St Mary's

Sermon from Samual

8th November 2026

“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer amen.”

Today is a day of great significance for us, as we remember all those men and women who sacrificed their lives to maintain peace on earth and who gave their lives so that we may live comfortably in our homes, so that we may move about freely in our streets and markets, and so that we may live our lives in freedom within our country.

Today is a very special day in the churches, in our communities, in our families, and across the country because today we are celebrating Remembrance Sunday. Remembrance Sunday is a day to commemorate and honour the contribution of our British and as well as Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and as well as in the other conflicts. Today, we remember those who sacrificed their tomorrow for our today.

And on this occasion, we heard a passage from the Gospel according to Matthew, but before we reflect on this passage, and see what is passage is talking to us today, it is important to know the context of this Gospel passage.

If we reflect upon the Gospel passage read today, we observe that it consists of the first thirteen verses of the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew; this implies that, to understand its context, we must examine the final few verses of the twenty-fourth chapter. And if we do so, we see that from the thirty-sixth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew—continuing to the end of the chapter—Jesus is teaching about a single subject; and it is for this reason that verse forty-two states:

“Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

And, continuing with this theme, he presents a parable to his disciples, to those listening to him at that time, and also to us today in our today’s Gospel reading.

If we examine the earthly life of Jesus—and, in particular, His earthly ministry—we can state with great confidence that a better storyteller than Jesus has never walked this earth. When we consider the parables He shared during His earthly ministry, we observe that Jesus drew upon objects, events, incidents, and matters with which His listeners were already intimately familiar. Whether it is the parable of the sower of the seed, or the parable of the lost sheep, the story of the prodigal son, or any other parable. He used parables frequently, and in those parables, Jesus used such examples of which anyone could relate. However, his purpose of using these parables were not merely to tell stories; rather, he used them to teach people to be prepared for the coming of the Kingdom of God—a message that some grasped, while others completely ignored his teachings.

And even today—as seen in the Gospel passage read today—Jesus is doing the very same thing. That is why, in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God through the Parable of the Ten Virgins, and If we reflect on today’s Gospel passage, we see that Jesus speaks of a wedding celebration to illustrate that Jesus could come at any moment to establish the Kingdom of God, and therefore, through this parable he is telling us that, it is essential for us that we remain prepared for his coming, at all times. While I was doing my morning devotion from one of my mobile applications, I read it there that,

“Preparation is often made up of small decisions repeated over time. A person who wants to be ready for an important responsibility does not wait until the last minute to think about it. In the same way, we can build a life that is ready to welcome Christ by making room for him now.”

While we are pondering on this Gospel reading this Sunday, we can ask ourselves, what it means to be ready for the Lord in the world in which we are living at the moment. The uncertainty around the world, when so happening in our lives, when we are surrounded with various gadgets, when our relationships with our fellow human beings are so fragile.

But we need to remember that, in the world in which we are living now, we do not prepare by comparing our lives or criticising someone else’s pace. We accompany one another and make the journey toward Christ together, because getting ready for Christ is not just simply a private concern, rather it is a collective task which we all need to do, which we just heard in today’s Gospel passage.

Although we don’t know what time, and what day and date Jesus is coming and only Jesus knows when He will come, our job is to be ready for that time so that we, too, may be among those who welcome Him—like the five virgins—and so that when Jesus establishes His kingdom here on earth, we may also participate in His feast. I was reading it in website sermoncental.com,

“It would be a mistake for us to think that remembrance is simply about the past, about what has happened. Our remembrance is not simply something in the past, but something that we make present here and now as we realise the significance for each of us.”

And as Christians or church it is significance for us that how should we prepare ourselves today so that, when the bridegroom arrives, we are not only personally ready to welcome Him, but also—as families, as a church, and as a society—help others prepare for the hope that God has revealed to us through His Son, Jesus?

Because our hope as a Christian lie only in Jesus Christ who was God in human flesh and he also gave his life for the whole world, so whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But the question for today is, are we ready to accept him as our saviour and king. Are we living our lives so that when he comes to fetch us, he finds us ready.

As we are thinking of those who gave their lives so that we can have peace in the world, let us also think about Jesus who gave his life we can have in him hope and peace not just in our world, but also in our hearts and minds, but the question is, are we ready for it. Let us ponder on this question and let us give answer to this question within our hearts.

May God bless you all.

Amen.