November 13, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
So, what were you doing at 11:11:11 AM or PM on
11/11/11? This was a question that Kyle
asked of us as we were getting ready to retire on Friday evening. Though I don’t know exactly what I was doing
at that exact moment of the day, I have some great memories of 11/11/11. I have great memories of taking my kids to
the Pops concert that evening, and watching them enjoy all the music and
dancing, even though they were tired from a long day. I remember talking with my kids and they
being surprised that it would be another 100 years until we saw 11/11/11
again. But the thing I remember the most
was hearing the different tributes on the radio about Armistice Day—the end of
World War I—and how that day eventually became Veteran’s day. I remember hearing that and thinking about
how I am simply not old enough to remember what happened during World War
I. Though I had an uncle who fought in
the War and lived to be 111, though he would tell me stories about it when I
was a young boy, I did not experience it for myself. The same is true for World War II. Though I studied it in history class and
wrote papers about it in grade school and high school, I am not old enough to
know about it firsthand. Yet, of all the
things I studied about WWII, probably the most prominent thing I remember is
the promise that General Douglas MacArthur made just before he left the
Philippine Islands in 1942. Though he
had boasted that his men could repel any invasion, he suddenly found himself forced
to leave the Islands. Yet has he left,
he made his immortally famous promise that he would return. Though this famous promise was a very
powerful promise for the people to whom General MacArthur made it, it is
definitely not the most powerful promise ever made. For we know an even more powerful promise to
return that was made by our Savior on numerous occasions before he was even
crucified. In fact, as we study our
lesson today we will take a closer look Jesus’ promise to return for us in the
parable of the wise and the foolish virgins.
Now if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to
open your Bibles to our lesson today from Matthew 25. As you are turning to Matthew 25, let me set
the stage for you. As Matthew 25 opens,
it is Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus had
spent his day in the temple, teaching the people one last time, answering all
the challenges of the religious leaders, and setting into motion the events
that would lead to his arrest and crucifixion.
At the beginning of Matthew 24 we learn that Jesus has just left the
temple and is sitting on the Mount of Olives when his disciples come to him and
ask him about their Savior’s return and the end of all things. After telling them all he does in Chapter 24,
he then goes on to emphasis the promise of his return and our need to be prepared
with the parable of the Ten Virgins.
Take a look at verse 1-5 of our lesson:
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish
and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any
oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5
The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell
asleep. (Matthew 25:1–5, NIV84)
As I’m sure you remember, in Jesus’ day, weddings
were a whole lot different than they are today.
In those days when a couple was engaged, or betrothed, they were
considered to be husband and wife in every way except that way which produced
families. In other words, even though
they were considered to be husband and wife, they still lived separately until
the day of the wedding banquet. After
the betrothal the bridegroom would go back to his home and make preparations
for the wedding. Then, on the set day he
would go from his house in a procession of his friends and travel to his
bride’s home and escort her to the wedding feast. Along the way, the bridesmaids would be
waiting for this group so that they could light the way to the groom’s house
with their lanterns. As it was, there
were times when the bridegroom’s return would be a long time in coming so those
who were waiting had to be well prepared, and in Jesus’ parable only half of
them were. Only half of them had planned
ahead and brought plenty of oil to make sure their lamps would be ready no
matter when the bridegroom would arrive.
The other half were as foolish as I was a couple of weeks ago when I ran
out of gas half way between St. Peter and Le Sueur, all because I didn’t pay
close enough attention to the gas gage!
Well, in the same way that is very important for us
to be prepared with a full tank of gas, especially when we are driving during
this time of the year, we also need to keep our spiritual tanks filled with
God’s Word! We need to keep our spiritual
tanks filled with God’s Word because it is God’s Word that fuels our faith and
prepares us for the day when our Savior will return. Though we know that he will be returning
soon; though we can see all the signs in the world around us that he will be
returning before we know it, we still do not know when that day will be. He hasn’t phoned ahead to tell us or even
given us a time to put in our weekly planners.
So until the time comes and our Savior returns we need to continue to
prepare ourselves for his return. We
need to continue preparing ourselves for his return by reading and studying his
Word for the Strengthening of our Faith.
We need to continue preparing ourselves for his return by gathering with
each other in worship so that we might be built up on the assurance that our
Salvation is found in Christ alone. We
need to keep ourselves prepared for his return by being in his Word because
when he does return, there simply won’t be time for us to get prepared.
Take a look at what Jesus tells us beginning with
verse 5: 5 The bridegroom was a long
time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the
cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the
virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “ ‘No,’ they replied,
‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil
and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the
oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the
wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir!
Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth,
I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or
the hour.” (Matthew 25:5–13, NIV84)
When the cry rang out that the bridegroom was coming
all the virgins woke up and got ready, because he would soon be passing
by. But when they lit their lamps in
preparation to lead the procession, the lamps of the foolish bridesmaids
started flickering and sputtering. They
started flickering and sputtering because they did not have enough oil to fuel
them. They had not prepared themselves
and because of that the foolish bridesmaids tried to rely on the preparedness
of others.
Sadly, there are many people in our world who are
doing just that. There are many people
who are acting as foolishly as the foolish virgins in our lesson today. For how many people don’t you know that are
water, rice and dirt Christians? How
many people don’t you know who talk about how they were baptized in a church,
married in it, and some day they will be buried from it, yet they simply don’t
take the time to step inside it to build up their own faith? How many people don’t you know who are the
Creester (Christmas and Easter) Christians?
How many people don’t you know who simply grow lazy in their
preparations for Christ’s return and simply slip away from gathering for
worship? How many people don’t you know
who are relying on the fact that their parents were members of a particular
church is preparedness enough for when Christ returns? But what does our Savior tell us? Take a look at verse 10: “While they were on their way to buy the oil,
the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the
wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir!
Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the
truth, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the
day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:10–13, NIV84)
As Christians, this is what we need to be doing for
our Savior. We need to keep watch
because we don’t know when he will be returning to earth. Though keeping watch for our Savior may not
be as exciting as keeping a watch on the different scores of NFL on a Sunday
afternoon, if we do not keep watch we will not be ready for the day when our
Savior does return. When our Savior
returns that will be the final whistle for the game of our life. When our Savior returns we will not be able
to run around looking for someone to give us faith, because the clock will have
run out. When our Savior returns we will
not be able to rely on the faith of others, or our membership in a particular
church, because the thing that our Savior will use to judge our preparedness is
our faith in him. We who rely on Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior who has forgiven our sins will be welcomed into
the halls of heaven. But those who do
not believe in Jesus as their Savior will be locked outside of the kingdom of
heaven, just like the foolish virgins in our lesson today.
As Christians who have gathered to worship the Lord
Jesus our Savior, we are prepared for that day.
We are prepared for the day that when our Savior will return because we
believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
We are the wise virgins whose lamps are well trimmed and burning. We are the wise virgins who continue to feed our
faith with the fuel of God’s Word. We
are the wise virgins who are relying on the works of Christ our Savior. Christ our Savior, who lovingly cleansed
every crevice of our hearts with his own blood.
Christ, our Savior, who healed even the deepest of our wounds with the
salve of his grace. Christ, our Savior,
who has promised to be with us always, who has promised that through faith in
him we will have eternal life; who has promised to return for us to take us to
be with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.
This was the promise that Jesus our Savior made
centuries before General Douglas MacArthur was born, and this is the promise
that Jesus our Savior will one day keep.
Though we do not know the day or the hour, we know that our Savior will
one day return to take us to be with him forever. Continue to grow in your faith as you read
and study the Word of God, so that you will always be ready for the day when
our Savior returns.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
