Sermon: Last Sunday - 2019

24 November 2019

Text: Matt 25:1-13 (Isa 65:17-25, 1 Thess 5:1-11)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord’s Parable of the Ten Virgins pits wisdom against foolishness. 

Ten young girls are set to attend a wedding.  The groom is going to arrive to bring them to the marriage feast.  Five of the girls are foolish, and five are wise.  The foolish “took their lamps but took no oil with them,” but “the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.”

As often happens, things did not go according to their plans and expectations.  The bridegroom was delayed.  And so the girls all fell asleep while they waited.  They were startled awake by the midnight cry that the bridegroom was coming.  Since it was now late, getting the missing oil was a problem.  So the foolish wanted the wise to share with them – but there would not be enough oil for the journey.  The foolish girls had to take the time to walk to the oil sellers instead.

The groom came while they were gone, and took the five wise young girls to the wedding feast, and the door to the hall was shut.  The foolish girls arrived late.  They pounded on the closed door.  They wanted to be let in: “Lord, lord, open to us.”  But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”

Jesus tells us the moral of the story: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

So what does it mean to be wise, and what does it mean to be foolish?  Wisdom doesn’t mean education, or even intelligence.  Foolishness doesn’t mean being uneducated or even stupid.  For there are more than enough highly-educated and even pretty smart fools to go around.

Notice that the wise girls did something that the foolish did not: they had prepared.  They invested their time and their money into getting what they needed.  The foolish had different priorities.  They used their resources in a way that was maybe more fun, but when the plans changed, they were caught unawares.  And when it was time to go, they didn’t have what they needed.

Jesus doesn’t say that the foolish girls were evil and the wise girls were righteous.  He just says that some were wise, and some were foolish; some were prepared, and some were unprepared.  

We all know the difference between being prepared and unprepared.  Having your tools before you start a job is wise.  Studying for a test with plenty of time instead of waiting until the last night is wise.  Making plans to get home some other way than driving before deciding to drink alcohol is wise.  Leaving for work early enough so that you won’t be late because of traffic is wise. 

It’s all a matter of being prepared, being ready.  And when we are unprepared, it’s usually because of bad priorities.  We make poor decisions because we don’t use our time and resources wisely, and so something bad happens because of our lack of preparation.

But of course, Jesus is not teaching us life lessons about school or work or operating a car.  He isn’t teaching us about project management or even how to operate an oil lamp.  He is teaching us about “the kingdom of heaven.”

For nobody wants to think that we could lose our salvation.  Nobody wants to think that we could end up in hell.  Nobody wants to think that we are foolish instead of wise.  But, dear friends, Jesus is telling us this story for a reason.  Don’t foolishly throw away the gift of salvation earned for you at the cross and given to you at baptism.  Like an oil lamp, the Gospel shines light where there was formerly darkness.  But what good is a lamp if it runs out of fuel.  And maybe you can get away with an empty oil lamp for a while, but when the time comes that you really need it – and it will be unexpected – you need to be prepared.

It is like having a generator with no gas in it.  Once the storm comes and you lose power, it’s too late.  It’s like not wanting to plug in your phone because you’re having fun, and then when an emergency happens, you have a dead battery.  Wisdom is making sure there’s gas in the generator, charge on the phone, and oil in the lamp.  Yes, the kingdom of heaven is like that.

Jesus is telling you right now – while there is still time – to be wise and be prepared.  Don’t let the lamp that was given to you at your baptism be empty.  An empty oil lamp won’t shine the light that you need in dark times.  An empty oil lamp is nothing more than a decoration – like a cross on the wall that is just there for show, or pictures of the your baptism that are nothing more than a reminder of a fun day.

Dear friends, you fill your lamp when you are engaged with the Word of God.  For Jesus is the Bridegroom, and we are waiting for Him to return.  St. Paul teaches us that His return will come “like a thief in the night” – when nobody expects Him.  And our lives can come to a sudden end as well, when there is no time to fill our lamps.  Don’t be foolish by letting your lamps go out!

This is not my advice; this is Jesus speaking to us.  Don’t get mad at me, I’m just the messenger.  There is no way around this parable except the fact that Jesus is warning us not to be foolish.  We are foolish when our priorities are messed up.  We are foolish when we skip church because we don’t feel like going or have something more fun to do.  We are wise when we commit to filling our lamps as often as possible with the oil of the Gospel – hearing the Word of God preached and taught.  We are wise when we attend Bible class, when we pay attention to the readings and the sermon, and when we humbly receive our Lord’s body and blood in the Sacrament.

Whether we die, or our Lord returns – we are close to eternity, dear friends.  It can happen instantly.  Even when we think “there is peace and security,” the “sudden destruction will come upon” us.  St. Paul says that we are children of light, not of darkness, for he implores us to be wise, living in the light of the Gospel and not in the darkness of misplaced priorities.  We must not let “that day” surprise us “like a thief.”  We need to be ready, dear friends.  Jesus is telling you – not someone else – you.  He is telling you to be ready – now, not tomorrow – now.  

For Jesus has already come into our world, born of the virgin Mary.  He has already paid the price for our sins on the cross.  He has already risen from the dead, conquering death.  He has already sent the Holy Spirit to guide His church to Himself, to the Word of God, to the Sacraments – even as He, the Bridegroom, is delayed, and we wait for His imminent return.  As we wait, we must use our time wisely, dear friends.  For our time is shorter than you think. 

“For behold,” says our Lord, “I create new heavens and a new earth.”  He creates a new world of joy and gladness, of life and prosperity, a world without “weeping and the cry of distress.”  It is a world like Eden, where everything and everyone is in the right place.  There will be no predators, for “the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food.”  The serpent will indeed “bite the dust” as Satan and his angels and all of those who followed him – including the foolish – will be cast into the lake of fire.  

And so we need to be wise.  We parents need to exhort our children to be wise.  We all need to encourage our families and friends to be wise.  We need to “encourage one another and build one another up” as St. Paul says.

We have a glorious banquet to attend, dear friends!  Let’s get ready!  Let’s look forward to this eternal feast.  We have a foretaste of it right here in the Eucharist, by invitation of the Bridegroom Himself, who is on the way.  Let your light shine, dear friends, fueled by the Word of God, by the Gospel, by absolution, by the regular reception of the Sacrament.  Let us be prayerfully prepared, ready at any time to meet our Lord.  And being ready, let us go in with Him to the marriage feast,” where:

“The King’s daughter shall be brought to the King; the virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.  With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; they shall enter the King’s palace.”  Amen.

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