Matthew 25:1-13
1 At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
Are You Ready?
Mr. Sting. Grade 9 biology. That’s when I first learned this lesson. Where I grew up, Grade 9 was the start of high school. It was a big deal. It was very different than grade school. There were projects and homework assignments that would span months. It was the first time in my life that I had to look forward and plan ahead.
Little did Mr. Sting know, I had two older brothers. They both had Mr. Sting for biology too, so I wasn’t going to be caught unprepared. I knew even before the first day of school, that Mr. Sting was going to assign us a year-long project to collect 50 different species of insect.
I was smart. I started collecting those bugs in the spring of my Grade 8 year. I was carefully scouring the trails we hiked on our holiday in New Mexico. I was going to be done before school started. All my classmates were going to be freaking out. They’d struggle to find anything other than a common fly or ladybug or earwig. I’d have beetles and moths they’d never seen before.
OK. I wasn’t quite done before school started. But I was more than halfway there and most of the insects that I had collected had come from hundreds of miles away. The last 10-20 would be a breeze.
But then winter came and there weren’t as many bugs around. Plenty of time. I could wait until spring.
But then, I picked up an early morning class that started an hour before anyone else. I started training for the track and field season that took all my afternoons and weekends. And before you knew it, the deadline was a week away and I had exactly the same number of specimens I did on day 1.
I did not get an A on that assignment. I barely escaped failure. What happened? I was so prepared!
I don’t know, maybe I’ve told you too much about myself, but I suspect you’ve had a Mr. Sting moment too. “Retirement is so far away. I don’t need to start saving right now. That sounds like a future-me problem. I’ll get started on that later.” “The car’s been running great. Why should I bother squirreling money away for a vehicle that’s fully operational? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” “It was a short night after a long week. I don’t feel like working out this morning. I can squeeze a workout in later.”
You know how those stories all end, don’t you? Underfunded. Transportationally crippled. Out of shape. There are so many different ways to be caught unprepared, and there are so many consequences we inflict upon ourselves that could easily be avoided. It’s one thing to get a C on a biology project. It’s another to have the door of heaven slammed in your face and hear your God say to you, “I don’t know you.”
That’s what we heard today in our Gospel. Jesus told a parable about what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.[1]
In the ancient near east, weddings looked a little different than they do today. There was a formal betrothal where the man and the woman were legally and publicly bound together as husband and wife. But then the husband would go back home and get his house in order – for a couple days, weeks, months – before he’d come back to his wife’s family to bring her to their new home together. That’s what these virgins are waiting for.
The thing is, 1) they didn’t have cell phones in the ancient near east to call ahead and let people know exactly when to expect them, and 2) every groom was different and every home needed a different amount of time to prepare. So, you might get a ballpark estimate, but that’s about the best you could do. And these virgins, i.e. these “bridesmaids,” if you will, had a very important job: sending off the bride to her new marital home, so they had to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Some were, and some weren’t. Some got invited to the wedding banquet. The others were locked outside. And that’s the warning Jesus gives to you.
Are you prepared for him to come back? Or has your faith’s fast start given you a false sense of security? “I went through Bible Basics. I memorized all the parts of the catechism. I’ve helped out a bunch at my church. I can coast for a bit and be just fine. Pick up where I left off and it’ll be like nothing happened.”
Are you prepared? Or are you distracted? You’re here. Great! How’s your attention span? Is the main thing still the main thing? Or have you gotten so lost in all the issues that you’ve lost the thread of your faith? Are you so concerned about how to find answers that you’ve forgotten what the real problem is – not the demonstrators, not the agendas, not the algorithm, not the diagnosis, or the threat of death, but the eternal death waiting for you if you’re not right with God?
It’s too simple to say, “If Jesus came back today, would he let you into heaven?” What about tomorrow? What about when you’re staring down the barrel of a deadline, or disciplining your child, or juggling money or treatment schedules? The odds are pretty slim that Jesus will come back during the absolution on a Sunday morning. Do you have the stamina to stick with your faith all the time – every day, every minute, your whole life long? Who does?
Jesus did. He’s your bridegroom after all. He’s the one coming to take you home with him forever. The promise was made thousands of years ago: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”[2] From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God was focused on the wedding banquet that would restore his lost, sinful people to their loving Creator-God.
And he never lost sight of it. He never grew disinterested in you. He never got distracted by the shiny and exciting or the evil and depressing. He didn’t show patience and restraint with Adam and Eve, and give them and their children and grandchildren time to sort it all out and then promise himself that he’d revisit this whole salvation thing again in a couple thousand years. He recommitted his love for you over and over and over again – from the promises that were reiterated to Abraham and David, to the prophecies that were provided through Isaiah and Malachi, to the birth of his Son, who spent every minute of every day of his entire life loving you.
Can you imagine how exhausting it must have been for him? All the times that, had you been in his place, you would have given up or taken a break? Can you imagine the presence of mind it took to see every moment as an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to you? It’s unfathomable. But Jesus did it!
He went all the way to the cross without making a single mistake, so that his perfect life and innocent death could wash all your guilt away, i.e. so that his faithfulness could not only overcome but forgive your unfaithfulness. That’s how much your bridegroom loves you. He committed himself to you, like a husband does to his wife. And when he ascended into heaven, it was with a promise, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”[3]
Jesus is coming back. He’s coming to bring you to his Father’s house in heaven. He didn’t choose you because you’re the most beautiful bride. He didn’t choose you because you’re the most qualified. He didn’t choose you because you’re faithful and vigilant. He chose you because he is. He chose you simply out of love – a one-way love that doesn’t depend on you or your promises, but on him and his.
I don’t know if you know this, but Jesus has already kept all of his promises. He came to earth, just as his Father said. He lived his life according to the letter and the spirit of the law. He gave his life as the sacrifice for your sin, and rose from the dead to give you the confidence that you will too. Jesus has already kept all his promises, with one exception that we’re still waiting for – his return to take you home.
Are you ready? Do you have enough oil in your lamp, and do you know where to refill it?
You can’t rely on anyone else to do it for you. Your mom and dad can’t get you into heaven; but they can take you to church where you hear God’s Word. Your brothers and sisters – your fellow members – can’t vouch for you; but they can encourage with God’s Word. Because it is God’s Word that is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path. It’s God’s Word that points you to Jesus as your Saviour from sin. It’s God’s Word through which the Holy Spirit works in your heart by faith. It’s God’s Word that prepares you for an eternity in house of your Heavenly Father.
Are you ready? More ready that I was on that day in May when my insect project came due, because there are no last second preparations for you to make, no mad scramble to meet the minimum passing requirements. It’s all been done for you by Jesus. All that’s left for you to do is live in the light of his love, and when it grows dim because you’re getting distracted or you’ve lost your focus, return to his Word to be filled up again, until that day when your bridegroom keeps his last promise and welcomes you into your wedding banquet with him forever. Amen.
[1] Matthew 25:1
[2] Genesis 3:15
[3] John 14:1-3