The Christian’s important work of waiting

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 27)

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  +  Matthew 25:1-13

Do you ever wake up in the morning, listen to the news of what’s going on in our nation and in our world, and exclaim, “What has happened to our country? What has happened to the world?” From our government to our schools, from our media to our entertainment, from our law enforcement agencies to the crime on our streets, from the strange worldview of our neighbors to the false teaching from pulpits that are called “Christian”—most of it seems to be not only godless, but entirely insane! What is the Christian to do?

Some get antsy. They think they have to do something, become Christian activists, fight for the country, fight for society, fight for some semblance of normalcy to return. But if you read the New Testament, you don’t find any of that, anywhere, especially in the words that prepare Christians for the end times and for the imminent arrival of Christ. What you find are encouragements to fight spiritual battles, against the spiritual forces of darkness. What you find are simple commands for Christians to live as children of light in the world, meaning, to live within your vocations with love for God, love for your neighbor, and especially, love for your fellow Christians. Beyond that, what you find are admonitions to do what Jesus teaches about in today’s Gospel, to do the important work of waiting—waiting for His return.

“But, things may get worse around us while we wait!” Yep, almost certainly. “Well, then we have to do something!” We have to do what Jesus has given us to do, don’t we? What does He picture for us in today’s parable of the Ten Virgins? He pictures His people, not fighting to fix the world, but waiting. But how we wait is very important. In fact, it will make the difference between entering with Him into His kingdom and being shut out forever, with the rest of the unbelieving world.

Then the kingdom of heaven—that is, the Christian Church—will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

The Church will be like a group of virgins, young, unmarried girls who are keeping themselves pure, who have been given an important task: to sit out near the road, near the location of the wedding hall, and wait for the bridegroom to arrive, so that they can join him with the light of their lamps for the final leg of his procession to the wedding hall. It was common in that culture at that time, so Jesus’ disciples could picture it easily for themselves.

In effect, the ten virgins in our Gospel represent all Christians. All ten are invited. The Gospel invitation has reached them. “Repent and believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified, and risen from the dead, and coming again!” Now, we know that many who hear the Gospel invitation turn it down. They spend their lives refusing to repent of their sins, refusing to look to Christ for forgiveness, refusing to come and hear His preaching. We aren’t talking about them here. They are already lost. We’re talking about sinners who hear the Gospel and believe it, who make a beginning within the Christian Church. They have been baptized. They walk in communion with the Holy Christian Church. And they’ve all been given a task. Watch! Watch for the coming of the Bridegroom. Be ready to meet Him when He comes! In other words, Jesus is talking about people like us in this room.

What’s the difference between the five wise and the five foolish virgins, then? The five wise virgins think to themselves, “You know, He told us He’s coming tonight, but He didn’t tell us at what time. In fact, He told us He might be delayed. It might be late. He told us He will come like a thief in the night, at an hour when we don’t expect Him. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to bring along enough oil to last late into the night? Wouldn’t it be smart to make preparations, not only for an early arrival, but also for a midnight arrival? That way, we’ll be ready, no matter when He comes.”

The five foolish virgins didn’t think, didn’t listen when the Bridegroom informed them that He might be delayed. They went out to wait for Him, figuring He would come soon—soon by human reckoning, soon enough, at least, that they wouldn’t need extra oil for their lamps.

But what does it mean to bring along extra oil for their lamps? And what is that burning flame that they must all have in order to accompany the Bridegroom into the wedding hall? The burning flame is faith. Faith in Christ crucified and risen again, faith in Christ as the Savior from sin, faith in Christ as the sure refuge against wrath and condemnation, faith in Christ for the free-of-charge forgiveness of sins. It’s more than a knowledge of Christ. It’s a genuine reliance on Him, true confidence in Him and in Him alone, that for His sake alone, God will show mercy to you, who deserve only His wrath and punishment. Today’s Gospel gets at the heart of the matter, the actual thing by which we are justified before God and so permitted to enter His kingdom: faith.

But as Jesus warns in our Gospel and in the rest of Scripture, faith is not and has never been self-sustaining. The Holy Spirit kindles it in our hearts through the Word of God, brings us to trust in Jesus for entrance into His eternal kingdom. Faith comes by hearing! But if it’s then left alone, it will die out like any flame will eventually die out if it’s not given the fuel it needs to keep burning.

