Prepared by Faith :: Matthew 25:1-13
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
The word for our meditation today comes from our Gospel reading in Matthew 25.
[Introduction]
Jesus said: Keep watch, therefore, because you know neither the day nor the hour (v 13).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is an earnest warning from our Lord to be prepared.
Be prepared ... because He is coming soon to judge the living and the dead.
Be prepared ... because it will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye.
Be prepared ... because when the Wedding Feast of the Lamb begins, the doors will be shut.
Be prepared.
In our Gospel reading today from Matthew 25, spoken days before his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus says that the wise will be prepared, and the foolish will not be (vv 4, 8).
4. So which one are you ... one of the foolish or one of the wise?
Don’t try to answer that question too quickly. Instead, prepare yourself to do that by listening again to God’s Word on this matter. Jesus said, the kingdom of the heavens will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish and five were wise for when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take with them oil, but the wise took oil in flasks with their lamps (vv 1-4).
You could say the ten virgins are a picture of the church on earth. The church on earth is the bride of Christ. We are waiting for Jesus to come again. We know he’s coming ... we just don’t know when. In this Christian church, the ten virgins all look the same. They look like family. They look as innocent as newborns. We are all excited at first to hear the Good News that Jesus is coming. So we have all taken up our station to wait for Jesus. We have all been given lamps to let our light shine forth in the darkness. The only difference between these virgins is that some have oil and some do not have oil. ... That is, some are wise, and some are foolish. When we throw this parable alongside last week’s reading, we even see that some are sheep and some are goats.
None of us are able to look at each other and know who has oil for their lamps. You may know the person next to you really well. But none of us know, just by looking, who is one of the five who are prepared. Only God knows who has faith that saves. But you should know if you do. As Paul told us today in our epistle reading ... [He] has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live through him (1 Th 5:9-10). God desires all to be saved. So Paul, like Jesus, is saying ... Be prepared.
The question then is, who among us hears the Gospel? Who is prepared?
Who among us has oil, and who among us does not? Who is prepared?
Whereas we are all in church ... like the ten virgins ... not all of us hear the Gospel. Some of us hear only the Law. We are not prepared. ... Some of us hear and receive the Gospel. We are prepared. ... Some of us think we can do something to achieve salvation. We are not prepared. ... Some of us have faith. Some of us have oil. Some are prepared.
To illustrate preparedness, Jesus then said, As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. Then in the midst of the night, there was a cry. ... Behold! ... The Bridegroom! Come out [for the purpose of] meeting him. Then all those virgins were raised, and they trimmed their own lamps (vv 5-7).
3. The foolish were not prepared because they had no oil.
Their lamps had become nothing but pretty decorations ... utterly useless. Then the foolish said to the wise, Give us [some of] your oil because our lamps are going out (v 8).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, you cannot give your faith to someone else. You cannot increase your faith. You can not buy more faith. Your faith is not a quality of your character. You cannot measure your faith. You are not the source of your faith. We are saved by GRACE ... THROUGH faith ... and this is not of yourselves, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8).
To be sure, as the evangelist to the Hebrews proclaims, faith is a confident hope ... [It is] the conviction of what is not seen (Hb 11:1). In other words, it is the confidence that God has in fact united himself with you ... shed his blood for you ... for there is no forgiveness without blood. Faith is the confidence that he is giving you communion ... a communion first with himself and then by extension with each other. He does this on account of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus there is no forgiveness.
You know you have this faith, as Peter says, when ... though you have not seen him ... you love him ... and even though you do not see him now, you have faith in him, and are filled with a glorious and inexpressible joy as you await the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pt 1:8-9). You know you have this faith because you actually listen for the Gospel and receive the sacraments. These means of grace, God’s Word and sacraments, give us the oil that prepares us for the coming of Christ. If you can’t hear the Gospel, if you don’t receive the Gospel, you will not have faith. The Gospel is rooted in the word of the cross ... which come through proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments.
How awful would it be if you chose something other than hearing God’s Word and receiving his sacraments?
Then Jesus said, While [the foolish virgins] were going to buy [oil for themselves], the bridegroom came, and those who were prepared went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Then later, the remaining virgins came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But in answering, he said, Amen, I say to you, I don’t know you (vv 10-12).
2. The wise are prepared by hearing and receiving the gifts of God.
He has prepared you for his return ... first, by taking your place on the cross. The wages of your sin is death ... that is, permanent separation from God. But God does not desire the death of a sinner. So Jesus took your place. Jesus was born without sin ... so that he could live without sin and die for you sin. Jesus was crucified on the cross for your sin. He endured such verbal abuse from sinners against himself so that you may not grow weary in your souls and thus become slack (Hb 12:3). But because God is Just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus ... who has oil ... Jesus was raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since, through a man came death, the resurrection of the dead [comes] through a man, that is Jesus (1 Cor 15:20-21). He is now risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
More than that, he has prepared you by baptizing you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ... He has prepared you by washing you clean ... by passing you from death into eternal life. He has given you eternal life now, preparing you by clothing you with the robes of righteousness to wear during his marriage feast. The call is about to sound forth. The feast that is about to begin.
It would be most wonderful if the call to arise and meet the Bridegroom actually came during the Divine Service. This is the hour in which he gives us a foretaste of this feast to come. Here, he prepares your heart to receive him in faith ... where he opens your ears to hear his Absolution ... the word of peace ... the word of forgiveness, This is the hour in which he blesses you with the gifts of heaven ... his body and blood that strengthen your faith and give you life and salvation! His means of grace keep you prepared for the day and time we can’t predict.
1. So take heart, ye virgin wise, you can rest in the certainty of Christ’s Amen.
Amen is the word of certainty ... knowing we are prepared.
We say Amen at the end of prayers to express our firm faith that God hears us and will answer our prayers. We say Amen at a Baptism to confess God’s sure promise we are forgiven and free ... that we have eternal life now. We say Amen after we receive Absolution because we are confident that as far as the east is from the west, this is how far God removes our transgressions from us. We say Amen when we receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins because we confess that we are certain that we have Communion with Christ ... that is unity with him. We say Amen knowing we have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We say Amen to the benediction that The LORD [does] bless you and keep you; that The LORD [does] make his face shine upon you and [is] gracious unto you; that The LORD [does] lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (Nm 6:24-26). We say Amen because we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has indeed put his name upon us and prepared us for the hour we hear the welcome voices, and at the thrilling cry, rejoices (LSB 516:1).
YOU HAVE BEEN PREPARED BY FAITH
[Conclusion]
So keep watching and waiting because we know not the day nor the hour.
Keep watching and waiting, singing with everlasting joy (Introit).
Yes, keep watching and waiting ... knowing you are prepared ... in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Now may the Lord of Peace grant you peace at all times in every way (2 Th 3:16).