The Wise and Foolish!

Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (11-9-08)

By Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor Messiah Lutheran Church, Salem, OR

Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 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. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 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.’ 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. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Grace, peace and mercy from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matt 25:13)

Here we are just 2 Sundays away from the last Sunday of the church year. That particular Sunday has several names, the Sunday of Fulfillment, Christ the King Sunday but one of the earliest names is: The Sunday of Judgment. A reminder of that Last Day when Jesus will appear in great glory as King and Judge, arriving suddenly and without warning, like a thief in the night, like a groom arriving for the wedding party at midnight.

So with that in mind it’s so appropriate we are studying the parable of the 10 bridesmaids. They’re all “virgins.” Not “good girls” and not “bad girls,” but wise and foolish. This isn’t about morality, but faith. In the Scriptures, to be wise is to be a believer. It’s knowing that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). And to be foolish is to be unbelieving. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). In our text, the foolish took their lamps but no extra oil. The wise took jars of extra oil along with their lamps.

The foolish look stylish with their cute little wedding lamps nestled in their perfectly manicured hands. They’re confident and carefree. They go about their lives as though the wedding were just another thing on their list of things to do. Go to the mall, get your hair done, go to a movie, go the wedding.

The wise, on the other hand, look kind of foolish, lugging around those heavy jars full of oil, silly girls! What kind of look is that, carrying extra oil? What were they thinking? They act as if this wedding were the biggest thing in their lives, the only thing. They look as silly as little Linus from the old Peanuts cartoon, sitting in the dirt, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear in his pumpkin patch.

How foolish the waiting watchful church looks! How foolish we baptized believers appear, watching and waiting for Jesus! How foolish to get up on a Sunday morning to hear God’s Word preached to you when you could just as easily read it on your own. How foolish to hear the forgiveness of your sins when you already know you are forgiven. How foolish to eat and drink a bit of bread and a sip of wine believing it to be the body and blood of Jesus your Savior. How foolish to pray, praise and give thanks when there are surely “more important” things to do. How foolish to give offerings to God when there are so many things on which to spend your money.

How foolish of the church, to be more focused on the coming of the new creation than the problems of the old creation. How unfashionable to speak of sin and sacrifice, atoning blood, forgiveness when the world wants to be purpose-driven and successful. How silly of the church to preach Christ crucified for the sins of the world, knowing full well that the world clamors for miracles and celebrities and entertainment. A theology of the cross? That’s old fashioned and silly, out of place in our world full of self-made religions with the focus on self. Maybe it’s just as silly as a Mason jar full of olive oil or a bridesmaid wearing tennis shoes.

Get used to it. Christians are the village idiots of religion. The rest of the world’s religions think we’re nuts for believing that we are justified before God entirely by His undeserved kindness, all because of Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection, and not because of anything we do. That’s crazy! Everyone knows you have to earn you own way, atone for your own sins, pursue your own path to enlightenment.

According to the world we’re a ship of fools who come to church not to be motivated, entertained, uplifted or even challenged. We come to be forgiven. We die in order to live. We mock death in view of our resurrection to eternal life. We esteem Christ instead of ourselves.

We’re like people throwing a pool party in the dead of winter and saying, “But summer’s just around the corner.” And the world politely says, “OK....” and quickly moves to the other side of the street. We bury our dead in the hope and confidence of the resurrection of the flesh. We dare to come into the presence of God, not boasting about all the great things we’ve done for God, but instead admitting that we’re a bunch of messed up sinful people who can’t get anything right, even when we try. And the world shakes its head at us, as if we were sitting in our pumpkin patch waiting for our Great Pumpkin to appear.

But in the end, when the midnight wake up cry goes out, those who looked foolish turned out to be wise, while those who appeared so wise, wind up looking terribly foolish, running around in the middle of the night looking for oil that can’t be found. Finding a closed door to a party for which they had an invitation. Hearing the terrible word of exclusion, “I don’t know you.” They were invited; they were part of the wedding party; they had a place at the table. But in their foolish unbelief, they’re no longer recognizable.

The folly of the foolish lies in their figuring. They figured they knew the hour when the groom would make his appearance. They figured they had enough oil to last well into the evening. What they hadn’t figured was that the groom would be delayed, that they would fall asleep, that the groom would show up a midnight. Who on earth starts a wedding part at midnight? They hadn’t figured that he would show up so quickly and unexpectedly, that there would be no second chance, no opportunity to strike a deal with some oil merchant. Only a closed door and separation.

“You do not know the day or the hour.” That is Jesus’ last word on the timing of the last day. It puts an end to all calculations and speculations. We’re simply not given to know the times or the seasons. Remember all the craziness around the year 2000? It turned out to be a big hoax. Every attempt to predict the day and the hour for this late, great planet earth has amounted to nothing but bird cage lining.

Delay can bring a false sense of security. Jesus didn’t come yesterday. He hasn’t appeared today, and He likely won’t appear tomorrow. So there’s always time, right? God’s way of time and ours is not the same. God deals in time, where everything is packed into a moment; we deal in time chronologically - days, months, years, decades, centuries. “With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousands years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). God isn’t slow in coming; He’s patient and merciful. He doesn’t want anyone to perish; He wants all to come to repentance. But let no one say, “There’s always more time.” We don’t know the day or the hour.

You don’t know the day or the hour God will call you home. For all we know we might be a car accident on the way home and be killed. I don’t intend to scare you, but I do want to wake you up. Jesus wants His church on the alert, wide awake, watchful, and ready for the cry at any hour, day or night.

God is rich in His mercy. Jesus hung on the cross to win for the world forgiveness and life. He gives out in not just one way, but many - in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper in the spoken forgiveness of our sins, in the Word as it is preached and read. There’s more forgiveness and life and salvation than you and I could ever imagine. More Jesus in Word and the Sacrament than we think that we will ever need. Enough forgiveness and life to keep our lamps burning until the Last Day. Only an unbelieving fool would say, “That’s enough forgiveness and life for me, I don’t need any more, thank you.” Refusal of the gifts is damning foolishness.

The wise bridesmaids knew in whom they hoped and for whom they waited. They lived and slept in the confidence of their bridegroom’s coming. They knew he was coming; they just didn’t know when. You know for whom you wait, and He knows you. He is the One who died on a cross for you, who rose from the grave for you, who sits enthroned in majesty for you. He is the One who baptized you, who forgives you, who feeds you on His body and blood, who anoints you with His Spirit. More oil than you can possibly burn in an eternity.

To live as the wise in faith is to live in the hope and expectation of Jesus’ coming Day, whether that Day is today, tomorrow, or the next week. You can live and sleep and die in the confidence of Him who once came for you by crib and cross, who comes to you now by Word and Supper, who will come in glory on the Last Day to raise you to eternal life.

That Lord is coming soon. He comes without warning. But you don’t need a warning. You know! Such faith may seem as foolish as little Linus in the pumpkin patch. But when Christ, who is God’s wisdom in the flesh, makes His appearance, then faith will be proven wise. For you shall enter the wedding feast of eternity for Christ is your light and life. In Jesus name, Amen!

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen!