
change of the calendar, we’re aware not only of the passing of time but also we
take note of our use of that time. We may observe that in this world one year
is pretty much the same as another. Conflict, disaster, illness, funerals, the
effects of sin in our world and even in ourselves tempt us to fear or even
despair that anything will change for the better. Fortunately, we who are
baptized into our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, look to the God who loves us.
By faith in Christ we confess and bury the sins of the past and are raised to
new life and hope, the certainty that nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). The
message today is entitled, “Christians be
Alert,” and it’s taken from Luke 12:35-40, dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2.
The message from God’s Word for
us today is taken from Luke 12:35–40, which says, “35[Jesus said:] “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps
burning, 36and 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. 37Blessed 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. 38If
he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed
are those servants! 39But 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. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is
coming at an hour you do not expect.”
3. Notice in our text from Luke’s
Gospel that Jesus gives to us two parables.
The first parable Jesus teaches us uses the analogy of servants waiting
for their master to return from a wedding.
In ancient times Jewish weddings were held at night, and a bridegroom’s
servants would have to wait for their master to come home with his bride. The
new husband would certainly not want to be kept waiting at the door with his
bride! But the servants had to be sure they were ready to go to work, with
their robes tucked under their girdles so they were free to move. But, the remarkable thing in this story is
that the master serves the servants! In Jewish weddings, the bride was treated
like a queen and the groom like a king. So you wouldn’t expect the “king” to minister to his staff. Here
Jesus tells us that He as our King will minister to us His faithful servants
when He greets us at His return, and He’ll reward us for our faithfulness. We as Christians are to be alert for our
Master Jesus to return.
4. Luke reminds us twice in a short
span that the coming of the master is a blessing to those who are prepared. The
Greek word behind “blessed” is the
same as the one we find in the Beatitudes. But though the coming is a blessing,
it’s also a disruption. Luke introduces another image & parable to describe
the coming of the Lord, the sudden arrival of a thief. This striking image
appears a number of times in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 24:43; 1 Thess.
5:2–4; 2 Pet. 3:10; and Rev. 16:15). The use of this image certainly reinforces
the call to readiness for Christ’s Second Coming. But it also complicates our
understanding of the nature of the coming. We’re given in this reading two
images, one encouraging of the Master returning home from a wedding, and the
other threatening, with a thief coming to steal. Are Jesus’ words a threat or a
promise? The answer is “both.” To those who claim Jesus as master and who are
prepared for his Second Coming, they are blessed. The Lutheran scholar Lenski writes about this
text, “This lord does not seek his ease and
retire for the night… He makes as grand a feast for [his servants] as was the
one from which he came, he has them recline to dine and—wonder of wonders—he
does not order other slaves, to serve them but makes himself their slave and
‘ministers’ to them. Many waiters and helpers are needed at a great feast, but
this lord needs none . . . letting the reality peep through, that
this is the almighty, heavenly Lord himself. . . . Yet in a way,
this heavenly act need not surprise us. Did not Christ humble himself unto
death for us (Phil 2:7, 8)? So, then, without laying aside his divine glory, he
will gird himself and serve us” (Lenski, Luke, 703–4).
5.
But,
Jesus reminds us in Luke 12 that this act of Jesus our Master serving isn’t so
with those whose lives center on their possessions and the things of this world.
It’s no accident that the image of the thief appears in a chapter in which so
many words are devoted to worldly wealth and possessions. Repeatedly here in
Luke 12 Jesus warns against centering our lives on our possessions. To those
who fail to heed the warning and whose hearts are with their earthly treasures,
the coming of Jesus will indeed be “as a
thief in the night.” “So you also
must be ready.” Christians, be alert!
6. So how are we to take what Jesus
says to us here in Luke 12 about us as Christians to be alert and ready for His
Second Coming? Does the idea of Jesus’
return on Judgment Day strike fear in you or does it give to you as sense of
comfort and hope? As I said earlier, we
regularly experience fear, don’t we? For
personal safety. For safety of family
members and friends. Of illness and
injury. Of any unexpected tragedy. Of financial uncertainty or setback. Of the consequences of sin in our life past
or present. And, as we start a New Year,
many of us may fear the unknown, what this New Year will bring to us. We also fear the fact that we’re not always
alert and watchful, we often can grow tired and weary and we may not be ready
for something unexpected to happen in our lives.
7. Fear is a natural result of sin. Sin separates us from a loving, caring,
protecting God. Sin separates us from
the people to whom we’re the closest. Sin
results in the very real fear of loss of protection, loss of safety, loss of
security, loss of connectedness. But, sin
and its resultant fear are conquered by the Father’s love in Christ. Jesus tells us earlier in Luke 12, “Do not be afraid, little flock.” “Your Father has been pleased to give you the
kingdom.” The giving of the kingdom
is a gift of love, earned by the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
8. As we begin this New Year, we as
Christians can continue to be alert for Jesus’ Second Coming. But, that means we shouldn’t be foolish. Foolishness is the result of sinful pride. The temptation for us is to let the assurance
of no fear produce complacency and apathy.
Extended periods of waiting can tempt one to foolishness. Since apostolic times, for about 2000 years,
there have always been some Christians who think they know the specific day of
the Lord’s return. There’s temptation to
put our faith in these predictions about the Second Coming of Jesus. That same kind of foolishness can produce a
mind set of “it will never happen to me.” We’re all inclined to believe that only other
people will be the victims of illness (especially major or life threatening
illness, which is not supposed to happen to us). And, we never anticipate our lives being
shattered by trauma or tragedy.
9. But, Jesus tells us in Luke 12 that
this kind of foolishness can be avoided.
We as Christians can be alert for Jesus’ return by heeding our Lord’s
admonition to “be ready for service.” By immersing ourselves in his Word and Sacrament. By regularly receiving His Word, which
assures us that our sins are forgiven through Jesus who was crucified on the
cross for our sins and by receiving Christ’s body and blood given and shed for
us for the forgiveness of our sins. By
regularly receiving Christ’s gifts of Word and Sacrament, we as Christians can
be alert for Jesus’ return.
10. A number of years ago a very
devastating tornado struck central Texas, killing an estimated 30 people in
Jarrell, with a population of 1,000 people.
Even with some advance notice, residents responded in a variety of ways. Some jumped in cars and trucks, trying to
escape the path of the storm, one quarter of a mile wide. Some hid in closets or bathtubs, seeking
protection. Some school children huddled
in hallways or under tables, singing and praying for protection. Being alert and ready for such a storm
consists not in trying to avoid such indescribable power and fury, but to know
that, whatever happens, we’re safe in the arms of our loving Heavenly Father
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As we begin this New Year, we dedicate our lives to the task of helping
people, throughout the world, attain that state of readiness through Christ our
Savior and Lord. “Whether we live or die,
we belong to the Lord” (Rom 14:8). “Have no fear, little flock; Have no fear, little flock, For the Father has
chosen to give you the kingdom; Have no
fear, little flock!” (LW# 410, St
1). Through our Lord Jesus, we as
Christians can be alert and ready for His return. Amen.
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