Isaiah 65:17-25/1 Thessalonians 5:1-11/St Matthew 25:1-13
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When you were baptized, the ceremony announced that you were in the company of the Ten Virgins from today’s Gospel. “Receive this burning light to show that you have received Christ who is the Light of the world. Live always in the light of Christ and be ever watchful for His coming, that you may meet Him with joy to enter with Him into the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which shall have no end” (LSB p271).
The five wise virgins, the baptismal liturgy is saying, are those who kept their baptism blameless; those who are kept in their baptismal grace and faithfully grew to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of our Lord’s holy name. That’s not something we can easily see. In the parable they all look the same. All are called “virgins.” All are waiting for the bridegroom. All are carrying lamps. All fall asleep. Yet five are wise and five are foolish. Which are you among? The wise or the foolish?
Before you answer, consider: What is wisdom? You all know by heart the Proverb, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pr 9:10). Our Lord Jesus gives you a sermon on this Proverb, saying, Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Mt 7:24). Conversely, the foolish man is the one who hears the words, but pays no attention to them. He doesn’t take them to heart, that is, meditate and inwardly digest them, but considers them mere information. Not for him. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be a like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Mt 7:26-27).
But the wise man, the wise virgin, is the one who remains in his baptismal grace; the one who remembers the Sabbath day, who continues to gladly hear and learn the Word of God. The wise virgin fears the Lord, and by His Word is founded upon the Rock which is Christ and is strongly established in the House that He built, His Church, watchful for His coming, eager to enter into the marriage feast.
Now the Bible begins and ends with marriage. In the beginning our first parents are united in holy matrimony and at the end, God in Christ unites Himself to His people, as a Bridegroom to the Bride. Elsewhere St Paul likens this earthly relationship alone - one man and one woman marriage - as the great icon of the heavenly reality: the one flesh union of Christ to His Bride the Church. The horror of this parable is that there are some who are absent and unready at the Bridegroom’s arrive, that is, at the return of the Lord Jesus.
And when will He come? The Bridegroom was delayed, the Gospel says. We do not know the hour of His coming. Why? Why has He not come yet? Because He want to fill up the number in His kingdom! God loves the birth of children. He wants more to be baptized. More to return to their Baptism. More to hear His Word of Absolution. More to receive His Son’s Body and Blood. More to be rescued from bondage to empty things and freed from their idolatry. You heard from St Paul in the Epistle to the Church in Thessaloniki. St Peter puts it this way in his letter: The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should return to 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 (2 Pt 3:9-10). And so we wait, knowing, trusting that the Lord will keep His Word. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. We wait as the company of the Ten Virgins waited in the parable.
But while the Bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. Which is to say, none of them knew the day or the hour! None had any special knowledge or read the signs of the times. According to His humanity, not even the Son of God knows the day of His return, only the Father. But the wise were prepared for the delay and so brought along reserve oil.
What is the oil? There seems to be no end to the opinions of what the oil is: good works, the law, the Word of God, steadfastness, faith, the Sacraments, repentance. In any event, it can’t be shared. Parables are analogies and any analogy pushed too far will break down. Running off road to chase after a specific correlation to the oil could leave one lost. The goal of the parable is unequivocally stated by Jesus at the end: Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
With this in mind, perhaps the oil is all of those put together. The Word of God preaches to us the law, it drives us to repentance, the Word preaches to you the Gospel, producing faith, which is never without good works. In other words, those who remain in their baptism. For your baptism daily drowns you in contrition and repentance to your sins and all evil desires and daily lifts and raises you to new life before God in righteousness and purity. The wise man, the wise woman, the wise virgins, those who are pure according to their baptismal righteousness, know they need a continual supply of the gifts of God; while the foolish virgins have a dead faith lacking repentance, trust, and good works.
In the end they try buy what cannot be purchased. Go to the dealers, the foolish virgins are told. We don’t know what happens to them other than they end up lost, out in the dark, and locked out of the wedding. According to St Paul, bad things go on in the dark. Drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, sensuality. Implied here, of course, is that the five foolish virgins are left out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. For the sudden destruction will come upon those who put their trust in the things of this world, whose hope is only for this life. Placing your trust in what is temporary you will lost what is eternal.
