Sermon -- “Don’t Miss This Wedding!” Matthew 25:1-13 1 “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. 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. Dear Friends in Christ, “This is the wedding of the year!” Oh, yeah? Well this is the wedding of the decade. You absolutely don’t want to miss it!” I’ve actually heard conversations like that. Perhaps you have too. Everybody loves a wedding, at least under most circumstances. There’s joy, there’s excitement. There’s love and romance. There’s the music, the flowers and the beautiful dresses. Of course, not every marriage lasts and not every wedding results in ‘happily ever after.’ But there is one wedding that does! There is one perfect love that all human attempts strive to imitate, and that is the love of Christ the Bridegroom for His Bride, the Church. It is God Himself, both in the Old Testament and New Testament that chose the picture of Bride and Bridegroom to picture His love for His people. We who believe are depicted in Scripture as the beautiful Bride, waiting for the wedding day—the Day we are united forever with Christ, with all the angels in attendance as guest. If there’s one thing for certain, one thing our text urges, it is this: “Don’t Miss This Wedding!” The Bride and Bridegroom Already at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as the Bridegroom and believers as His bride. John’s disciples were jealous for him, and brought to his attention that more and more people were going to hear Jesus preach instead of John. He responded, “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete” (John 3:29). God Himself has purchased the dress. He has beautifully adorned His Church with the wedding garments of salvation. 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah described how the Lord purifies the church for Himself and makes her His Bride. “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). Christ earned righteousness for us, by being righteous in our place. His perfect, holy, sinless, selfless life knit together the perfect, pure and holy gown for us. Having bathed us in baptism, He lovingly drapes the gown of righteousness over us through faith. Despite our sins, He leaves us looking the part, in that dress, of the most pure and chaste virgin in the history of forever! Wise King Solomon, in his Song of Songs beautifully depicts the love story between Christ and His Bride, the Church. It’s a story far more compelling than even the best Disney tale. So romantic is the Song of Solomon, that Jews were not even allowed to read it until they’d reached the age of 30, and it was never appointed for reading in the synagogue as a Scripture Lesson! The Attendants Together, we who believe are Christ’s beautiful, pure Bride. But as John the Baptist mentioned, each of us individual Christians are also pictured figuratively as attendants at the wedding. That’s how Jesus describes us in today’s parable…. “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. 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.’” It’s all about attitude toward the Word, whether these are church folks, who have heard the Word—after all, all 10 virgins in the story started out with lamps—or worldly people, most of whom have heard bits and pieces of the Bible’s message. They all have lamps, but only 5 of them stocked up on fuel. All of us must face our Maker. How absolutely foolish to not seek to be prepared for the judgment. Is there anyone who isn’t aware they will die one day? Even atheists, who fight against the knowledge of God, fight because God has planted this knowledge in every conscience on earth. Deep down, they know, and try to tell their inner voice to “be quiet!” Like it or not, everyone needs faith in Christ Jesus to be saved. The wise seek to keep their faith alive and be prepared. The fools don’t. And no one can prepare for you. Each of us faces death alone, individually. Each of us will stand before the judgment for himself or herself. No one gets a pass because of a friend or relative. (“But my wife went to church!”) 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.’ The oil we need is the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. That’s the only fuel that can keep faith’s flame lit. The “Sellers” are those who preach the Gospel. The Gospel is free, of course. But it is distributed only through the Christian Church, through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. You get food at the grocery store. You get oil at the oil store. You get Gospel at the Church where God’s appointed ministers baptize in the Name of the Triune God. It’s at the Church where Christ’s ministers absolve in the stead and by the command of Christ, where they preach the Word of Christ in His Name and by His authority. It’s at the Church where Christ’s ministers distribute Christ’s body and blood according to Christ’s institution. When the Bridegroom came, the foolish virgins couldn’t produce their own oil. When Christ returns, people won’t be able to conjure up faith from their own heads, and it will be too late to go to church to get it. The same thing is true when it comes to our own final hour, if Christ has not come back. When it’s time to die, it’s too late to say “let’s go to the oil store.” Those who plan to convert on their death bed, may very well die in a car accident, or of an unexpected heart-attack. Those who disdain the Gospel during life, will not soften their hearts at death. Now is the time to stock up on the oil of the Gospel! “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.’ The wedding banquet is a closed door affair. Three chapters earlier, Jesus told the parable of the great wedding banquet, where the invitation consisted of being given a wedding gown. Someone tried to enter the wedding without wedding clothes and was bound hand and foot, and thrown into the outer darkness “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:1–14) The Wedding Wedding proposals are compelling enough that they even become news items when done creatively. Just this Friday, the internet showed one between a weatherman and anchorwoman on a TV station in Florida that happened during a live newscast. Jesus has proposed an eternal relationship to us, and we who believe have said “yes.” But it’s more than just an engagement. It’s a betrothal. In Bible times, a betrothal was more than a modern engagement. It was a morally and legally binding arrangement, that cannot be broken. (Do you recall how Joseph was betrothed to Mary, but thought of ‘divorcing’ Mary before the wedding, because she was found to be with child?) We are more than engaged, we are betrothed to Christ through baptism. Betrothed grooms in the Jesus’ day would go off after the betrothal to prepare a house for the family during the period between the betrothal and the wedding. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2–3) That’s where we are now. We were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked orphans when Christ found us. But He loved us, cleansed us, clothed us in His own righteousness and promised us eternal marriage in heaven. He’s gone to prepare our bridal home and He’s promised to return on our wedding day. In faith, we faithfully, chastely await the wedding. And that Day will come. Our Epistle Lesson tells us the Day of the Wedding Feast will be suddenly announced with angel trumpets, like any true, royal wedding. In a vision the Apostle John saw, he reports, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:6–8). What bride isn’t excited about her wedding day? Shouldn’t we be excited about that day we will be united with Christ forever. What a day it will be, a day worth inviting others to, a day worth waiting for with anticipation, even though we don’t know the date. Not knowing the time, and the Bridegroom’s delay were the undoing of the 5 foolish virgins. But we’ve been forewarned about the delay. It’s already been a long time. Midnight is approaching for this tired, old world. Let’s make sure we are there and don’t miss it. Let us keep our lamps well-trimmed and burning. Let us keep our supply of oil full. Let us rely on the gown sent by Christ to cover us and hide our sins. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:41:41 +0000
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