Matthew 25:1-13 (Amos 5:18-24)

Keep Burning

            “Be prepared.” This is the motto for the scouts. A useful little phrase that tells you what to expect to learn if you were interested in joining. Now, I was never a boy scout myself, nor did I ever attend a scout meeting. But I had a few friends who were. Thus, I came to understand a little of what this motto actually meant to them. Of course, for those more unfamiliar with the scouts, their basic program is to teach young people about outdoor skills, like starting a fire, navigating outside, what types of plants are safe or not, and so on. These are all good and valuable skills to know if you ever end up outdoors. However, being prepared for the scouts doesn’t necessarily mean you’re prepared for everything else. Preparation is entirely dependent on what you’re preparing for. I don’t need to know how to make a campfire if I’m going to a football game. Nor do I need to know how to differentiate wild berries if I were planning a wedding. The same goes for taking a family vacation. Your preparation changes based on type of travel and destination. Do you need pants or shorts? Do you need to bring a swimsuit? What about passports? We can’t simply say, “be prepared” and expect people to know what we’re talking about. It takes context to understand what “preparation” means. But even this can still prove difficult in certain circumstances, like when we talk about faith. What does it mean to prepare for a service? What about if we’re not given a context?

            Thus, we must dive into our Gospel reading today to learn how and what we’re to prepare. Jesus shares this parable of the ten virgins awaiting the bridegroom to return. While they wait, we’re to feel the suspense of the bridegroom’s imminent return. For we know we’re waiting for Jesus to come back. But what does that mean for us? Let us learn then:

MAKE READY YOUR LAMPS FOR WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM COMES!

I.

            Notice then the context of the ten virgins. The common tradition was for the bridesmaids, these virgins, to wait for the groom to return to carry his bride home to the house he had prepared for her. This could take a day, a week, a month, or even up to a year. So, if we’re talking about being prepared to keep a lamp lit for a long time, it would make sense to bring extra oil for it. Just as we read, “Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps,” Matthew 25:2-4. This is why five are called foolish because they don’t even think about bringing extra of the one thing they need. It would be a grave dishonor to the groom that these five wouldn’t be ready to welcome him back to his bride. Hence the urgency at the call. When the foolish hear that the bridegroom approaches, they seek to remedy their lack of preparation by taking from the wise who brought extra. And don’t assume that they were being stingy or anything like that. The wise considered the graver dishonor if none of them were prepared to meet the bridegroom. There just wasn’t enough to go around.

            The oil though was only half of the problem. Consider that the main point of this parable, as Jesus states, wasn’t about the oil. It was about timing. The bridegroom was delayed longer than he anticipated, longer than anyone could have anticipated. And so it is with us. We’re in this waiting game for Jesus to return. As he said, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour,” Matthew 25:13. We don’t know when our lives are going to be cut short. We don’t know when Jesus will decide to return. We don’t know what time we have to get ready to meet our returning king. And lest we be counted among the foolish, we ought to be ready. Be prepared to greet the bridegroom when he returns. For what does that mean? Well, consider the task at hand. What do you need for it? If Jesus were to come back today, what would you need to face him without fear of judgment or condemnation? For none of us want to hear those terrible words, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you,” Matthew 25:12. 

II.

             Thus, when the call rings out across our world, when the trumpet sounds at his coming, there won’t be time to go and buy extra oil. There won’t be time to make yourself right with God. This is why we must be ready. For consider what Amos says, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,” Amos 5:18. In the last days, the sun shall be darkened. The moon will no longer yield its light. The stars shall pass away. It shall be a day of darkness and not light. This is why we must prepare now. Don’t let your light burn out. Don’t let this world quench the light that is within you. For we come to learn that our preparation is just this… faith. Being prepared to meet your Lord requires faith. Faith that isn’t quenched by the cares of this world, nor by the attacks of Satan, nor by the weariness of our Lord’s delay. So, top off your oil. Come and hear our Lord’s word, receive his sacrament, attend to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what we already do, and this is what will make us ready.

            But there’s one more part of our “preparation” that is missing. For you see, the day of the Lord, to which Amos refers… isn’t the last day. It’s not the end of the world. It’s rather… the cross. The day of God’s judgment and condemnation comes early. For on that fateful Friday, the sun refused to shine, the moon was darkened, and the stars wouldn’t give their light. For the three hours that Christ hung on the cross, the world was darkness and not light. Sin had darkened our world to the point that it extinguished the very Light of the world. For we live in dark world even still. But we live by the light of him who rose from the dead, who conquered sin and death, and whose light now shines upon us! We prepare to meet the king by bearing his light within us. We keep our lamps burning, that is, the light of faith. For “We do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope,” 1 Thessalonians 4:13. I don’t want you to be uniformed about the hope we have in Christ. I want you to know that the preparation we need is none other than believing in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. This is the hope that shall shine a light into our world.

            For we don’t know when our Lord will return. But we know that whenever he does, we’ll be prepared to greet him with our lamps burning brightly with faith! We’ll rejoice when he comes to bring us into the wedding feast that has no end! In Jesus’ name! Amen!