But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that Day to surprise you like a thief. You do not give yourself over to lust and greed and sin and the desires of the flesh. For you are children of light, children of the day. Keep awake and be sober. For lasting joy is not found in what you can purchase or petition or elect, but through being found in the company of the faithful when Christ the heavenly Bridegroom announces the consummation of the wedding and the close of the age.
So, what then, does it mean to keep watch. Again, St Peter says it is to be alert for the assaults of the devil: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in the faith! Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you (1 Pt 5:6-9).
The battle, dear Christians, is long and hard. He who lurks in the darkness tempts you to sin, to cast away your chastity, to go against your marriage vows, to act unethically, to be proud and judgmental, to be lazy in prayer and meditation on God’s Word. You belong to the day, for God has not destined you for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we might live with Him.
Therefore arm yourself with the self-same Word of the Lord, fill your lamp with it, lest through your neglect the flame of faith be extinguished. For this is your shield against all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Stay awake. Be ready. For the door, once closed, cannot be reopened. The foolish virgins cried out, Lord, Lord, open to us!, but not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Watch therefore and pray without ceasing. To miss the Bridegroom is to miss out on everything, to miss the whole point of our existence. To have the Bridegroom, to receive His coming in joy and peace is to have everything!
With repentance and eagerness, let us watch for Him at the end of this Church Year, at the end of our lives, at the end of the world. For He is coming to make all things new. And the upon the holy mountain of Zion, which is adorned as a Bride to meet her Bridegroom, He shall prepare a sumptuous feast.
And our great hymn today, known as the “King of the Chorales,” Wake, Awake!, has that beautiful sacramental rhyme: “Now come, Thou Blessed One, Lord Jesus, God’s own Son, Hail! Hosanna! We enter all the wedding hail to eat the Supper at Thy call” (LSB 516:2). The Lord’s Supper is indeed the Foretaste of the Feast to Come, the pledge and beginning of the heavenly wedding banquet given here and now to you upon earth as you wait for the Bridegroom. Stay close to this Supper, repent of your sins, and believe what Jesus here says and gives to you.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When you were baptized, the ceremony announced that you were in the company of the Ten Virgins from today’s Gospel. “Receive this burning light to show that you have received Christ who is the Light of the world. Live always in the light of Christ and be ever watchful for His coming, that you may meet Him with joy to enter with Him into the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which shall have no end” (LSB p271).
The five wise virgins, the baptismal liturgy is saying, are those who kept their baptism blameless; those who are kept in their baptismal grace and faithfully grew to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of our Lord’s holy name. That’s not something we can easily see. In the parable they all look the same. All are called “virgins.” All are waiting for the bridegroom. All are carrying lamps. All fall asleep. Yet five are wise and five are foolish. Which are you among? The wise or the foolish?
Before you answer, consider: What is wisdom? You all know by heart the Proverb, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pr 9:10). Our Lord Jesus gives you a sermon on this Proverb, saying, Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Mt 7:24). Conversely, the foolish man is the one who hears the words, but pays no attention to them. He doesn’t take them to heart, that is, meditate and inwardly digest them, but considers them mere information. Not for him. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be a like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Mt 7:26-27).
But the wise man, the wise virgin, is the one who remains in his baptismal grace; the one who remembers the Sabbath day, who continues to gladly hear and learn the Word of God. The wise virgin fears the Lord, and by His Word is founded upon the Rock which is Christ and is strongly established in the House that He built, His Church, watchful for His coming, eager to enter into the marriage feast.
Now the Bible begins and ends with marriage. In the beginning our first parents are united in holy matrimony and at the end, God in Christ unites Himself to His people, as a Bridegroom to the Bride. Elsewhere St Paul likens this earthly relationship alone - one man and one woman marriage - as the great icon of the heavenly reality: the one flesh union of Christ to His Bride the Church. The horror of this parable is that there are some who are absent and unready at the Bridegroom’s arrive, that is, at the return of the Lord Jesus.