That fuel, the oil for the lamps, the spiritual milk that sustains and feeds our precious faith, is the Word of God—the Word as it’s preached, and taught, and spoken in connection with the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion; the Word as it’s then meditated upon and pondered.

The wise virgins are the Christians who make wise use of these Means of Grace now, while it’s available to them, as much as it’s available to them. They use the ministry of the Word regularly, and as they do, their faith sends down roots that grow deeper and deeper. Their knowledge of God and of His workings in the world and of His plan of salvation grows richer and richer. Their understanding of their enemies—the devil, the world, and their own sinful flesh—grows keener and keener. And their ability to stand in the face of hardship, trial, persecution, and opposition grows stronger and stronger. You will need all those things in order to endure the last times of this world before the Bridegroom comes. And they only come from the ministry of the Word. How much strength and knowledge and understanding and faith will you need to make it another year? Another ten years? How about 20 or 30 or 80—to make it all the way to the end, holding onto Christ by faith? Well, I don’t know. So the wise thing to do is to stock up, as much as possible. As much as the Lord provides. Even if you think you have a pretty strong faith now, it’s wise to make as much use of the ministry of the Word as possible, while you still can.

Just as it’s unwise not to. The foolish virgins are the Christians who think they stand firm. Who may be very excited, at first, to hear the Gospel, to have been baptized, to learn the Catechism, to receive the Lord’s Supper. They see the filthiness of the world and they’re ready for Jesus to come back. But then He doesn’t. And they keep waiting. And He doesn’t come. And so, they get bored with active Christianity; they get tired of waiting; they get distracted by all the things they can do here, since it seems like Jesus isn’t coming any time soon, and so, instead of continuing steadfastly in the use of the Means of Grace, they come to church less often, if at all, and their entire relationship with God is reduced to table prayers, if that.

And so the tragedy plays out. So many around the world don’t have ready access to the pure preaching of the Gospel or the right administration of the Sacraments. But many who do, take them for granted and don’t use them. They foolishly assume that what they already have in their lamps will be sufficient to keep their lamps burning when the Bridegroom comes, or maybe they’ll have time to go and buy more oil later on.

But that’s not how it turns out in Jesus’ parable, is it? The cry came at midnight, Look, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him! And only the five wise virgins, who had brought along extra oil, had enough left to keep their lamps lit. Only those Christians who will have used the opportunities the Lord will have provided to fortify their faith along the way will be able to meet Him and to enter eternal life with Him. The five foolish virgins found that their supply of oil was running out. It was insufficient. They scrambled to come up with some. They looked to their fellow Christians to share some of their faith, but it was too late, and that’s Jesus’ point. When the midnight cry is heard, when the trumpet sounds, when Christ actually appears out of nowhere, like an unexpected thief in the night, it will be too late to get ready. When Christ finally does comes down from heaven, He tells us ahead of time, that, at that time, there will be no more time, no more opportunities to have our faith fed and sustained by His Word, no keeping the dying flame of faith alive, and thus no entrance into eternal life, only the bleak reality of the Lord’s answer, Truly I say to you, I do not know you, followed by an eternity spent in outer darkness—the same fate as all those who never believed in the first place.

Five out of ten don’t make it all the way to the wedding hall. Is that really the percentage of Christians who won’t persevere in the Christian faith till the end? I don’t know. But it’s a sobering prospect, isn’t it? A sobering parable. But the fact that you’re here listening to it means that it isn’t too late. Jesus sends out this warning, and sends His Spirit to bring it home for us. And by the very act of listening to it, pondering it, considering it, you are adding a little more oil to your reserves, so that you can last a little while longer as you wait for Christ to come.

Take advantage of these opportunities to add extra oil—as many opportunities as you’re given— because you don’t know how soon or how late Christ is coming, and you may need every bit of strength from His Means of Grace to make it to the end. Never take what you have for granted, because there are Christians all around the world who would give every last penny to be where you are, to have the access that you have here in Las Cruces to the ministry of the Word. Learn the Bible. Learn the Catechism. Learn the Christian Confessions contained in our Book of Concord. Learn it a little better in the coming Church Year than you did in the last. As Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order that, whether we are awake or asleep, we should live together with him. Amen.