Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity (One Year Lectionary)

Exodus 32:1–20
     or Job 14:1–6
Psalm 14
     or Psalm 102:1-13
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
Matthew 24:15–28
     or Luke 17:20–30

Faith Comes By Hearing the Word of Christ

“The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed” (Luke 17:20). You must use your ears and not your eyes. For God’s kingdom in this world is one of faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. The people of Israel, however, wanted to walk not by faith but by sight. When Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they decided to make a visible god for themselves, the golden calf (Ex. 32:1). Upon such faithless and false worshipers God’s judgment comes. Only on the Last Day will our faith be turned to sight. “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:27). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and He will gather His people to Himself, both the living and the dead. In a world in which our days are few and full of trouble (Job 14:1), let us comfort one another with these words of the resurrection and the coming of our Lord Jesus.