And when will He come? The Bridegroom was delayed, the Gospel says. We do not know the hour of His coming. Why? Why has He not come yet? Because He want to fill up the number in His kingdom! God loves the birth of children. He wants more to be baptized. More to return to their Baptism. More to hear His Word of Absolution. More to receive His Son’s Body and Blood. More to be rescued from bondage to empty things and freed from their idolatry. You heard from St Paul in the Epistle to the Church in Thessaloniki. St Peter puts it this way in his letter: The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should return to 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 (2 Pt 3:9-10). And so we wait, knowing, trusting that the Lord will keep His Word. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. We wait as the company of the Ten Virgins waited in the parable.
But while the Bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. Which is to say, none of them knew the day or the hour! None had any special knowledge or read the signs of the times. According to His humanity, not even the Son of God knows the day of His return, only the Father. But the wise were prepared for the delay and so brought along reserve oil.
What is the oil? There seems to be no end to the opinions of what the oil is: good works, the law, the Word of God, steadfastness, faith, the Sacraments, repentance. In any event, it can’t be shared. Parables are analogies and any analogy pushed too far will break down. Running off road to chase after a specific correlation to the oil could leave one lost. The goal of the parable is unequivocally stated by Jesus at the end: Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
With this in mind, perhaps the oil is all of those put together. The Word of God preaches to us the law, it drives us to repentance, the Word preaches to you the Gospel, producing faith, which is never without good works. In other words, those who remain in their baptism. For your baptism daily drowns you in contrition and repentance to your sins and all evil desires and daily lifts and raises you to new life before God in righteousness and purity. The wise man, the wise woman, the wise virgins, those who are pure according to their baptismal righteousness, know they need a continual supply of the gifts of God; while the foolish virgins have a dead faith lacking repentance, trust, and good works.
In the end they try buy what cannot be purchased. Go to the dealers, the foolish virgins are told. We don’t know what happens to them other than they end up lost, out in the dark, and locked out of the wedding. According to St Paul, bad things go on in the dark. Drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, sensuality. Implied here, of course, is that the five foolish virgins are left out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. For the sudden destruction will come upon those who put their trust in the things of this world, whose hope is only for this life. Placing your trust in what is temporary you will lost what is eternal.
But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that Day to surprise you like a thief. You do not give yourself over to lust and greed and sin and the desires of the flesh. For you are children of light, children of the day. Keep awake and be sober. For lasting joy is not found in what you can purchase or petition or elect, but through being found in the company of the faithful when Christ the heavenly Bridegroom announces the consummation of the wedding and the close of the age.
So, what then, does it mean to keep watch. Again, St Peter says it is to be alert for the assaults of the devil: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in the faith! Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you (1 Pt 5:6-9).
The battle, dear Christians, is long and hard. He who lurks in the darkness tempts you to sin, to cast away your chastity, to go against your marriage vows, to act unethically, to be proud and judgmental, to be lazy in prayer and meditation on God’s Word. You belong to the day, for God has not destined you for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we might live with Him.
Therefore arm yourself with the self-same Word of the Lord, fill your lamp with it, lest through your neglect the flame of faith be extinguished. For this is your shield against all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Stay awake. Be ready. For the door, once closed, cannot be reopened. The foolish virgins cried out, Lord, Lord, open to us!, but not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Watch therefore and pray without ceasing. To miss the Bridegroom is to miss out on everything, to miss the whole point of our existence. To have the Bridegroom, to receive His coming in joy and peace is to have everything!
With repentance and eagerness, let us watch for Him at the end of this Church Year, at the end of our lives, at the end of the world. For He is coming to make all things new. And the upon the holy mountain of Zion, which is adorned as a Bride to meet her Bridegroom, He shall prepare a sumptuous feast.
And our great hymn today, known as the “King of the Chorales,” Wake, Awake!, has that beautiful sacramental rhyme: “Now come, Thou Blessed One, Lord Jesus, God’s own Son, Hail! Hosanna! We enter all the wedding hail to eat the Supper at Thy call” (LSB 516:2). The Lord’s Supper is indeed the Foretaste of the Feast to Come, the pledge and beginning of the heavenly wedding banquet given here and now to you upon earth as you wait for the Bridegroom. Stay close to this Supper, repent of your sins, and believe what Jesus here says and gives to you.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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