Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Matthew
25:1-13)
But at
midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”
Prayer: Heavenly
Father, send us the Holy Spirit, so that by your grace we may believe your holy
word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. And today is
a kind of New Year’s Eve before we begin a new year of our lives with Jesus, a
new year of living our life next to him and with him next to us, a new year of our
sin and his forgiveness, a new year of expectation and hope in Jesus.
And our Gospel reading today sets before our eyes a
parable. And with each parable there is a great mystery, a profound reality
that is so wonderful and is so magnificent that words almost can’t describe it.
The gospel today starts with the words: “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten
virgins.”
Why can’t Jesus tell us what the kingdom of heaven is? Why
can’t he describe it piece by piece, and actually give us a living picture of
what it is?
Of course, he could if he wanted to. But it would be too
much for us. It would be too magnificent, too glorious, too wonderful that we
wouldn’t believe him even if he did tell us. So Jesus always tells us a
parable.
The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
The kingdom of heaven is
like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was
all leavened.
The kingdom of heaven is
like treasure hidden in a field.
The kingdom of heaven is
like a merchant is search of fine pearls.
The kingdom of heaven is
like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
The kingdom of heaven
will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
All these pictures – all these parables – one mystery
after another. And each of these parables is like holding a crystal up to the
light and the sun shines through it with a different pattern, from a different
angle, with a different perspective.
And no one sermon could fully explain even the smallest parable
in all its richness and all its detail.
In fact, in our reading today, the banquet is not even
described. All we know is that the five wise virgins went in with the
bridegroom and the door was shut.
We cannot begin to imagine what wonderful things are
hidden behind that wonderful door! We cannot begin to fathom just how wonderful,
how joyful, how happy, our glorious our life together with Jesus in eternity
can possibly be!
Our earthly life is just such a small speck on the surface
of our life. From the time we were in our mother’s womb, our life was begun not
for this small time, but for rest of eternity. The small, tiny journey through
this valley of tears, the valley of the shadow of death is nothing compared
with what be revealed to us by our heavenly bridegroom!
St Paul says in Romans 8: “For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is
to be revealed to us.”
And nevertheless, our Lord Jesus Christ paints us the
picture of 10 virgins.
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.
Do you see that all the virgins were there to await the
bridegroom! All of them are virgins, all of them have lamps! And all of them
are asleep!
Just like Peter, James and John in the Garden of
Gethsemane. All of them were told to watch while Jesus went to pray, and all of
them failed. All of them fell asleep!
Here Jesus shows us a picture of what this earthly life
really is. We are asleep. We are overshadowed with a grey haze of drowsiness,
of dreams, of confusion. Unbelievers think that Christians are the crazy ones.
Karl Marx called religion the opium of the people. People today think they are
so clever, so scientific, so enlightened, so wise, so knowledgeable.
We are living in a world of fools! Psalm 14 says, “The
fool says in his heart, ‘There is no god’.”
And the foolish virgins in our reading say in their
hearts, “There is no bridegroom.” The foolish virgins have lamps, but they
either think that the bridegroom is not coming, or they think that he doesn’t
care about these silly lamp-lighting customs.
What a serious, tragic, awful word it is at the end of the
reading: “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do
not know you.”
See the connection between these things: There five
foolish virgins, they have no oil for their lamps, and the bridegroom says, “I
do not know you.”
St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: “For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall now
fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Do you see that what we can see about our life, and what
we can know about our life is only a small part of the reality. We can’t see
God. We can’t see him at work. We can’t discern what plans he has for our
lives. But he knows. He knows us fully, we only know in part. We only see in a
mirror dimly. We are sleeping. We are in the dark.
But there is one message that the Christian church has
cried out from century to century, from year to year, from day to day. Where
the Christian church has stopped proclaiming this message, the Christian church
has died, and it has run out of oil. And the message is simply this: there will
come a time when we will wake up from our sleep and the bridegroom will call us
to himself. When that time comes we should be ready and waiting for him and
prepared, with lamps trimmed and burning.
From year to year the church throughout all time has said,
“The end is near!” “Wake up, be ready!” And the world looks at this suffering
church, carrying the cross on its back from year to year following its crucified
bridegroom, and all it sees is a clown on the stage, telling everyone to get
out of the theatre because the roof iss on fire. And everyone laughs!
But they are the fools, not us. But it’s not just the
unbelievers, the mockers, the scoffers, who don’t understand. There are plenty
of Christians themselves who have not heard this message and taken it to heart.
There are plenty of Christians who consider themselves waiting for the
bridegroom, but the truth of the matter is that they simply don’t believe he is
coming. They look at centuries of Christians proclaiming this same message, and
they say, “Christians have always thought that they are living close to the
end! It’s no different now.”
