A Sermon on St. Barbara, Martyr, December 4, 2024

St. Matthew 25:1-13

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The story of St. Barbara follows a typical martyr pattern until the very end. She is a young virgin whose conversion to Christianity enrages her father. He turns her over to the magistrate. She will not recant and is sentenced to death. They make multiple attempts to kill her but they fail due to Divine intervention. At last her own father beheads her. Then comes something distinct from the pattern: God strikes and kills her father with lightning on his way home from the execution.

The lightning part seems to be what captured people’s imagination. It has made her the patron saint of anyone who works with explosives including miners. Thus even though there is no historical record for Barbara or her life, she became popular in certain parts of Germany and was retained by Lutherans in the 17th century. She wasn’t retained by American Lutherans, which is why most of us never paid much attention to her, but she is now being rehabilitated by the Lutheran Missal Project.

The propers want us to see her as one of the wise virgins in the parable. Perhaps they want to remind us that being wise in the ways of God means having faith even when it looks foolish to the world and that the most important thing in this life isn’t staying alive but it is enduring in the faith.

You may be thinking that we could learn that lesson by way of example from a historical person rather than from Barbara. You would be correct. We could and I hope we do. But tradition sometimes moves us in ways that are outside of our culture and age and that can be good. I think there is some merit in these martyr stories even if they are idealized and lacking in historical evidence. The fact that they are rather fantastical is helpful against our secular and scientific way of thinking. They help to remind and teach us that God does bless faith and that He still performs miracles. They also inspire us to not give up hope or quit. They reinstate and reinforce our heritage as God’s chosen people. We are involved in something fantastical and special. There is more to this life than appears to our eyes.

Consider the parable. The crisis is when the Bridegroom is delayed. In that delay five of the virgins stopped believing what they could not see. But the wise carried on. The past and what had been reported to them in God’s Word kept them confident and hopeful for the future. We may not feel like we live in Barbara’s world. Itt may seem as though our confession isn’t noticed. We may not expect either to face an executioner’s flames or arrows nor for God to stop them, but we do live in that world. We live in the world where God is present and active and where Satan is working against us. We live in the world where God keeps every promise and the end is assured.

Insofar as Barabara helps us to remember and confess this, where she drives us back to God’s Word for comfort and encouragement, God be praised! He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He delivers us out of death. Jesus lives. So do all those who believe in Him. That is a true reality and yet miraculous.

And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. Amen.