The Church - Being ready for Christ's return

The Church - Being ready for Christ's return Matthew 25:1-13, Amos 5:18-24 Getting prepared for something, making sure that all is ready for that event when it occurs is, I'm sure, something that we're all familiar with ... whatever age we are. I remember for instance, when I was a child, that the thing that everyone seemed to be concerned about, and understandably something that was quite disturbing, was the Four Minute Warning, the supposed time between the detection of an incoming nuclear missile and impact. And at school, I remember, we actually had drills where, on the command of our teacher, we'd get under our desks and just sit there. The idea being, we were led to believe, that this would somehow save us if the bomb dropped. We were ready, we felt, if and when the worst were ever to happen. Most of our preparations, thankfully, don't concern such dark matters as this. For example, we prepare for important anniversaries, or for the celebration of special achievements and significant occasions. Although of course many of these have had to be put on hold, or scaled down, over the last year. And there are preparations for weddings too which, for most people I guess, will involve more effort than any other event that they'll have to prepare for during their lifetime. And not only is a great deal of work put into their preparation by the bride and groom and their families but also, those who attend the wedding often put a great deal of effort into getting themselves ready. Putting on their best clothes, perhaps buying new ones, so that they might provide a fitting backdrop to the happy occasion. Well, here in our passage from Matthews gospel we find Jesus talking about a wedding. A wedding that will be the greatest wedding that there will ever be, of which every other wedding is but a shadow. That is, the wedding of Christ to his bride the Church. The wedding which will finally take place when the Lord Jesus returns to gather his own to himself. That day spoken of in Revelation chapter 19 verses 7 and 9 where the great multitude that is the Church shouts: "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". And then the angel says to John the apostle: "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb!'" Jesus had begun, in the previous chapter of Matthew's Gospel to the one we're looking at, to speak about the end of the age. What in effect was his final sermon of caution before he went to the cross, akin to his sermon of comfort in John chapters 14, 15 and 16. And then, here in verse 1 of our passage, he begins: "At that time", the end of the age, "the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom". So what's all this about virgins and lamps? Well in that part of the world a wedding was a very drawn out affair; much as it is in many parts of the world today. Firstly, the ceremony of marriage took place, usually in the open air on the banks of a stream; and then after that a feast was held lasting seven days if the bride was a maiden, or virgin, and three days if she was a widow ... this was celebrated at her father's house. Then finally, after the feast had ended, and normally in the evening or at night, the bridegroom went and collected the bride and conducted her, with great pomp and splendour, to his own home. Many friends and relatives would go along with them and, as they approached the bridegroom's house another group, friends of his, would come out of the house to welcome them to their new home where there'd be another banquet. These "greeting friends" then, are represented by the ten virgins in Jesus' parable. And here, it seems, they'd gone out early, not knowing what time the bridegroom would arrive but expecting him at any moment, armed with lamps to light the party back to the house. These lamps that were used by the welcoming party were torches, made by winding rags around pieces of iron or earthenware, which were fastened to handles of wood. They were then dipped in oil, or oil was poured over them, and then they were lit giving out a bright light. And when the light began to grow dim because the oil had been largely burned up, the torch was trimmed by the removal of the burnt pieces of cloth, oil was put on it again and it was relit. So then, the ten virgins in our parable went out to meet the bridegroom with their lamps lit but he was late in coming, and they settled down to wait. But he was taking hours and so, being tired, they fell asleep; and all the while their torches would have been growing less and less bright. Finally the shout went up: "he's here", so they awoke, quickly trimmed off the burnt rag on their torches, added the oil that they'd brought with them, set them going again, and rushed off to meet him ... just as the bridegroom would have expected. Ah but just a minute, they were all waiting there for the bridegroom apparently all in the same position, burning torches by their side. But in actual fact five of them were unable to go and light him on his way when he came, because unlike the other five, contrary to what you'd have assumed, they'd not brought any oil to replenish their torches, with them. So that their fading torches wouldn't have been any good at all to go to the bridegroom with. They were completely unprepared; and suddenly the truth hit home and they began to panic. And they said to those who'd been wise because they'd each brought a jar of oil along with them: "give us some of yours". But that was no good, they'd only got enough to make sure their own torches remained lit. And so the wise ones told them where they could get oil for themselves, where they should have got it before, and went off to meet the bridegroom having done all that they could for these five foolish women. A parable, a story with a meaning, told by Jesus to his disciples. As we've said a cautionary tale given to those who'd become the Church; and yes a cautionary tale concerning the time when, as promised, he'll return again to claim his own, but doing so as judge. So what then was Jesus saying to them, and to us, part of the Church of today? What are we to take from this parable of the ten virgins? Well firstly it tells us of the wonderful hope that we each have when once we know Christ Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour; when once we've come to the cross with repentant hearts having recognised that it was our sin that placed him there; when once, so stricken by our unworthiness, we've knocked upon that door that's the gateway to the Lord of heaven's house and found it being opened to us and the welcome mat placed at our feet. Those who were ready, we're told, went in with the bridegroom to the wedding banquet there to feast in his presence and such is the promise to all who, when he arrives, will be ready. Jesus says to these (John 14 verses 1 and 2) "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may be where