In a way we know a lot about sleep and yet in another way it
is something that is mysterious. We know
a lot about sleep because we do it so often.
About a quarter to a third of our whole life is spent in sleeping. It’s not like we don’t know what it is. And
yet we don’t totally understand it. I’m
sure you’ve noticed how you end up slipping off to sleep unawares. Sleep is not something that you can set out
to do and accomplish by your own will power.
If you want to sleep, then you put yourself in a position where sleep is
likely to come, but it’s not really up to us to make us sleep. On the other hand we can keep ourselves awake
by our own willpower somewhat, but our will can be thwarted—especially if we
are tired. We might fall asleep even
though we’d like to stay awake.
This happened to the disciples Peter, James, and John
once. It was the night that Jesus was
betrayed. After instituting the Lord’s
Supper Jesus and the disciples went outside the city of Jerusalem to the Mount
of Olives. Then Jesus and Peter, James,
and John went on a ways from the rest of them.
Jesus told these three to watch and pray, while he went on further to
pray by himself. That was when Jesus wrestled
with his Father in prayer, asking that the cup should pass from him if that
should be possible. After praying for a
while Jesus came back to the three and found them sleeping. He woke them up and told them to watch and
pray. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. Three times this happened
where Jesus went to pray by himself and when he came back he found the three
sleeping. Why couldn’t they stay
awake?
This gives us something to wonder about when it comes to the
New Testament’s instructions about the end times. In several different places we are told to
stay awake and watch for the second coming of Jesus. Both our epistle reading and our Gospel
reading speak to this.
St. Paul says in our epistle reading that we must beware
because Jesus will come like a thief in the night. Thieves are pretty clever, and they will pick
the time that they believe is the most likely when they will not be detected. Those who are not prepared are going to be
caught unaware. Therefore we must stay
awake and be sober.
Sleep plays a very important role in Jesus’s parable of the
five wise and five foolish virgins. The
plot turns on the fact that they all fell asleep with their lamps burning. If they had stayed awake, they would have
known how much time had passed and that the oil would necessarily be getting
low or already be gone. Then,
furthermore, the foolish virgins would have been able to get more oil, but now
there is no time. The bridegroom was
already there. The shops were either
closed or a long way off. By the time
they get back, the doors are shut and the bridegroom would not let them in.
Since sleep is so important for what Jesus and the apostles
teach about the end times, it is beneficial to consider it carefully. What does this sleep signify? I think the most important point of
comparison is the lack of consciousness.
The lack of consciousness is something that is also found with those who
are not sober. Being sober means that
you know and understand what is going on.
Staying awake and being sober is often linked together in Jesus’s and
the apostles’ talks about the end times.
What they are saying is that we must be conscious.
But, be conscious of what?
The short and correct answer is that we should be conscious of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but we must not just shut off our brains at this point, satisfied
that we already know the answer.
Remaining conscious of the Lord Jesus Christ is harder than it might
sound at first, but then again it is also quite easy and a tiny baby can
understand it.
I’ve talked to you about this kind of thing before using the
picture of Jesus as the good Shepherd.
He is the good Shepherd. You are
a sheep. So long as you stick close to
him you will not get lost or be eaten by the wolf. What could be easier than sticking near the
good Shepherd. But as you know there are
all kinds of tricks and lies and other obstacles that get in the way and make
it very hard to stay near Jesus. The
devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh tirelessly work to bring about a
rift, and only the almighty power of the Holy Spirit is able to prevent it. And yet the message is still the same and
quite simple: trust in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who has laid down his life for
the sheep. It is always the simple trust
in Jesus that Christians must return to.
So let’s apply this same kind of thinking to being conscious
of Jesus. Being conscious of him would
mean that you are waiting for him like the virgins were, before they fell
asleep. Nobody had to browbeat these
women or hogtie them into looking forward to the groom. They wanted him to come and were looking out
the window to see if he might be there yet.
When Christians are in a good frame of mind, they will be like these
virgins—waiting for and hastening the day of his coming.
But as you know there are all kinds of things that can and
will get in the way of remaining conscious of Jesus. There are all many other concerns that
capture our attention. Some people love
money, and so they will occupy themselves with heaping it up as high as they
can get it. Some people value knowledge,
and so they will pursue that. Some
people value popularity and friendship, and so they will try to get that. Some people love their families, and so they
will pour all their energy into that.
None of these things that I’ve mentioned are bad. They are all quite good—in fact these are the
highest and noblest elements of our earthly existence. But they all can and will direct people’s
gaze away from the horizon. They quit
looking for Christ’s coming and start trying to make a home for themselves
here.
It is especially important that we understand how these very
good and noble things have the power to capture our consciousness so that we
lose sight of Christ, because it is difficult for people to see how these good
things can be dangerous. We all know
that addictions to sex, drugs, food, alcohol, gambling, promiscuity, and other
compulsions are harmful and dangerous.
But the high and noble things are thought to be good in and of
themselves and that there is no such thing as too much of them. But the devil will tailor his temptations
depending on the person. Some people are
more susceptible to the loss of self-control that will end in addiction to base
and dishonorable things. That is works
for him, because these compulsions bring about the loss of sobriety and
consciousness. But on the other hand,
often those people who have an especially strong ability to control themselves
will get lost in the imaginations of their hearts, give themselves over to the
noble things of life, while only give lip-service to Jesus.
