Text: Proper 27A
SN: 0034 11/13/23
Be Prepared, Not Surprised
What does it mean to be prepared? If I tell my catechism students to prepare for an upcoming test, I’m hoping they will study. If you are going to buy a new car or a new house, you do research. If we hear on the news that it will snow, we plan accordingly. Sometimes, we may go a little crazy with our preparations, but generally, we think it’s good to be prepared. We’re very good at preparing for things we know will happen, but how good are we at preparing for the unexpected? It’s hard to maintain a constant level of alertness. It’s easy to fall back into routines and begin to miss details. It’s easy to become complacent. This is especially true if we are expected to remain alert and prepared for an extended period of time.
This attitude of complacency is precisely what Jesus is warning his people about with the parable of the Wise and Foolish virgins. The church has been expectantly waiting for the Lord’s return for a long time. And, as individual Christians, it's easy to think that Christ’s return is still a long way off. But we have no idea when he will return. It could be today, tomorrow, or a hundred years from now. We also have no idea when we ourselves will die. This is why Jesus gives us this warning. He wants us to be prepared and not surprised by his return.
As the disciples were leaving the temple courts with Jesus, they were overawed by the large and splendid buildings. Jesus warned them not to be too impressed by these great buildings because they would soon be destroyed. Jesus then uses this discussion as an opportunity to warn his disciples about the end of the world. He tells them about the signs that will signal the end of all things. Wars, famines, false prophets, and persecutions will all be signs that the end will soon come. But Jesus also warns his disciples not to worry about the exact day or hour he will return. God has kept the precise time of the end of the world hidden. One of the reasons that he has done this is so that his people are always prepared for his return.
Jesus illustrates the importance of being prepared with the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. In this parable, the groom is going from his house to the house of the bride, where they will celebrate the marriage feast. On the way, he will be met by a group of the bride’s friends who will greet him with lit lamps and form a joyful procession to the feast. But the groom is delayed, and the young women fall asleep during the wait. Suddenly, there is a cry in the night, “The bridegroom approaches!” The young women awake and prepare their lamps, but five of them are not prepared. They were not ready for a long wait, and their lamps had gone out. They beg the others for oil, but they can spare none. The five unprepared women rush away to find oil and miss the groom's arrival. When they return, it’s too late, and they are locked out of the party.
In this parable, Jesus is the groom, and ten virgins represent individual believers. Just like the groom was a long time in coming, so Christ has been a long time in his return. This parable is a harsh reminder to us not to become complacent in our faith. We want to be prepared to meet our king not surprised when he returns. But it is so easy to be distracted by the cares and concerns of this world. We have countless things that are clamoring for our attention. We never seem to have enough time, and it’s easy to allow all those other things to take precedence in our lives over God’s Word. Do we faithfully come to church each Sunday? Or do we let sports, work, or sleep have priority? Do we read and study God’s Word, or do we watch one more episode of our favorite show?
Dear friends, it is so easy to become complacent in our faith. This parable is a warning that we should not take that faith for granted. What will our Lord find when he returns? Christians who are actively living their faith, or Christians who don’t look any different than the world? We are surrounded by temptations on every side. Allowing sin of any kind to take root and grow in our hearts can destroy our faith. Then, we will be like the five foolish virgins who ran out of oil. We will not be ready to meet our king, and the door to heaven will be shut. Just think of the terrible words of judgment that Jesus speaks to those who were not ready for his return, “Amen, I tell you: I do not
know you.” This is the fate of all who do not believe in Jesus as their Savior. They will be eternally barred for the joy of heaven and the love of God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this parable is a harsh warning that we should always be prepared for the return of our king. On the one hand, we are filled with dread, knowing that we have not always been as prepared as we should be, but on the other, we look forward in joyful anticipation to that great and glorious day. Dear friends, we have been invited to the great and glorious wedding feast. This is an invitation of pure grace. When we think about our lack of preparation, we know we have done nothing to earn or deserve this invitation. We should be locked outside like the foolish virgins, but instead, we have been invited in.
We receive this invitation through faith in Christ our Savior. While we may not be faithful in our preparation, Christ was always faithful. He perfectly resisted the temptation of the devil in the wilderness, and he remained obedient to the will of his Father. He was obedient even to death on the cross. Christ was prepared to face the torments of death and hell for us. He willingly offered himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the whole world. All this he did because he loved us and wanted us to be his own. Through his blood, we have received the forgiveness of sin and an invitation to the great and glorious wedding feast that awaits us in heaven. We receive just a foretaste of that heavenly banquet each week as we come forward to receive body and blood, bread and wine.
This was symbolized in many older churches that had communion rails that were half circles. As we gather around visibly on one half, we are to think of the other invisible half. The great feast of all those who have been called home by our Father. This is the certainty we have in the resurrection of Christ. Death is not the end but just the beginning of the eternity of joy at the great wedding feast of our Savior.
What an amazing invitation. Think of the joy we have attending wedding celebrations in this life. Think of the preparations we are willing to go through for those celebrations. We have an invitation to a far greater feast than any celebration this world can offer. In the same way, we don’t neglect our preparations for an earthly wedding; let us not neglect our preparations for the wedding feast of our king. In our reading from 1 Thessalonians this morning, the Apostle Paul encourages us to live as sons of the light. But you, brothers, are not in the dark so that this day takes you by surprise like a thief, for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then let us not sleep like everyone else, but rather let us remain alert and sober. To be sure, those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
These are the preparations that our Lord asks of us. We want to be ready for his return, so we are not surprised by it. We prepare ourselves by putting God and his Word first in our lives. We eagerly strive to return to the well of living water that is his Word. We prepare ourselves by regularly coming to his house to grow in our faith and to encourage one another. We strive to live our lives as those eagerly awaiting our king's return. We do this because it pleases our Lord, and we do this as a witness to those who are still lost in darkness.
We are called to live as children of the light. We follow the commands of our Father and do his will because we are his people. We do things that the world thinks are foolish but are wise. We teach our children the truths of God’s Word. We strive to avoid the temptations and seductions of this world. We let our lights shine so others can see the love of Christ in our hearts and be drawn to it. After the Lord returns, it will be too late to share our oil with those who have none. Now is our time of grace. Let us share the message of the Gospel with friends, family, and neighbors so that they too may stand ready with burning lamps ready to great our long-awaited king.