Be Ready

A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on November 9, 2008 at the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Huntington, WV, based on Matthew 25:1-13.
Ten Virgins

25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps [1] and went to meet the bridegroom. [2] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 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.


As most of you know, we’re thinking about a wedding at our house. Our daughter Leslie will be getting married in July of next year and we’ve been talking about all the preparations and choices that a couple makes – where to have the wedding, what to serve at the reception, paper or plastic plates….

In our text today, Jesus tells the story of ten virgins who are part of a wedding. In Jesus’ day, a Jewish wedding had two parts: first the bridegroom went to the bride’s home to obtain the bride and to have the religious ceremony, and then the whole party would go to the groom’s house for the wedding feast. The ten virgins in the story may have been charged with going ahead to the groom’s home and lighting the way for the party as they approached or it may simply have been that like everyone else in a middle-eastern town, they had to have lamps to light their way in very dark streets.
At any rate this is a parable.

And a parable, by definition is a story with one main point. So we have to be a little careful about attributing too much meaning to each of the details of the story. In general, we can say that the main point is “Be Ready”. Beyond this, the challenge is to interpret the meaning of the details.

The most precise meaning of this story probably applies to the Jewish people in the Tribulation. After all, Jesus was a Jew, talking to a Jewish audience about a Jewish wedding. The Ten Virgins were waiting on the “bridegroom and his bride” so this is not really a story about the Christian Church, the bride of Christ, waiting for her bridegroom, the Christ.

Rather, our attention is drawn to the young women, who likely symbolize Jews who believe in Christ during the Tribulation and who wait for Christ to return from Heaven to earth, with his bride, the Church, after the Tribulation. In the so-called, Pre-Millennial, Pre-tribulation rapture understanding, the Church is taken out of the world before the Tribulation and stays with Jesus in heaven before returning with him at his Second Coming.

But again, the main theme of this parable is to ‘Be Ready”, “Be Watchful”. Jesus draws a contrast between the five foolish women, who “took no oil with them, and the ten wise women, who took “flasks of oil with their lamps” to carry them through their wait.

In both the Old Testament and the New, oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The most common symbolic use of oil in the Old Testament was to anoint Kings, so that they might have the power of God, the Holy Spirit, to guide them in their leadership. The Holy Spirit came upon people individually and for specific purposes, such as to prophecy or to know how to build the Temple. And it would lift off the individual if the job were done, or the person was unfaithful – such as King Saul, who lost God’s Spirit when he disobeyed a specific command to destroy an entire town and didn’t do so.

In the New Testament, we understand from Romans 8:9, that Oil also represents regeneration and infilling with the Holy Spirit: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” The Spirit of God regenerates a person so that he or she may believe, then “infills’ them. The Spirit does not leave believers, but we can be more or less full of the Spirit, more or less obedient, more or less guided by the Spirit.

Some scholars cite Zechariah 12:10 as a verse that pertains to the regeneration of Israel in preparation for the return of Christ:

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

The spirit of grace, is the Holy Spirit, who brings about conviction of sin, and grace to repent. It is represented in our parable by the Oil in the lamps. The basic message is that one cannot make it through the dark times without the Holy Spirit to light the way. Jesus faults the foolish Virgins for not ensuring that they had enough oil - Holy Spirit - to see them through until the return of the Bridal party.

An odd detail of this story is that after the foolish gals return from buying more oil, they are not allowed access into the wedding feast. This is a signal that there is something strange going on.

“If this were an actual wedding party”… the host would simply welcome them in with some pleasantry such as …”We missed you, where were you? Come on in…”

But here the other virgins return to the party saying, “‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’” This is reminiscent of the Lords’ teaching that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unpardonable. If you don’t believe in Jesus, you don’t get the infilling of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have the ‘oil’ of the Holy Spirit, you don’t get admitted to the wedding feast – that is Heaven.”

So Jesus’ message to the Jewish people of his time was to accept the Messiah - Himself - and to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that they could be empowered to wait for his return during the dark times. Again, the basic message is “Be Ready”.

Now having said that the message is primarily directed to the Jewish people, we also know that Gospels were written by Jewish Christians, for a Christian audience, and that all the stories of the Gospels have a specific message for us. I think that message has something to do with ‘trimming our lamps”

Looking at this parable from a Christian standpoint, we are like the Virgins, waiting in the darkness for the return of the Bridegroom.
While it’s true that we live in the ‘8th Day of Creation, the Day of Christ’s resurrection, and “… we are God's children now, [yet]… what we will be has not yet appeared ;
… when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (I John 3:2).

That is, when he appears… Until then, we wait. And while we are waiting, we would do well to practice what the believers did after the day of Pentecost:

“…[they] were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers…the believers were selling their possessions and sharing with one another, taking meals together in each others’ homes, worshipping together in unity at the temple, and rejoicing as the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who were being saved…” (Acts 2:42-47).

In other words, they were practicing a disciplined corporate and individual spiritual life in four basic areas: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission. For convenience sake, we have dubbed these The Four Practices for 8th Day Life.

The 4 Practices are based on answering yes to four foundational questions about the Christian Faith:

1. Do I trust in God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ?
2. Do I believe the tenets of the Apostle’s Creed?
3. Have I been baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
4. Do I seek to pick up the cross and follow Christ daily?

All who answer yes are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Throughout the history of the church, believers have followed Christ as disciples by developing a Spiritual Plan, or “Rule of Life” that incorporates spiritual disciplines from these four practice areas.

The purpose of these practices is to allow ourselves to be formed into the image of Christ and to do what He himself did, and even greater works…John. 14:12: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

But again, if we come back to our parable and the admonishment to ‘Be Ready’, the first thing to do is to Believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to follow Him, allowing God to direct and control us by having our lamps filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit.
The next thing to do is to ‘work the plan’ and do it daily until He returns. Participate actively in weekly public worship. Spend time with God daily in prayer, Bible reading and Study, Participate in our 8th Day Life Groups. Take on a discipline of spiritual formation such meeting with an Anam Cara, or spiritual friend, to help you develop your faith. Get involved in an outreach, such as Mission Tri-State and plan to participate in the Divine Experiment coming up January 11-Feb 1, in which we join together with believers from other churches to observe a ‘Daniel Fast, and pray for a Transformational Revival. We’ll have more on this later…

These are examples of how you demonstrate that you are a ‘wise virgin’, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, one who does not let the lamp of faith go out. Jesus wondered whether or not He would find Faith on the earth when he came back (Luke 18:8). I urge you to be found among the wise and the faithful who are prepared with a full measure of God’s spirit to carry you through the tough times.

If you haven’t done it already, get a copy of the 4 Practices for 8th Day Life, work through it and develop your own spiritual plan.
Father Mark and I are both available if you would like help with this.

Following the pattern of the early church in which instruction, or Catechesis was given to ‘Catechumens’ during Lent, we will be focusing on these plans during our Lenten observance next year, and we will culminate our instruction with a voluntary “Liturgy of Public Commitment” on Easter Sunday, similar to the ancient practice of baptizing new converts on Resurrection Day. In this way, we hope to bring ourselves in line with the historic traditions of the church universal and to make known to all that we have our lamps trimmed and are prepared for the return of the Lord Jesus.
AMEN.