Being taken up with either high and low things is equally
deadly, but those who are attracted to the low and base things are always
looked down upon while the highly respected citizens are put on a
pedestal. But it’s just a matter of bait
that the devil uses for his hook. Some
are slimy and stinky. Some are refined
and flashy. One lure catches more of one
kind of fish. Another lure catches a
different kind. Both high and low bring
about the same result: falling asleep and not being conscious of Christ’s
imminent return.
We could talk a lot more about the way that we are lured and
baited into unconsciousness of Jesus, but we can do that some other time. We’re talking only about the overall strategy
of the devil—that we should fall asleep—and have basically said nothing about
the tactics. Learning his tactics is
important. I think this is probably what
we talk about the most over the course of the Church year. We learn about how we have fallen for this or
that trick, so that we may repent, wake up from our stupor, and once again
train our eyes upon Jesus. God willing,
and by God’s grace, this will make us wise instead of foolish. God willing, we learn how easy it is to fall
asleep and become drunk, so that we are not on our guard. We learn how weak our flesh is, even if the
spirit be willing, so that we do not assume that we will be fine, but will
learn to be prepared with the flask of oil in reserve.
Here we see the difference between the wise and the foolish
virgins. Flesh and blood is flesh and
blood. They all fall asleep. But the wise virgins know this about
themselves. They have learned by bitter
experience that they have fallen asleep even when they have tried to stay
awake. They have fallen into sin, even when
they did not want to fall into sin. They
know that no goodness lies within them.
And so they prepare accordingly because they want to be able to see the
groom.
This is something that you see with people who care about
something. They prepare. They think ahead. They plan for problems and make contingency
plans.
The foolish virgins also wanted to see Jesus. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be there at
all. But they are foolish. They haven’t thought ahead. They’ve assumed—probably unconsciously—that things
would be fine regardless.
A lot of sermons that I’ve heard on this text talk about the
sellers of oil being the Church of the Word and the Sacraments, and I think
that is right. Those who are conscious
of Jesus, but who have learned by experience how easy it is to lose
consciousness of Jesus, are going to see to it that they will hear the
preaching of God’s Word that will wake them up and train their eyes, yet again,
to the horizon—looking for his coming.
Foolish or immature Christians are going to assume that they
will stick with Jesus—that they would sooner die, than betray him—like Peter said
he would do before he lost consciousness of Jesus when he was questioned by a
servant girl. I’ve met a lot of
Christians who claim allegiance to Christ, but they are not interested in
hearing his Word or receiving his Sacrament—or learning about the strategy and
tactics of the devil—because they assume that they know enough already, and
that there are other things that they’d rather be doing. I wish such people well. I hope that it is the case that they will
remain conscious of Jesus even though they essentially refuse to have anything
to do with him. I don’t wish being
locked out of the banquet hall upon anyone.
But I don’t see how it can be otherwise. I am quite certain of that, because I know
myself. I know how I lose sight of Jesus
and get drunk and high in either the refined or base pleasures and cares of
life. If God should quit shaking me
awake with his Word and preaching, then I’d go on slumbering away.
I think this analogy is quite apt. Who likes being shaken awake when you are
tired and it’s the middle of the night?
It’s annoying and painful. That’s
how a lot of good Christian preaching can be too. We’d all like to keep dreaming about what
great people we are or how successful we are, or even how our failings and sins
just aren’t that important or dangerous.
That’s a kind of talk that is soothing and relaxing. But good preaching is annoying and even
painful and deadly to our ridiculously proud egos.
There are many former Christians who have decided that they
have had enough of these annoying, rousing sermons. They’ve shut off the alarm clock, and tucked
themselves in to a nice long sleep. They
still see themselves as Christians—after all, they still like Christ and see
themselves as being on his team—but they are foolish. They do not know themselves or the powerful
forces arrayed against them, and so they do not prepare.
I don’t hold myself out to be some kind of perfect
preacher. I’m no John the Baptist. But I am pretty sure that I’ve annoyed some
or all of you with my preaching from time to time. I can sometimes tell by looking at your
faces. I bring this up to say that it’s
okay if you get annoyed at me. Do you
ever get annoyed at your alarm clock? I
do. But I don’t throw it away, because
it is useful. God willing, my annoying
sermons are useful also to you because they help to make you wise.
And this is totally worth it in the end, because there is
nothing better in this universe than being conscious of the bridegroom. The devil and the world and our own flesh are
always trying to convince us that Jesus is no big deal or that other things are
better or more important. No. Jesus is the best. Be excited to meet him. Whatever wonderful experiences we have in
this life are nothing compared to seeing him face to face.
And he wishes to see you.
Even though you have sinned and your sins harmed him grievously on the
cross, he wants to see you and be with you.
And so make sure that this wonderful thing is not taken away from you by
some cheap tricks or highs that get offered to you. Don’t turn off the alarm clock or throw it
away. Stay awake and be sober, for Jesus
is coming coon.
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