David Anthony
     Pentecost 12

Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. (Luke 12:35-37).

There is a saying among some here at the seminary that the initials STM do not stand for "Sacred Theology Masters," an advanced theological academic degree, but they really mean "scared-to-minister." It’s a saying that pokes a little fun at our brothers who are academically inclined and have decided to stay at the seminary for an additional year of more extensive in depth theological training. As our beloved Dr. Scaer would say at this point, "You got a problem with that?" Well, after reading today’s Gospel lesson, yes, I can say that I am little scared to minister, and maybe one more year of seminary schooling wouldn’t be so bad after all.

In the Gospel lesson, our Lord Jesus Christ talks to us in no uncertain terms, like a master to a slave—"You pastors do not go to sleep on your watch, I’ll be back!"

Jesus says, "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks." These words were originally spoken by Jesus to his disciples, the Twelve and the Seventy. They occurred in a context in Luke after the point when Jesus had sent the Seventy on a successful evangelical mission. Demons were literally falling out of the sky as the Lord’s Gospel advanced forcefully into the world. These disciples were excited with their results. But following this great success, Jesus gives a series of sermons and parables to the Twelve and the Seventy as if to say, "you have had great success, but you must still be watchful." Jesus reminds his disciples that they will have to be on guard for false teachers who will seek to undermine the Gospel. Jesus calls on his followers to confess him before men, or he will not confess them before his Father’s angels. Jesus warns them about not gaining the world and then losing their souls. Success in ministry is not defined by the standards of the world which is enamored with material success and power, or how many bodies are in the pews. But Jesus also tells his disciples not to worry about their lives or the content of their lives. God already knows what they need and provides it. They just need to trust Him. And He instructs his servants to keep watch and be ready for his unexpected return.

As with the Seventy, it is an easy thing to proclaim the Gospel when it is seen to work so powerfully, so effectively. Who isn’t excited to see the power of God as it casts out demons. But now, here in our time and place, the world grows dark and the people of God are falling asleep in their faith life. It’s a terrible demoralizing thing to see what’s happening. Pastors and people are falling asleep on their watches all over our Church. Am I being overly dramatic here? Why is it that so many people in our synod would rather compromise on our confessions and our sacred liturgical traditions in order to be entertained in worship services, or to accommodate the pagan world, or erring church bodies? If pastors weren’t asleep on their watch, our synod would not be facing the problems and controversies it does today. Scared to minister? Yeah! We ought to be. Nevertheless, Christ will be calling us to go out and keep watch over his Church. And He expects his Church and pastors to be here and ready when He comes.

Keeping the watch may not be an easy affair for us. In order to keep the watch we may be called on to sacrifice a lot. Certainly, we can expect to give up much of our time to be with people on a no-notice basis to help them in the difficult times of their lives. That means not going on vacation when we want to. We can expect not to be rich, or have that dream house, or that ideal place to live. We can expect to be alone and lonely as the ones who bear the burden of care for others’ souls and are held accountable for them. We may even have to face prison or death for the sake of the Word. Even if all hell breaks loose on us, we have to keep our watch, and keep the light burning. Our Lord has told us so.

When the Roman city Pompeii was destroyed in the first century by a horrific volcano, many, many people were buried in the ruins. Some were found in cellars where they had fled for safety, others were found in upper rooms of buildings where they tried to get away from the destruction. But one man, a Roman soldier, was found standing at the city gate where he had been placed by his captain. There, while the earth shook beneath him; while the torrents of ashes, cinders and fire covered him; he remained at his post, his dying hands still holding his weapon. There, more than a thousand years later, the faithful soldier was found still at his post.

The Roman soldier is an example for us. Christ our captain will be placing us soon at our post. He also gives us weapons for our sentry duty in the pulpit and at the altar: His Holy Word and His Holy Sacraments. We will be in possession of the most powerful arsenal of weapons in the whole world. So powerful, all the forces of hell cannot withstand these awesome weapons. So powerful, that dead people will be brought to life. We are better led, better equipped, and have a better mission than the Roman soldier, and by God’s power we will be faithful in manning our post and keeping the watch. Scared to minister?

Do not forget that One who set us at our post is the One who kept His post to the point of death in the first place. With hell literally breaking out around Him, Christ our Captain defended us by His death on the cross. By His sacrifice He secured victory over all of our enemies, Satan, sin and death. By His victory we are able to stand our ground.

No doubt the ministry will have its challenges, and our church could be in better shape. But, it’s not our Church, it’s the Lord’s Church. And He has graciously given us the task to keep the watch in her. So in keeping the watch, and making the people ready for the Lord’s imminent return, we will preach the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. We will baptize sinners into a new and everlasting life. We will serve a heavenly food which is the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. We will guard our Lord’s Word for the precious gem that it is, and Satan will not snatch it from us. For in all that we do, it is our Lord Jesus who is the one doing it. When we are weak, He is strong. When we are faithless, He is faithful. When we want to sleep, He refreshes us. When we fail, he restores. We stand, because He stands with us.

Because of Jesus’ death on the cross for us, victory is already ours, and His imminent return is not a threat but a promise of good news: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them." We do not have to fear our Lord’s return. In fact, we serve under His grace and look with eager expectation to His coming again, so that we no longer have to keep watch, but can rest and rejoice that our work is done and partake of our Lord’s promised feast. In the meantime, while we await our Lord’s return, we can take comfort in the fact that He has really never left us, but is with us, and will always be with us even unto the end of the age.

Still sacred to minister? Not when we will be standing watch with our Captain Jesus Christ. Even if we experience the worst of times during our watch, we know that with Jesus, our ministry will be the best of times. So we keep our eyes awake and focused on Him, the author and perfector of our faith