New Year’s Eve
Eve of the Circumcision and
Name of Jesus
December 31, 2011
At the close of this year we are reminded that time doesn’t stop. It
will when our Lord comes again in glory. But for now, time keeps ticking; and
in a few hours it will be a new year. Next year may be just like this year in
that in one year from now we will be closing out the year here in God’s House
on New Year’s Eve. In other words, our Lord may not elect to come again in
glory at some point in 2012. But He may. Whether or not He does we know He’s
coming again to put an end to this world and to time as we know it. We don’t
know when it will be we just know it will be.
Our Lord’s command to us is to stay dressed for action. It would be one
thing for Him to exhort us to dress ourselves for action. But He doesn’t do
that. He tells us to stay dressed for action. That tells us something
about ourselves. We are already dressed for action. We are in a state where we
are ready. What we need to do is stay ready. We need to stay dressed for
action.
In order to do that we must see how it is that we are clothed, dressed,
for action. Our Lord is the one who clothes us. He clothes us to serve. The
Bible has many places where this imagery is used for Baptism. We are clothed
with Christ. In repentance, which is the daily living out of Baptism, we put on
Christ. In other words, He is the garment of salvation that we wear in the new
life we have in Baptism. In Baptism our Lord clothes us. He is the new clothing
we wear even as we live in this fallen world and are still wrapped up in our
sinful flesh.
What does it mean that we have this clothing of salvation? That we wear
Christ as our daily clothing? It means we are called to new life. We are called
to serve. We are clothed in Christ, in salvation, and that new life is lived
out in serving. Serving is done is action. That’s why our Lord in the third
reading exhorts us to stay dressed for action.
Jesus is telling the way we are to be ready. He says, “Stay dressed for
action and keep your lamps burning, and 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.” These men are servants. Their master is
gone but he will return. They need to be ready for when he returns even though
they don’t know when it will be. The way they are dressed is in robes. The
robes men wore in that culture prevented them from impulsive action. Trying to
run in them would trip them up. In order to stay dressed for action they would
tuck the flowing part of the robe in their belt so that they could be ready at
any time.
This is Jesus’ command to us. Stay dressed for action. Be ready at any
time. Since years come and go it is tempting for us to think He will not return
in glory in our lifetime. But it could happen in our lifetime. It could happen
at any time, that’s what we know. Not knowing exactly when shows us why we need
to stay dressed for action. We need to live as we are called. We need to live
out the life our Lord has given us in Baptism. That means serving. God’s people
serve. We are always dressed for action. Ready to help others in need.
Maybe you’ve looked back on the past year and regret some of the opportunities
you passed on to help others in need. Maybe you’ve thought about those times
this past year where you were called upon to serve in a capacity and you
immediately thought of a list of ten things preventing you from doing it rather
than taking some time to consider it and pray about it, even if you ended up
declining. Maybe you’ve looked back on this past year and realize that you have
mostly gained enjoyment in your life from fulfilling your own needs and wants
and not much from helping others in their needs. Maybe you plan on seeking more
opportunities to serve in the new year.
Seeing where you have fallen in short is valuable. It’s part of
repentance. That’s how the Lord’s people stay dressed for action, by being
repentant people. It’s one thing to talk about all the many ways to serve, and
we should talk about those things. And of course we should actually do those
things as well. But we also must remember that we can only serve by staying dressed
for action. There is no action, no serving God, without staying dressed for it.
That’s why in the new year we will ask our Lord to bless us to be
repentant people. To be in His Word, both in daily personal and/or family devotions
and also with our brother and sister Christians in Bible Class. To continue to
be here in our Lord’s House to hear His Word, to partake of His Holy Supper, to
confess together with our brother and sister Christians, to exhort one another,
to encourage and comfort one another.
We don’t know when our Lord will return in glory, but we don’t need to.
What we need to know is what we already know. We know that He is our Lord and
our Savior. We know He has already come and that He has dressed Himself for
service. He came dressed in servant’s clothing and put on the filthy garment of
our sins in His suffering and death on the cross. He was clothed in glory when
He exited the grave three days later. Though remaining in glory He continues to
dress Himself for service as He comes to us in Baptism and as He hosts us at
His Table and receive Him in body and blood.
He has clothed in Baptism, we were the passive recipients of eternal
salvation, clothed in Christ. Dressed in this way we are dressed for action. We
stay dressed for action by the same receiving of His grace and mercy in His
Gospel and His Sacraments. This is what He has done for you this past year and
will continue to do in the new year, even to eternity. Amen.
SDG
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