Last
Sunday of the Church Year – November 24th, 2013 – Matt. 25:1-13
In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Today’s parable is the old familiar ending to the Church Year – the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. With the end of the Church year comes a reminder that Christ’s coming could happen at any time, that we ought to be ready for it, and indeed, this parable teaches us how to be ready for it. So, let us hear this parable and listen to it once again.
Today’s parable is the old familiar ending to the Church Year – the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. With the end of the Church year comes a reminder that Christ’s coming could happen at any time, that we ought to be ready for it, and indeed, this parable teaches us how to be ready for it. So, let us hear this parable and listen to it once again.
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten
virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.” Now, let’s consider this set up. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to us at first
– why are there are bunch of virgins, a bunch of young unmarried gals waiting
for the groom? Generally today brides
don’t like their husband to be cavorting with a bunch of 18 year olds on the
way to the wedding. But perhaps the best
way to think of these would be that they are like our modern bridesmaids. It’s a big wedding, there’s 10 gals, and
their jobs are to make everything look pretty.
However, there is a problem. “Five
of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish
took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil
with their lamps.” The main job
of the virgins back in the day would be to be part of the procession, and they
would carry lamps, candles, and the light would make everything look just so
and perfect – plus they wouldn’t look too shabby for any of the groom’s single
friends. But there’s a problem. A lamp without any oil isn’t very useful. It doesn’t work, it doesn’t do its job – and
a gal without any oil for her lamp would have been rather useless. What might the modern equivalent? Bridesmaids showing up to the wedding without
their shoes – you know, you’ve seen the bridesmaids where they all have their
shoes died fuchsia or periwinkle or whatever strange color the bride had picked
out? It’s nice that you are there – but
if you don’t have your shoes, bridezilla over there is going to be sort of
upset, and you’ll look really, really tacky up front instead of just so and
picture perfect.
And then something unexpected happens,
or maybe it’s better to say something expected doesn’t happen. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all
became drowsy and slept.But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ The groom is late. Things are getting drawn out, and all the
gals, wise and foolish alike fall asleep.
The wedding is supposed to start at 6, and by 10:30, and they are all
out cold. Now, there are few things one
can bring out from this – one being that they are all asleep, that no one stays
up and is prepared when groom shows up midnight. The point of this parable isn’t that the wise
are bright-eyed and bushy tailed and perfect little gals – almost like the
wedding equivalent of those royal guards in England who never move. No, these verses are designed to take away
any sense of pride or smugness the wise might have. But there is another aspect – it does
highlight how foolish the foolish ones are.
Let’s jump back to our modern bridesmaids – and let us say the wedding
is supposed to be at noon, and you aren’t ready, but then there is the news
that it’s going to be pushed back a few hours.
So, what do you do – do you go get ready then, do you quickly run to the
shops and finally buy the shoes you should have gotten well before? In the case of the parable – no, because they
are foolish. And at any rate, the time
for the wedding arrives.
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And it’s time for the wedding, and the foolish gals aren’t ready. Do you know what their request to borrow oil would be like? It would be like saying, “Oh no, we don’t have our shoes, hey, can I borrow one of your shoes?” That’s how foolish the request in the parable is. Hey, I’m not ready, how about we all not be ready? How about none of us have oil to do our job, how about we all just wear one shoe throughout the wedding? It’s not that the wise are mean and won’t share, it’s that the foolish are foolish. Off you must go.
And we know how it ends. And while they were going to buy, the
bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage
feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came
also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you,
I do not know you.’ And they
miss it. The foolish gals are off and
about, and the groom shows up, and the wedding starts, and they are shut
out. And they have no one to blame but
themselves – they can’t blame the groom because he was delayed – they weren’t
ready 6 hours earlier. They can’t blame
the wise, I mean, why would you show up to the wedding you’ve known about for
so long without your oil, why would you not have gone to the store and bought
your shoes already? And so they are left
out of the party, they miss it.
So, let us ask the Lutheran
question. What does this all mean? What’s the point of the parable? Jesus answers by saying, Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour.
The time for the wedding is coming, you need to be ready. You can’t assume that there’s more time…
because let’s face it, if you aren’t getting ready now, are you really going to
be getting ready later? You see, this
image of the wedding is the image for the life of the world to come, it is the
image for all the happy stuff at the end of Revelation – in fact Revelation 19
talks about the marriage feast of the Lamb.
