Last Sunday Service

St. Matthew 25:1–13

[Jesus said], “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 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. 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.’ 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 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.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. All have in common in the parable, that they become drowsy and sleep, and that at a certain time they rise and trim their lamps. The Bridegroom for whom they’ve been waiting comes at the same time for all—at midnight. But there is an important difference between them that will mean everything.

St. Paul uses a slightly different image in order to make the same point in our epistle lesson; rather than as a bridegroom coming for a wedding feast, he says that the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The images of the parable’s midnight return and the epistle’s late night intrusion both amount to a situation in which people tend to be off their guard—even vulnerable. In both cases, early and well-conceived preparation will be necessary for anyone wishing to come out on the good end of things; to have been wise rather than foolish.

Being foolish in this matter amounts to very serious consequences. Jesus had just been comparing His second coming to the days of Noah, those days before the flood when people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away (24:38,39). There, too, Jesus was talking about wise and foolish people when it comes to God’s kingdom. Noah was entering the ark he’d built in obedience to God, trusting in His Words, relying on Him. Others were existing in a false sense of security, imagining that whatever God had to say (which Noah had been preaching to them for a hundred years while he built the ark) was of no consequence; they might as well go on about their lives without care or concern. St. Paul says similarly in our epistle lesson: While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Of course, all of this darkness that’s being discussed in these verses speaks to the corruption of this world, and goes back to the problem all of us have—the problem of sin. We’re reminded here, of the fact that Jesus talks about two groups of people; but describes them as all being in the same situation: all get drowsy and sleep, all rise to trim their lamps. Similarly, all people are in this world for an unknown amount of time. The world is filled with interesting distractions. It even has God’s enemy in it, whom He calls the Prince of the this World, whose every aim is to distract people from God’s Word so long that they find themselves unprepared in the end, to meet Him—without what was required of them in order to be with God in His eternal kingdom (with hell as the only other possibility).

Jesus’ parable is about ten young women who have an opportunity to which they have looked forward with great excitement. They have served a bride as attendants at her wedding. Now, they would attend also the marriage feast held at the home of her new husband, the bridegroom. After the wedding they would customarily walk from one house to the other in the darkness with lamps lighting their way. The lamps require oil to continue burning. When they reach the bridegroom's home, they need to wait outside until he comes with his bride to begin the feast.

But the bridegroom is delayed in coming. It having become even the middle of the night, they have all gotten tired and fallen asleep. But, in a certain moment, all together are awakened to the call: the bridegroom is here! All together they rise and begin to trim their lamps, to provide for themselves the necessary light so that they might go and meet the Bridegroom and attend the marriage feast.

Here’s where a little detail we were told becomes important. While five of the ten have brought along extra oil for their lamps (prepared for any length of wait), the other five have not. In this crucial moment they are finding themselves without what they needed in order to be prepared so that they might go and do what they have desired to do, to meet the bridegroom at his coming. Having been in this fashion caught unawares, they react desperately; they turn to their wiser counterparts who’ve brought extra oil, and say, give us some of your oil. But there isn’t enough to share. It’s too late. These haven’t prepared themselves, and there isn’t any more time to do so now.

Their surprise at finding themselves in this situation reminds us of our Gospel lesson from last week, doesn’t it; the one in which Jesus separates the sheep from the goats? Those who are being sent away are surprised to be finding themselves divided from Christ and from His kingdom. They’ve presumed all along that they were headed there. Similarly in the parable, the bridegroom comes and brings those who are there, prepared, with him into the house for the marriage feast. When the others come later, they are turned away with the very haunting statement, I do not know you.

Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah speaks to this unpreparedness that is our tendency, and that Jesus warns against in the parable. It provides perspective. Nothing that would distract us here, that would get in the way of us being prepared for Christ’s return will even be remembered or come to mind in the new creation of God’s eternal kingdom. Whatever it was that was turning your attention away from God’s salvation; you didn’t need it—that’s what many will hear. It’s the former things. Nothing of it is worth missing out on what Christ—the Bridegroom brings On That Day. I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” These words have a meaning in the present about God’s exiled people returning to the earthly Jerusalem; but they’re prophetic also of the end of this world that passes away, giving way to Christ’s eternal kingdom (that’s why they’re included here, with this text on this Last Sunday of the Church Year).

Among which group of those Jesus mentions in His parable are you to be counted; among the wise, or among the foolish? That the young women need working lamps to meet the bridegroom, and that God’s Word is called a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, isn’t a coincidence. He prepares you to meet your Bridegroom—Christ at His second coming through His Word that is preached and read to you, and through it as it is present in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper. Though Christ returns at any time, like a thief in the night, like a Bridegroom returning for the wedding feast, God’s Word prepares you to meet Him. The Spirit works through it to preserve the faith He began in you in Baptism, or through the hearing of His Word. Having this faith, you are prepared by being connected to the Savior Whose perfect life provided the perfect sacrifice on a cross to pay for your sins.

That perfect blood has also paid for the sin of your unpreparedness. It has paid for every instance in which something in this passing world became more important to you than what God had to say. It has paid for an attitude you’ve sometimes had in which you figured a shallow knowledge and understanding of God’s Word is good enough (we might compare that to young women showing up to meet the bridegroom without enough oil to endure the wait for his return). It has been a dangerous situation; you’ve put yourself at spiritual risk in those moments (the result is disastrous in the parable; Jesus wants you to take note of that).

But He speaks to you His words of grace at this very moment. His very clearly stated desire is that you hear Him, and that you be counted among those who are wisely prepared for His return.

It’s why He says this morning in the Sacrament, This is My body which is given for you; This is My blood shed for you for the remission of sins. Through His sacrifice you are forgiven of sins; He gives you this very body and blood that has purchased it to assure you that it’s the case—to comfort you as you wait for Him in this world—because it might get to seem like a long wait. You will get weary of the waiting (like young women waiting for the bridegroom’s return). During this wait, were it not for Christ’s careful tending in this way (with Word and Sacrament), you might even start to wonder whether He’s coming at all. You might grow weary of waiting, and be among those who are surprised at His return, and unprepared for it. The world might have taken up your spiritual education since you have set aside God’s training. You might have become like young women who need oil to light their lamps but have none.

Certainly this warning of Christ’s won’t find its sad fulfillment in you, dear Christians. You are under the careful tending of the Bridegroom, benefiting from early and well-conceived preparation. What could be more so than the Spirit’s training through the means God has provided that sinners might reach His kingdom? You are under that training that leads to eternal life. It is none other than the declaration: Jesus died for your sins and rose to life again. Your sins are no longer held against you. You will rise to be with Him in His eternal kingdom. That is the oil that lights the lamp that leads to Christ. You have it. No matter how long the wait, at the Bridegroom’s call you will rise with everything you need to be with Him. God be praised. Amen.

Isaiah 65:17-19

[The LORD says], “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God 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 with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.