1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 24th Sunday after Pentecost is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, it’s entitled, “Hope for the Hopeless,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Hope. The very term seems problematic in the world we live in. As hard as it is just to keep on keeping on, we seem to have lost touch with what keeps us going as Christians. Our world has learned to look to the future with dread, not knowing when disaster will strike next. No wonder, then, that Christians, too, get caught up in the merry-go-round of activities we call living, but in the end are nothing but the fretful, fitful empty search for meaning in a world that seems to have gone out of control. All too often, that search leads no farther than the shopping mall and entertainment venues. We have hope, but our hope is in all the wrong things. It’s just like St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19).
3. Well, though we may forget it, though we may get caught up in the hopelessness of this world, we Christians do in fact hope in the right thing. We hope in Christ, and yet we are not to be pitied, because we have hoped in Christ not for this life only. The last Sundays in the Church Year focus the Church’s attention on the last things: the end of life, the end of the world, the end of the created order. But the Church’s contemplation is not gloomy, for these final things are but the start of new beginnings that’s why our focus is also hopeful as Christians because we are looking forward to: the ushering in of the new creation in all its fullness and the enjoyment of the eternal kingdom of God, who is the author and source of life everlasting.
4. So, these Sundays bring renewed hope and encouragement to the battle-weary Church, tired and worn as she often is from the struggle against sin and unbelief on every side. The Church’s chief comfort in this struggle is the actual presence of her glorious Lord Jesus, once crucified, dead, and buried, but now risen and glorified in transcendent glory. Jesus comes to bring his Bride the Church release and strength as his Gospel is preached in her midst and his Sacraments administered for her forgiveness, life, and salvation. In today’s Gospel from Matthew 25, Jesus uses a wedding illustration to exemplify the urgency and joy of his coming. The Bride’s attendants do not know when he is coming, but there is no doubt that he will claim his Bride. Therefore, we wait in eager expectation, prepared at all times that we may enter with him to the wedding hall (Mt 25:10). And for this we pray: “Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth Your Son to lead home His bride, the Church, that with all the company of the redeemed we may finally enter into His eternal wedding feast.”
5. On the other hand, the prophet Amos in our Old Testament Reading warns those who are unprepared for Christ’s coming, like the foolish virgins of the Gospel, that the Day of the Lord will not bring relief to the unbelieving. Those who seek escape apart from the Christian faith in Jesus will not find release, but God’s judgment and wrath. Proper preparation for the end of this world is to live always in the everlasting justice and righteousness that Christ has already come to bring (Amos 5:24).
6. As Christians our hope is fixed on Christ for this life and the next. In our text from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 St. Paul says, "13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words." Here the apostle seeks to clear up confusion over the fate of those Christians who have died before the day of Christ’s return. They are not lost to the kingdom of God, he assures them, but all faithful Christians, living and departed, make one fellowship and communion. A grand reunion awaits: when Christ returns, he will gather the elect from among the living and the dead to live forever with him in glory (1 Thess. 4:17).
7. As Christians we have hope because God supplies our every need. Remember how Jesus said in Mt 6:31–33, "31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." But even more than supplying our physical needs, Jesus also supplies our spiritual needs as well for He died and rose again as victor over sin and death. Jesus awakens the dead to eternal life, and He gives eternal life to all the living faithful (1 Thess. 4:14, 16-17). So, we have hope in the face of death. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 2 that death is the consequence of sin (Gen 2:17). It robs us of the company of those we love. Death, therefore, brings sorrow and grief to all. Christians, too, grieve the death of those they love. But we have hope even as we grieve; our loss is only temporary (1 Thess. 4:13).
8. And so, we have hope on the Day of Judgment. All who live in faith have already passed from death to life. Our Lord Jesus says in Jn 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.". Christ shall descend from heaven in power. He will raise up all the dead. Reunited with believers who have died, we shall be together with the Lord forever. We do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13, 16-17). The coming of the Lord Jesus brings hope to the hopeless.
9. Therefore, we find comfort in life’s trials. We know the last chapter of this world’s history (1 Thess. 4:16). We know that present suffering will be outweighed by future glory. St Paul writes in Rom 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.". We have the promise of the Lord’s own presence in his Church. By his Gospel preached. By his Sacraments administered. We encourage one another by the Lord’s own living words (1 Thess. 4:18).
10. We who are believers in Christ do not have to be afraid of death. Jesus explained why we need not fear death when he said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn 11:25–26). For those who trust in Jesus for forgiveness and life, death is but the door through which they enter into an even better life. By his death and triumphant resurrection, Jesus has made complete payment for all sins.
11. It’s interesting that St. Paul refers to death three times in our text from 1 Thess. 4 as a “sleep.” Paul writes about the “dead in Christ,” “We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep. . . . God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him . . . We who are still alive . . . will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess 4:13–15). It’s a pleasant experience to fall asleep, especially if we are tired after a day of hard work. Actually, the bad experience is to be unable to sleep, to toss and turn as we wait for morning to come. To sleep is pleasant, and to awaken from sleep refreshed and strengthened is one of the most pleasant experiences of all.
12. When St. Paul refers to death as a sleep, he is saying in a very powerful way that you and I who believe in Jesus do not have to be afraid of death any more than we are afraid of falling asleep at the end of the day. That’s why our parents taught us at an early age to pray at bedtime: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep; and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take; and this I ask for Jesus’ sake.”
13. We who believe in Jesus Christ do not grieve without hope and do not fear death, because our faith in Christ assures us of the gift of eternal life. Jesus himself said this in the best-known Bible verse of all when he declared, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
14. Every child knows the strangely comforting experience of going somewhere with mom or dad—maybe to grandma and grandpa’s house—falling into exhausted sleep there on grandma’s couch, and then waking up the next morning at home in his or her own bed, safe and warm. Between the time of falling asleep and waking up, many miles and much time have intervened. The child was carried bodily to a car, transported long distances, dressed in pajamas, and tucked into his or her own bed, oblivious to any pending danger. So also at life’s end, the child of God can safely fall asleep in Jesus, confident of the resurrection to eternal life (1 Thess 4:13–14).
15. Here’s what keeps us going as Christians—and not just to the mall, not just to the movies. Hope for real living, real life, this one and the next. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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