Listen to these words from 2 Peter: “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own
sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever
since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the
beginning of creation.”… But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with
the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The
Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach
repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the
heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up
and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be
exposed.”
So are you a wise virgin or a foolish virgin? Are you
ready for the bridegroom? Are you lamps trimmed? Have you brought oil? Are your
lamps burning?
Jesus says: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day
nor the hour.”
Psalm 119 says: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a
light to my path.” Do you gladly listen to and learn the powerful living words
of God?
Let the word of God be your lamp!
But what about the oil? What is the oil that makes the
lamp burn?
It is one thing to hear the word of God, and the word of
God is living and active in itself. But you must not reject it, and you must
not reject its power. The Word of God is not an empty word, it is not a whole
bunch of rhetoric, of poetic niceties, of expressions, of turns of phrase, of
jokes, of games, of tricks. The Word of God is living and active. It will
pierce you through and kill you and it will raise you to everlasting life. It
will bring you down into the deepest pit and it will raise you up to the
highest heaven.
But what so many Christians today don’t realise is that
the Word of God, the very words of Scripture themselves are full of the Holy
Spirit, they are living words, full of eternal life, overflowing with God’s
mercy. People think that they only have the Holy Spirit when they feel good.
But you were created by the Word of God—it is the Words of God that are filled
with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God. They are not living and
active because they sound nice or they make me feel good, but they are living
and active because they are true, they are powerful, and they reveal to you the
burning love of God your heavenly Father.
If we don’t recognise this, then our lamps will remain
empty. May God send us his Holy Spirit that our ears may hear his word!
Our bridegroom will come, and he will call us! But the
kingdom of heaven is not simply something that we will only taste in the
future, but it is something that we are made part of right here and now.
At the end of the book of Acts we read that St Paul was
“proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with
all boldness and without hindrance.”
Two things St Paul was talking about: the kingdom of God,
and Jesus Christ. These two things go together. Because wherever the word of
God is spoken, the Holy Spirit is given. Where the Holy Spirit us, there is
Christ, true God and true man. And where Christ is, there is the Holy Spirit.
Wherever Christ the King is, there is his kingdom, and he gives to all the
citizens of his kingdom to drink abundantly from the deep fountains of his Holy
Spirit.
So here in the church on earth, we have a wonderful gift
given to us by God: we are part of a living kingdom, through the forgiveness of
sins, spoken to us in the church week after week, given to us in baptism, the
Lord’s Supper and in the preaching and absolution of the church.
Holy baptism is not an empty lamp. It is filled with the
Holy Spirit and with God’s Word. The bread and wine is not an empty lamp. It is
filled with the body and blood of Christ, so that his kingdom may grow and
increase in us. The forgiveness of sins which you hear today is not fake, but
it is living and real, in such a way that it is in actual fact Christ’s own
forgiveness that is spoken to you.
And when you believe this, that the gospel is for you,
that these things are given for you and for the forgiveness of your sins, then
the lamp of your body and of your soul is not left empty, but is filled with
the living power and energy of God’s own Holy Spirit and is kept burning
through the presence of your heavenly bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are living in a dark world, and we are living in dark
times. Many people have rejected the living oil of God’s Holy Spirit. Many
families who were once Christians have rejected their living master Jesus
Christ as the head of their family. Many churches have rejected their living
master as the head of their church. The old churches have stopped reading the
bible, and sects and cults have picked the dusty bible off the shelf, twisting
the words to suit their own fantasies. And so many Christians treat the word of
God like a dead thing, a lamp that has gone out, and that the real work of
Christianity is to build some sort of social-justice earthly kingdom here.
Wake up! Awake, sleeper, from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The marriage feast is already here, the bridegroom is
already here, the marriage supper of the Lamb of God is here, the Supper of the
Lord is here, the oil for your lamps is here. Taste and see that the Lord is
good! Let your Lord Jesus draw you to himself, so that where he is you may be
also!
Let the last words of Jesus in the last book of the bible be
your motto, and your life: “Surely, I am coming soon.” And let his beloved
bride sigh in return, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” Your tears will not be in vain.
“I am coming!” he says. Yes, Lord Jesus, draw me after you. Let us run! Let the
world with is sufferings and its tribulations be gone! Let your cross be mine!
Let my joy be full!
Our gospel reading today is about the kingdom of heaven.
It is the kingdom of heaven that is like ten virgins who took their lamps and
went to meet the bridegroom. At midnight
there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then those
virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. Watch therefore, for you know neither the
day nor the hour.
Amen.
When darkness round me gathers,
Thy name and cross, still bright,
Deep in my heart are sparkling
Like stars in blackest night.
O heart, this image cherish:
The Christ on Calvary,
How patiently He suffered
And shed his blood for me! Amen.
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