Arise and Shine :: Matthew 25:1-13
We spend a significant portion of our life waiting. We wait for appointments, phone calls and stop lights like that one at Routes 7 and 52 in Clinton.
In the spring we wait for school to be recessed, and in the summer we wait for it to begin. In the fall we wait for the leaves to drop so we can rake them up until right before the first snowfall. We then wait for Christmas and for spring.
When a man enlists in the Marine Corps, the first thing he learns is to hurry up and wait. If you aren’t early, then you are late. Of course, then, that means you have to wait.
To be sure, waiting has its rewards. As Christians, we eagerly await Jesus Christ to return so that the faithful will receive the crown of eternal life, as God wipes away every tear from our eyes and our bodies are made whole and free of sin and pain. Then, behold, we will see a new heavens and a new earth (Rv 21:1). The past, the present and the future will be united into a new time, one without beginning or ending, a time of perpetual joy, a time without death haunting our every move.
I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait.
Come, Lord Jesus.
The Gospel reading today is a parable about this very wait.
In the words of Philipp Nicolai’s hymn it rings out ...
Wake, awake, for night is flying, the watchmen on the heights are crying,
Awake, Jerusalem, arise!
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins builds in this anticipation.
It goes like this: Ten virgins, following the custom of the time, are attending the bride while waiting for the groom to take her home. Given the Jewish marriage customs of the day, this expectant waiting likely would have been at least nine months. While waiting, we learn that five of the virgins are foolish and five are wise. What distinguishes the foolish from the wise is faithfulness to the Word of God and his sacraments which nourish us as we wait.
Five of them take only their lamps with them; the other five take extra oil.
Together, they wait.
We Americans don’t understand all this waiting.
The Jewish marriage custom is unlike anything we have seen. See, we know exactly when the bride and groom are coming. Today, we send invitations with a date and time of the wedding, and the choice of beef or chicken.
But when Jesus told this Parable of the Ten Virgins ... the big day was known only to the groom. And he would wait for the right moment, his moment to shine. Then, immediately before his arrival, he sent forth his groomsmen to announce to everyone that the time for waiting was over and the marriage feast was to begin.
The groom would lead his bride on the longest road to the couple’s new home ... and everyone, from six to sixty, the Jewish saying goes, would follow the beat of the marriage drum. The rabbis even agreed a man could stop studying the scriptures for the party. The couple were treated as prince and princess in the happiest week of their lives.
As the parable develops, the waiting builds. Here, the groom is delayed ... until the virgins become so drowsy that they all fall asleep. Suddenly, the cry is heard, the groomsmen run through the streets, crying out:
Midnight hears the welcome voices, and at the thrilling cry rejoices,
Oh, where are ye, ye virgins wise?
And so the virgins awake and trim their lamps. Suddenly, the foolish realize just how foolish they really are. They realize they don’t have enough oil.
Give us some of yours, they demanded of the wise virgins. Our lamps are dying, and we will be left in darkness.
Sorry, the wise say. We can’t give you any oil because we don’t ... and won’t ... have enough for both of us. Go gather some for yourselves if you can.
While they were gone, the Groom arrived ... and he led the wise ones, that is the maids of honor, into the banquet hall for the feast, and He shut the door. The foolish five were locked out ... forever.
This parable is like a beacon in the night. The bridegroom is Christ. The virgins are the church. Some of us are wise, and some of us are foolish. While we wait, some of us hear the gospel, and others remain tone deaf to the promises of God, convinced the scriptures are all about putting your best life forward, about obeying the golden rule, about ...
See, they say, I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs. See how good I am.
So Jesus beckons ... haven’t you been listening to the divine service?
Have you been despising preaching and God’s Word?
Have you been holding it sacred and gladly hearing and learning it?
Would you rather be somewhere else right now?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have faith in Jesus long to receive more of the promises of God as often as possible. Those who have faith in Jesus return to their baptism daily and confess their sins. They hear God’s declaration of grace and believe it. Those who have faith in Jesus long to receive the Lord’s Supper with joy knowing your sins are forgiven. Those who have faith in Jesus know for certain you are not destined for wrath but are destined to obtain the Lord’s salvation (1 Th 5:9).
Those who have faith ... wait, awake ... in faith for God to call to his faithful ...
Come thou Blessed One, Lord Jesus, God’s Own Son. Hail, Hosanna!
We enter all thy wedding hall, to eat the supper at thy call.
In this parable, the Lord is definitely speaking to you and me. We know that not everyone who attends church is actually a Christian.
Some are undoubtedly wise ... recognizing that when you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. Some are undoubtedly foolish, thinking there must be more than one way into the banquet hall.
Some of us may be like those in the parable of the sower ... believing for a while but falling away quickly because they have waited too long. Some might be just lukewarm Christians who attend church only out of habit. Some may doubt scripture. Some may be allowing themselves to be deceived by false teachers who distort the gospel.
We do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
In the name of Jesus, repent.
The folly of the foolish five doesn’t merely lead to embarrassment, but to terrible peril. When Jesus returns on the clouds in glory ... just as he promised ... the doors of heaven will shut to those who ignore the gospel. Like the foolish five, those who have exhausted their oil, their faith, will not be admitted to the marriage feast.
The Lord does not consider your outward religious profession. He will see whether you are wearing the wedding garment he prepared for you (Mt 22:12). He will recognize that you have all the oil of gladness you need (Heb 1:9).
As we just sung a little while ago ...
Zion hears the watchmen singing, and all her heart with joy is springing.
She wakes, she rises from her gloom.
I suppose you could say this parable sounds harsh or even legalistic. The virgins were given one shot, just one, to be prepared ... and five of them blew it. More than that, we sometimes ask, Why didn’t the five wise virgins share their oil? Well, as scripture reminds us, you can’t have faith in Jesus for someone else. Everyone has to believe for themselves. It is the faith of Jesus that saves you. He is the one who gives you faith, as you hear his promises. He has called you to join the saints in Zion.
Now let all the heavens adore thee,
let saints and angels sing before thee, with harp and cymbal's’ clearest tone.
And we have every reason to rejoice and be glad while we wait, to say evermore God is great. We who are poor and needy know for certain that Jesus has lifted the curse of sin and death from us through his life, his death, his resurrection. And more than that we know he has ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us while we wait. And on the last day he will raise you and me and all the dead and give eternal life to you and me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true, just as our reading from Thessalonians reminds us.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
This was all made possible, because on the darkest day the earth has ever known. The light of the world died for you. The sinless one waited until just the right time to face the full wrath of the Father for you on the cross. God let his justice roll down like waters and righteousness upon Christ on his cross. And in exchange, your Lord gave you his robe of righteousness, as he continues to bathe the faithful in his nourishing waters of baptism.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, now we can wait eagerly for the second coming of our Lord, who overcame death and ascended into heaven, where he is preparing a place for you at his feast of forgiveness. Fear not while you wait ...
OUR LORD HAS SUPPLIED ALL THE OIL YOU NEED AS YOU AWAIT THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS PROMISE TO USHER YOU INTO THE FEAST
Until then, arise and shine and bask in the glow of salvation through your Lord Jesus Christ, awake, while you wait.