Do You Know Jesus?
Matthew 25:1-13
November 26, 2023 anno Domini
I do not know you. Those are the worst words you could ever hear from Jesus. That is not the Gospel of the Lord. That is the judgment of the Lord.
Many people think Jesus would never say such a thing. God is love. Love doesn’t judge. Love doesn’t condemn. Love doesn’t deny anything you want. That may be the way you think, but if you read God’s Word those thoughts are B as in B and S as in S. Biblical Shenanigans. What did you think I meant?
It’s the last Sunday of the Church year and the text is Matthew 25. Read Matthew 25 this week and you will see God’s love and His judgement side by side. The chapter begins with the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins. 5 are in and 5 are out.
Next is the Parable of the Talents where the Master gives three servants 5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent respectively. It ends with the first two servants receiving more and the last servant losing it all and being cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Finally comes the sheep and the goats – another common text for this Sunday. The sheep do good works for Jesus and are in. The goats serve themselves and are out.
The pastors in the Saint Cloud Circuit have been debating Matthew 25. The debate is whether these texts apply only to the last day or apply right now? We’re also debating how we as preachers usually preach these texts.
Is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins about the last day or is it for right now? Yes. We’ll address that in a minute.
The problem with typical Lutheran preaching on these texts is that historically we pastors are afraid to preach about good works. Lutherans are allergic to good works, yet these texts are heavy on works. I, as the most historical pastor in the Circuit am most guilty of this. The one servant in the Parable of the Talents gets thrown into the outer darkness because he didn’t do any work with the talent the Lord entrusted to him. The goats did no works for Jesus by loving their neighbor and they went into eternal punishment.
So, let’s correct these errors and see how the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins preaches the Kingdom of Heaven to us and encourages us to do good works now as we prepare to meet our heavenly Bridegroom.
Let me give you a one minute sermon on how this text is usually preached. When you look at the 10 bridesmaids you can see no difference in their appearance or their actions. If this wedding happened in 2023, they would probably all be wearing pink dresses, pink shoes, and a little pink Coach purses. Pink is the Wedding color this year because of the Barbie movie. Not a bad color – in the church we call it rose. They all look the same and they all act the same. They all grow weary, and they all fall asleep. In other words, they all sin and they all die. The only difference is in the end. The five wise bridesmaids have oil in their lamps (faith), while the five foolish bridesmaids have no oil. They are faithless. They don’t know Jesus and He doesn’t know them. They are locked out.
The danger of that sermon (which I have preached many times) is that it makes for secure sinners. It leads Christians to say, “I am no different than my unbelieving neighbor. We look the same, act the same, sin the same, but I’m Christian so when I die, I’ll go to heaven, and he won’t.” It can lead to the false belief that all you need to do is wear the pink dress or have a blue LCMS cross on your lapel and have a little oil in your lamp and you’re in.
But note what Jesus says to the foolish virgins. I love the Greek here. The Greek word for fool is moron. To the moronic virgins Jesus said, “I don’t know you.” That’s a telling statement. Start reading the Bible and already in Genesis chapter 3 you’ll hear the word “know.” The Devil tempts Eve by saying, “God knows that when you eat of [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When Eve ate the fruit, she didn’t just see and learn what evil was. She knew evil, she became intimate with evil, she loved evil, and she did evil. She handed the fruit off to Adam.
Genesis chapter 4 begins with these words. Now Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain. Adam knew his wife. That doesn’t mean if you asked Adam who his wife was he would say, “Yeh, I know her. There she is over by that tree.” Adam knew his wife. That meant he talked to her, he listened to her, he touched her, he loved her, he lived for her. He made the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. Knowing her wasn’t head knowledge, but whole body, heart and soul knowledge.
Christians know Jesus. That means more than identifying Him on a Christmas card or crucifix. Knowing Jesus changes us. He forgives our sins so we are humble and forgiving. He gives us life everlasting, so we don’t live for the world. We listen to Him and talk to Him. We let Him wash us in Baptism, and speak His Word of forgiveness into our ear, and we touch Him as He touches us with His holy supper. We spend time with Him and He with us. We love what He loves, and we do what His Father desires. And when you know Jesus by faith and realize how well He knows you – nothing else matters. He is your life, your light, your joy, your hope, your peace, your God and Savior.
The wise virgins knew the Bridegroom. They knew Him so well and loved Him so much that they wisely planned for every contingency. Weddings aren’t usually punctual affairs. I think their wisdom was visible before they had to light their lamps. They knew the Bridegroom might be delayed so they went to Costco and bought the six pack of olive oil in gallon jugs. One for each of them and one to spare. Those olive oil jugs didn’t fit in their little cute pink purses and stood out in the pictures, and they were a hassle getting in and out of the limo. They got a lot of razzing from the moronic virgins about how stupid they looked and how they were ruining all the fun.
If you are waiting for the Bridegroom, it’s much more than faith. Yes, faith alone saves you, but as Martin Luther said, “faith is never alone. It is a busy, living, active thing.” If you know Jesus, if you’re waiting for the heavenly Bridegroom to come (and He comes every week to Redeemer) it is going to be cumbersome and awkward. You’re going to ruin a lot of pictures and get razzing from the morons. It is work to go to church and a hassle to pray before meals and to disagree with the lies of the world, and to teach your children Jesus is more important than sports or pleasure. It is work to fight sin and say no to the temptations of the Devil, most of which the state of Minnesota has legalized. The works that come from your faith in Jesus will stick out like a gallon jug of olive oil in a wedding picture. But that’s what you do, because you’re not a moron (even though you will be called one), you are wise with faith, you know the Bridegroom, and you’re busy working to be prepared when He finally comes. In the name of Jesus. Amen.