The call goes out, we are to make sure that we are ready, that we are
prepared for the Second Coming, for the End, for the great feast that never
ends.
So how? What distinguishes the wise from the foolish
in this parable, what ought we be looking for?
It’s not the distinction between those who have heard and those who
haven’t heard. The wise and the foolish
both know there’s a wedding, they know it’s going to happen, and they even want
to be there. The foolish in this parable
aren’t those who turn up their nose at the idea of the wedding – no, the wise
and foolish all know it’s a good idea.
And the difference isn’t the great moral character of the wise and the
terrible moral character of the foolish.
It’s not as though the wise are waiting for the wedding but the foolish
got so drunk from the bachelorette party at the bar the night before that they
couldn’t wake up. No, they are all together,
they all fall asleep at the same time, they all are awakened together. They are in the same boat in terms of how
they live. No, the key difference, the
thing that separates the wise from the foolish is whether or not they have
their oil.
Consider this. If you are to be an old fashioned virgin here
– you are at the wedding in the company of the groom, you are there to provide
light with your lamp. If you don’t have
light for your lamp, you are pretty much ignoring the whole reason you were invited. If you are asked to be a bridesmaid, but you
don’t care enough to have your outfit ready, what’s the point of you being a
bridesmaid? And that’s the difference,
that is what separates the wise from the foolish. The wise understand their part in the wedding
feast; the foolish don’t and thus aren’t prepared. The wedding isn’t about your plans, or what
you would like, this wedding is about the Bridegroom, and you are there for the
great and fantastic joy.
So, consider the Christian Faith. Consider what we confess in the creeds each
week. That Christ Jesus, the great
Bridegroom, has won us the forgiveness of sins, and that we receive this
forgiveness and life everlasting from Him.
That we are those who have been baptized for the remission of sin, and
so therefore we look forward to the resurrection of the body and the life
everlasting. That’s the story, that’s
how all this stuff works. We are those
who are forgiven – that’s our job. We
are those who receive forgiveness, so that for all eternity Christ Jesus might
be glorified as our Redeemer. Because
this is the cry of heaven, this is the praise that is shown forth – Revelation
19 puts it like this: “Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” Salvation!
That’s the first thing on the list.
Do you want to know how awesome Christ Jesus is, how awesome the Reason
for this eternal party is? He saves
people – in fact, He saves you. That’s
the heart of all the praise we will sing out, that’s the heart of Christ Jesus
showing His glory – that’s the great demonstration of His Power, when He lays
down His life – that’s why you are always hearing about the Lamb who was slain
in Revelation – because it’s in His salvation that we see just how wonderful
Christ Jesus is.
And that’s how we are brought to that
feast. We receive by faith this
salvation. We receive by faith this
forgiveness and life. And that is wisdom
– remember, wisdom in the Scriptures is always tied to the Holy Spirit, the
same Spirit who opens our ears to hear, who focuses us upon Christ, who makes
us see Him and His salvation. And as for
the fool – well, the fool says in his heart there is no God. Or at least not a God who saves… not a God who
wants the point to always be about what He does. And so the fools ignore everything going on –
they ignore the plans for the wedding, whether it be having oil for their
lamps, or shoes for their feet, or hearing the Word, attending the Supper, receiving
Christ’s forgiveness. They have better
things to do, they know better, and so they miss out on it.
But you, dear friends, God has given
you wisdom. He has washed you in the
waters of Holy Baptism, He has given you your garments for the everlasting
feast. He has kept you in the faith; He
has brought you again to this place to hear His Salvation proclaimed, to
receive the forgiveness of your sins. He
even brings you to the altar for the Supper, for the foretaste of the great
feast to come. And why? Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. You do not know
when your call to the feast will be – whether it be at the hour of your death
when you fall asleep and then awaken to life everlasting, or whether it be when
Christ returns with trumpets and archangels.
But here in this place, your eyes are focused once again upon Christ
Jesus, you are made to watch Him, we all are focused not upon our own plans or
wants or whims, but upon Christ Jesus, the author and perfector of our
faith. He has provided for us all we
need – and now we simply wait for the great feast, the great party, the life of
the world to come. Come quickly, Lord
Jesus! Amen.
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