"Coming ready or not" Matthew 25, 1-13

A sermon by Dean Keith Joyce

Matthew 25:1-13

¹Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." ⁷Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." ⁹But the wise replied, "No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." ¹⁰And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us."¹²But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I do not know you." ¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

This morning I want to bring forward a reading from November 10th since I may have a guest preacher that day and also with November having an emphasis on Stewardship the matter of Christ's second coming could get overlooked.

Coming, ready or not! How many times have we said that or heard it said in endless games of hide and seek! Remember that panic you would feel when you couldn't quite get your whole body into the perfect hiding place, or even worse, when you hadn't even chosen a hiding spot! And when it was your turn to do the looking, what delight in catching the unprepared!

Jesus is coming again, whether the human race is ready or not. That's the essence of this passage. And parables usually have one main point. This parable is saying, JESUS IS COMING, READY OR NOT!

Why the warning? Because Jesus doesn't want people to be caught off guard. Nobody knows when he's coming. It is a call to be prepared for his return.

This is all part of the dynamics of the kingdom of God. Verse 1 tells us that "the kingdom of God will be like this". Jesus goes on to describe contrasting states of being prepared. The results, of course, are disastrous for the unprepared. The one they're waiting for denies knowing them. They are caught unprepared by his unexpected arrival.

Ten virgins or bridesmaids go out to meet the bridegroom. It's the normal procedure for a wedding. The bridegroom, with some close friends, comes to the bride's home where there are various ceremonies. Then a procession goes through the streets after nightfall, in order to bring his bride back to his place. It's not entirely clear what the bridesmaids were doing away from the bride, but they could have been helping her earlier and now are waiting for the final procession to the groom's home.

Everyone in the procession is expected to carry his or her own torch. Those without a torch are to be considered party crashers or even thieves. Once the procession reaches the groom's house the party would really begin, and in fact go on for days. This was no one short evening of a reception. And you thought weddings now are expensive!

The lamps may be small, oil-fed lamps, but more likely they are torches. The rags that formed the lighted end of the torches would have needed periodic dowsing with oil to keep them burning. But either way, extra oil would have been carried in flasks.

Why are the five wise virgins considered wise? It was because they were prepared for the delay in the bridegroom's coming. Otherwise they were the same as the foolish ones. All ten had lamps, and all of the women "became drowsy and slept". No comment is made about the sleeping. Staying awake is not the issue.

There is just one difference. The wise women have brought extra oil. They are prepared for a possible delay. The foolish ones expect to meet the bridegroom but are not prepared for the unexpected.

In verse 6 we read: "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Midnight is a significant hour because it symbolises the climax of Jesus second coming. The bridesmaids wake up and trim their lamps. The bridegroom is about to arrive! But the lamps of the foolish bridesmaids quickly go out.

Their appeal for help to the wise bridesmaids gets them nowhere. The extra oil in their flasks legitimately will not be enough for the two groups and so the wise virgins do not share their oil. Then, while the foolish ones are trying to buy some more oil, the bridegroom actually arrives.

Those prepared and ready are able to go with the bridegroom into the wedding banquet before the door is shut.

At first glance, the wise bridesmaids seem mean-spirited because they're not willing to share their oil. But there's an important point being made here. Such preparedness is not shareable nor is it transferable. Individuals can only prepare themselves. Each has to bring their own oil. People need to anticipate the coming of the bridegroom, of the second coming of Jesus Christ, for themselves. You cannot do it for another and someone else cannot do it for you, nor can you be scrambling to get ready when he arrives.

The key to being prepared is in what we read in verse 12. The bridegroom says those awesome words, chilling to the heart of anyone to whom they apply: "'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'" Their lack of preparation put them outside of the knowledge of the bridegroom and the door has been shut.

Being prepared for the second coming of Jesus is not done by trying to guess the date of his arrival and then getting ready. He came once before so that we can get to know him and therefore be prepared for his return. By knowing him now, when it comes time to enter the Messianic banquet he will be able to say that he knows us. It is in enjoying a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, by building on and growing in the faith we entered into in our baptism that prepares us for his coming again. It also enables us to anticipate his return with joyful readiness and not with fear. He then will not be a stranger.

When we are in Christ, then we are ready. It is the putting off of establishing that reality in one's life that keeps one unprepared. This is not callous rejection on the part of the bridegroom. It is the end result of an individual's own decisions not to be prepared, just as we found with the foolish bridesmaids who had decided not to bring the extra oil.

Jesus then makes it clear to his hearers that they do not know the moment of his return, of the coming again of the Messiah. Despite the many, many books written to try to establish when Jesus is coming back, we too, do not, nor will we ever know, the moment of His return.

"Keep awake" or "keep watch", Jesus tells them. This, of course, does not imply that they, or we, are never meant to sleep! Remember, there was no issue with the bridesmaids feeling drowsy and sleeping. No, it's an attitude of the heart that is important. We are to be "awake" and alert to the living presence of Christ in our lives, to desire his ways and to be molded by his vision of the kingdom of God. And as this parable makes clear, it includes the anticipation of his actual return someday.

This is not a fearful thing. It is meant to be a joyful reality in our lives now , and in our expectations of what lies ahead. There is no fear, when we are in Christ, of meeting him face to face when he returns. Knowing him now and looking forward to his coming again go hand in hand. They go together in what it means to belong to the kingdom of God, to be governed by God's loving ways and will. So let us enjoy being ready - in our worship, in the way we live our lives in honour of our Lord, and above all in our love and adoration of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.