“Be What You Are - Prepared”

Introduction: All week I have been wrestling with the parable of the Ten Virgins, our gospel lesson for today. What is Jesus saying in this parable of the Ten Virgins? What is he trying to tell His disciple and us? There are many opinions about the various details in this parable – what do the virgins, the lamps and the oil symbolize. What do they all mean? There are so many little detail in this parable. If a person isn’t careful they can get lost in the details and loose its basic message. And what is that? Keep watch and be what you are – PREPARED, prepared by God to meet your Bridegroom.

As I considered the parable of the Ten Virgins my confirmation class came to mind. Each class session, I am met by some students who have worked hard and prepared their lessons. Their lamps are full of oil and it is evidenced by the light of their answers. Other students haven’t prepared at all or only at the last minute. Their lamps don’t shine as bright. In many ways they are like the wise and foolish virgins. And so are we. Preparation - that is what the parable of the Ten Virgins is about. Jesus wants His disciples and us to know that He will come back again. Jesus is saying be prepared, expect my return. He speaks these words, “Therefore keep watch, (be prepared for my coming), you do not know the day or the hour (when I will come). As Jesus calls us to be prepared we find that He is the one that prepares us and gives us everything we need to meet Him and go with Him to His wedding celebration.

We spend our lives in preparation. As children, we crawl in preparation for walking. We babble in preparation for talking. Then we go to pre-school and elementary school to prepare for high school to prepare for college all so we can prepare to work. We prepare meals. We prepare our fields. We prepare for the holidays with the expectations of company. Almost everything we do is in preparation for something else. As our lives are filled with preparations for the activities of this life, a life that may only last a hundred years, our Lord Jesus calls us to be vigilant in our preparations for eternal life. To point this out He has given us this parable.

In Jewish weddings, at the time of Christ, it was the custom for the bridegroom to gather with his groomsmen. Together they would celebrate the wedding to come, sort of like a bachelor party. While this was going on the bride would wait for the groom at her father’s house. There the bridesmaids, waiting for the groom, would attend the bride. Usually at a late hour of the night a cry would go out, “Behold the bridegroom is coming, come out to meet him.” The bridesmaids or virgins would then light their lamps and in a celebrative parade would accompany the groom and the bride as she was taken from her father’s house to the groom’s house. As the bride entered the groom’s house the marriage was official. There was no elaborate ceremony or exchanging of vows. At the groom’s house they would celebrate with a feast, sometimes lasting for days.

The parable of the Ten Virgins tells us about the wisdom of preparation and the folly of the lack of it. This preparation includes making sure that you have oil in your lamp. All ten virgins tried to light their lamps. Those with oil were able to light their lamps and those without oil were not able. The lamps with oil worked and gave light to light the path. Those without oil were left in darkness. The lamp each virgin carries represents outward Christianity, the Christian faith as it appears to the world. It represents the outer structures of Christianity, its church buildings, organizations, denominations, charities and ceremonies. It represents the forms the Christian religion takes. The oil in the lamp represents God’s grace that is given to us in His Word and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The oil is the Holy Spirit and the faith that it creates within the human heart. The light and flame of the lamp gives light to the world. It represents the Christians confession of faith, that which is believed in the heart and spoken with the mouth. The flame also represents our good works, which are evidence to the world of the faith that dwells within the Christians heart.

The parable of the Ten Virgins is also a parable about the visible church on earth. The Virgins represent the members of this earthly church. Some of them are wise and some of them are foolish. Just as some people who bear the name of Christianity are wise and some are foolish. While in appearances all the virgins seem to be part of the bridal party, some of them lack the oil that it takes to join in the celebration. While all of them are called bridesmaids and are invited to the wedding some of them will be shut out. And it will be because of their own folly. This is the way it will be when the Lord comes again. Not everybody who says, “Lord, Lord” will be saved. Jesus will say to them, “I tell you the truth, I never knew you. These people honor the Lord with their mouths but not in their hearts. These people call themselves Christian but they have no faith in Christ. They are like the virgins that did not have oil in their lamps. They trust in the outer forms of religion and they are not ready for the coming of the bridegroom. As Jesus tells the parable, it is foolish that five of the virgins have forgotten oil. They knew better than to forget the one thing needed, faith in Jesus Christ. Instead they put their trust in other things. In our day it would be like bridesmaids showing up to a wedding without their bridesmaids dresses or the groomsmen showing up without their tuxes. It just isn’t done. It’s foolish that they are not prepared, especially since God’s grace was made available to them.

There are many preachers who proclaim the false ides of “once saved, always saved.” It is dangerous to think this way. God has saved us through the preaching of His Word and the waters of baptism. We have been born again of water and the spirit. We have been born into a world full of dangers. Satan prowls about as a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. He doesn’t care for the flesh of non- Christians. He seeks to devour you and I. He tries to undo what God has done in us, to damage, injure and even kill our faith. That is why God’s Word repeatedly teaches us to be prepared so that the gift of our faith does not grow weak and die. One of the main ways Satan tries to get at us is the way that he got at the five foolish virgins. They trusted that just having a lamp would make them part of the party. A lamp without oil is useless. Satan tries to tempt us to trust in our lamps without oil. Satan would lead us to believe that what is most important is the outer forms of our religion. He would have us trust in our Lutheran heritage or our church membership. Satan would have us focus on what we do and how we do it. He would have us get lost in school and churchly activities while loosing focus of Christ. He draws our attention to the things of this world. He tries to focus our attention on each other, judging how we live out our Christian lives. He will do anything he can to distract us from what is important. So doing, he takes our attention away from the only one that matters – Jesus, Jesus alone matters.

Do you want oil for your lamps? Jesus alone is our source of oil. Think on Jesus. Believe in Jesus. Remember Him alone. Jesus alone saves you - through His life and through His death on the cross and in His resurrection. Jesus gives us our lamps. Jesus lights our lamps and lights our path to Him. Jesus gives us oil for our lamps. By God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in us our lamps are full of oil. Jesus has become, as Isaiah said, “our oil of gladness”.

As we confess our faith in Jesus Christ we are the wise virgins of the wedding party. We need not fear the Bridegrooms coming. In Jesus God has prepared us with everything we need to meet our Savior. By faith we are ready. Trusting in Jesus alone, hearing His Word, our lamps are full. God fills our lamps as we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. God fill our lamps as we eat Christ’s body and drink His blood. And our lamps burn for a purpose, to light our way to the Savior and so that our light would shine among the people of the earth as we point the way to our Savior.

Ten Virgins, twenty confirmands and as members of this congregation, we know that we will be distracted at times, even often. We will be distracted by the affairs of this life, church life, family life, and work. Some times these things will be more important than the Lord Himself. We will act like the foolish virgins not preparing for our Saviors coming. Thankfully, there is forgiveness for us in our folly - forgiveness in Jesus alone. Through God’s power He has enabled us to be like wise virgins, prepared with the oil He Himself has given. We can live our lives in anticipation of the Bridegrooms coming. We look forward to His wedding feast, a taste of which we celebrate here today.

As we close the church year today and enter into Advent next week we look for Christ’s coming with great anticipation. We anticipate the one who came and who is to come again. Keep watch! Jesus the Bridegroom is coming. Your lamps are full. Be what you are – PREPARED, prepared by God to receive your Bridegroom. Amen.

Matthew 25 1-13

“Be What You Are - Prepared”