I am." Notice too that, after these wise women had gone in, the door was shut. Once inside they were shut in, they couldn't get out, they were enclosed in perpetual blissful fellowship with the groom. And surely to be in the Lord's presence in his house forever is that which the soul which is tasting of the goodness of God now most dearly yearns for. Isn't this what Paul is talking about when he says to church in Philippi (Phil. 3: 10-11): "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead". And David too must have had this same wonderful hope, which all Christ's true servants have, when he wrote Psalm 23 saying from verse 5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Our parable tells us then of the wonderful hope that the child of God, through Christ, has. But it also tells us of what our assurance of the certainty of this hope is. The wise virgins had with them their jars of oil which ensured that their lamps would keep burning bright until they'd entered the bridegroom's house. And throughout the Bible oil is used to represent the Holy Spirit, for instance in Zechariah chapter 4 which we looked at a fortnight ago where we read: "Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me... He asked me, 'What do you see?' I answered, 'I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there were two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left. He said "Do you know what these are?" "No, my Lord." I replied. So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty". This then, the Holy Spirit, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is that which assures us of the certainty of our wonderful hope that when Christ returns we'll be counted amongst those who are ready for him. The Spirit is the one who'll enable our lights to still be burning, the one who's ever changing us as we yield ourselves to his influence, bringing about the fruits of character in our lives that declare that we are indeed true disciples of the one who died, rose again and ascended to the Father. Speaking of him to the Church in Corinth (2 Cor. 1: 22) Paul says: "He (God) anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." The Holy Spirit, God's promised gift to all who're his children through Christs atoning sacrifice. But there's something else that the parable has to say to us, and this is where we're given a word of caution. Because it also tells us about the true nature of the Church and of the inevitable end for those found to be without oil, without the Holy Spirit, when the bridegroom returns. Because of course, as we've seen in the parable, when he did return there was no apparent difference between the two groups of maidens who waited for him. They each carried their lamp, each one of which was lit and in need the replenishment that the oil would enable - so on the face of it no difference at all? Until that is they were called to account, called to give evidence of the source of their light, the oil, and then five of them were found wanting ... because they simply hadn't any ... in effect it had all been show. They'd been counted as being those who were wise, as being part of the ready and prepared welcome party, commissioned by the bridegroom to come out to meet him when the time was right, his true friends. And yet in fact all along they'd been false, they'd never been capable of being ready because they hadn't bothered to go along to "those who sell oil to buy some for themselves". Perhaps they'd felt that it didn't matter, that what they had would be sufficient. Or perhaps they believed they could always go when he arrived, then they wouldn't be burdened with carrying their jars in the meantime. Or was it that they felt that they could rely on the oil of the others? In any event they were sadly disappointed. This then, we're to take it, is the reality of the Church. That there are those who belong to the visible church on earth, in all generations, who aren't truly a part of the body of Christ. They may well seem to the onlooker as though they are, even to their fellow church members as though they are, and yet all along they've not had the oil; not had the Holy Spirit, because they've simply refused to enter by the narrow gate. Refused to come in repentance to the foot of the cross, there depending on Christ's once and for all sacrifice for their salvation. Maybe they don't believe that it's necessary for them. After all, they reason, they're as good as anyone else. Or maybe they think that all these requirements about the need to have faith and to obey are just too burdensome, just a cramping of their style. Whatever, the message of Jesus's parable is that when the crisis point comes, and certainly at the point when they'll have to face the judge of the entire world, they'll be found sadly wanting. The five foolish virgins finally went to buy their oil. But now it was too late and the door, when they went to it, was shut against them, no longer to be opened. He whose word they'd treated with such little respect told them the truth of the matter: "I don't know you". And yet the wise ones had done all that they could to help them. They'd directed them to the source of the oil, telling them how they might get it. And surely this is why the truth of the gospel must be constantly, week by week, clearly proclaimed within the congregation of those gathering to worship God so that no one who has ears to ear can be left in any doubt about what God in Christ is offering to us, and what our response must be if we're to receive it. Jesus concludes his parable with the words "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour". We who are the Church today must all keep watch, we must all be ready, and found to be waiting for that glorious day with our lamp filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit given to us when we come to the risen Lord Jesus, recognising our sin and asking for forgiveness. A final thought - I said at the beginning that when I was a child it seemed to me that everyone was waiting for the end, to be brought on by nuclear war. On the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima the BBC Reporter Fergal Keane in his report for news at ten, as he stood there on the spot where it hit, said: "Here for the first time humanity came face to face with the capacity for its own annihilation. And that's why 70 years after the bombings the struggle to limit the spread of nuclear weapons remains the greatest challenge facing the world". A bold statement, but a statement that isn't in fact correct, as the church can tell him. No the greatest challenge facing the world, now and always, is to recognise the reality of its creator, and to accept the reconciliation that God the Father freely offers to us through Christ Jesus his Son, who died and rose again ... before he returns in judgement. This is what we're each called by God to be prepared for. May we each be so. Amen