Title: In the word and in Christ you are prepared!
Text: Matt. 25:1-13
Facebook live: In the word and in Christ you are prepared!
10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
I’m reading a book on a little know plot to kill Abraham Lincoln before he took office after having been elected President. It’s called The Lincoln Conspiracy and follows the plot to kill Lincoln that was foiled by Allen Pinkerton and his Detective Agency – and the signs of the times as they became known and the preparations and actions taken to keep the President-elect safe.
As we look to this gospel text and parable today let us begin with a few verses that precede this reading today from chapter 24. Here Jesus, is speaking with his disciples and says:
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
And:
44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
And finally:
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know
So the text today speaks of the end times and being prepared.
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
In the parables that we have studied previously, the kingdom of heaven and the joy that awaits those who believe had been described as a Wedding feast. There were those closed with wedding garments and those who were not. There was also a casting out and a weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And now the word continues, for the disciples and our benefit, with the foolish and wise virgins who took their lamps and while the wise had oil in their lamps and the foolish did not and while the bridegroom was a long time in coming, they were unprepared for the time of his arrival.
Being unprepared is not a good thing.
Michigan weather is unpredictable. At times in fall, it gets really cold and windy. Leaves get blown down all around. We even had snow on Halloween! It is a reminder of what’s around the corner … winter!
It would be easy to forget and be unprepared.
Thankfully we’ve made arrangements with our plow service here at church and hopefully as the weather turns cold and the snow flies, we will be prepared for what winter brings. Also, I’m very thankful for Ron Brewer who gets the job done for us!
Being prepared is a good thing but not all prepare for what is coming.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
How much good is a lamp that has no oil in it? Not much, if it’s an oil lamp!
We know about oil here at church and at times the candles that have had no oil in them. They may have a dry wick and no fuel from which to draw. Thankfully Erika Hoffman keeps our candle oil in stock so we might relate to the wise who …
4 … took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As we know lamps with oil bring with them light and light the way. Or, in church, the candles light our service and symbolize God’s light and presence among us.
But in our parable the oil signifies something more. It signifies the work of God by the working of his Holy Spirit that brings faith … the gift of God for we who believe.
The Altar Guild fills the candles each week. I don’t think much about it. I just expect that they will do the work and we’ll have oil in the candles in church to light the service. But, one candle didn’t cooperate and the base broke. Not a big problem and it will be soon rectified.
During the first few months during the pandemic, it was my responsibility. I would do it during the week and then check it on the weekend to make sure that I did it and didn’t forget. I wouldn’t want to look foolish and have to hear,
“Pastor, the candles won’t light. Didn’t you fill them?”
Not that forgetting the candles is an unpardonable sin here at church.
But in the parable what did the foolish lose? They lost focus on the bridegroom’s coming. They lost focus on Jesus.
The faith of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit had dimmed to the point of flickering and had gone out.
What does this say to you and to me and to all who have been given this gift of faith? Should we ignore it or should we do all we can to make sure it is robust and full? Surly, it is God’s gift he brings us to faith and through that same word keeps us in the faith.
If God, through the means of parents and our family puts a plate full of food in front of us but we ignore it and don’t feed on it, we remain hungry and the gift and blessing gets wasted.
So to, if we ignore God’s word and don’t hear, read, or feed on it. Our faith in Christ dims and is replaced by other things of the world that cause us to focus on everything other than Jesus the bridegroom of the Wedding Feast.
To lose focus on Jesus can cause us all to fall away and to see our oil run dry. If we have no fuel for the wick of faith to draw and to see the light of Christ, it can flicker and go out.
But God has promised that where his word is, there the Holy Spirit is, to give faith in the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is only possible to believe in Christ by the gift of faith through the power by the Holy Spirit. The oil of God in your lamp is God in you and given you as a gift working faith to believe and to live as beacons of hope.
Over the next year many will place their hope in those who will be elected for various offices in the State and Country. National, State and local politics are important and dominate our lives but also our hopes. Someone is always let down.
One learned politician once wrote:
The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but still 'tis nonsense.
B. Franklin.
At times we who have lamps are fools.
We fool ourselves into believing that we have measured up, that we are acceptable in the eyes of God, and that we will all stand before him in righteous acceptance.
While we,
Deny his word,
Deny his gifts,
Live contrary to his word
But by God’s working, Christ has made a way to give you a full lamp.
Christ has filled you with His Spirit who points you to him.
Christ has promised he would never leave you or forsake you.
Christ continues to feed you on word and sacrament so that the gift of faith continues to fill your lamp for you who trust in Him.
You too who have been filled by God’s blessed faith are wise and prepared and ready for the coming of him, who was and is and is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord!
Because of Jesus and God’s gift of faith you who believe are ready!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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