Jesus is Coming (First Sunday of Advent) Today is the first Sunday of Advent and according to the church calendar, we are beginning a new year. We have mentioned that the word Advent is from the Latin words ad meaning to and venire meaning come. Thus, Advenire means to come and Adventus (the noun form) means the arrival. From this Latin word we have our word Advent. The English word Advent (according to Oxford Dictionary) means 1) the beginning of an event, the invention of something, or the arrival of a person: 2) For Christians, it is the four-week period before Christmas. For many of us, our thoughts turn to the season of celebrating Christmas when we hear the word Advent. Advent becomes the run up to December 25 th. Most of our society only associate the expected arrival of Santa Claus or the influx of brightly covered packages from friends, relatives, or business associates. As Christians, we realize that the celebration around the Christmas time is primarily about Jesus. Often, we relive through scripture, pageants, movies, or other means the birth of a child to a young frightened mother in the small town of Bethlehem. During my preparation for the various messages that we will share over the next few weeks, I found one thought that I would like to share. Jesus comes with three verb tenses. Jesus is coming. Jesus is here. Jesus was here. The idea of Jesus is coming failed to land on the hearts of many when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There were many prophecies yet few really took note of the event. The message of the gospel is again that Jesus is coming and we may find that few are ready for this future event either. Jesus predicts that people will not be 1
ready in one of His parables. Let s open our Bibles to the 25 th chapter of Matthew. In the 24 th chapter, the disciples asked Jesus about two things. First when will the temple be destroyed and when will He (Jesus) return. Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? (Matthew 24:1-3 NASB) Jesus tells them of the days that will lead up to the destruction of the temple and the persecution to come to those living in Jerusalem. Then in the 36 verse, He repeats the fact that His second coming is a secret and thus not revealed. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:36-39 NASB) Jesus then tells a series of parables that deal with His coming, the judging according to the various abilities, and the judging of those who claim to follow Him. With this background, we are ready to read the first parable from Matthew 25:1-13. 2
Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, lord, open up for us. But he answered, Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13 NASB) Our modern wedding ceremonies are not like those in the time Matthew penned his gospel. Typically, the bridegroom would go to the house of the bride and a procession would begin from her house to either the bridegroom s house or the place of celebration. The procession was a festive parade and along the route the virgins (think bride s maids) would await and join in as the march past them. The weddings usually began at night and the celebration would last for several days. The virgins needed a lamp in order to be seen and to be included in the parade. Anyone who was not alert, awake, in possession of a functioning lamp, or 3
who was not in the proper place when the bridegroom and his party came by would miss out on the celebration. This parable was told during the time that Jesus was answering His disciples about the end of this age. Jesus speaks of a marriage feast. The image of a marriage feast is a common one used throughout the Bible. Even in the last book of the Bible we read: Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation19:7-9 NASB) Perhaps the biggest take away from this parable is that some of the people that were ready and wanting to attend this celebration were in place when the bridegroom came and some were not. What are other lessons we may learn from this parable? First, we need to understand that the invitation to this wedding has a time limit. For our virgins it was when the door was shut. For us it may be when we shut our eyes for the last time. Another lesson is the virgins were pretty much alike in many ways. All had been invited the banquet and all had responded positively. 4
All ten had gone out to wait for the bridegroom. All of them had their lamps with them. All the virgins wanted to see the bridegroom. All were in the right place at the right time for the right reason. All of them wanted to go to the wedding banquet. All had some oil in their lamps at the beginning. All fell asleep while waiting for the bridegroom. All were awakened by the midnight cry. All ten virgins got up to prepare their lamps. All appeared to be equally prepared for the bridegroom s coming. This sounds like many of us Christians. If we inspect the virgins in our narrative, they would all appear the same. Many Christians appear the same as well. However, we are told that on the day of judgement, there will be some who claim to be Christians who will be banging on a shut door. What made the virgins different? Why are five included in the wedding celebration and five banished to exclusion? From this parable, it would appear that everything was equal up to the arrival of the bridegroom. All of the virgins were dressed and ready. All waited for the correct time. However, the bridegroom did not come when they thought. He was delayed. We don t know why he was delayed. All we know is: Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. So, here comes the bridegroom with shouts and excitement and they wake up, prepare their lamps and find that some of them did not have sufficient oil for their lamps. What is this oil that they lacked? Why was the oil so important? 5
I want to read a portion of a sermon delivered by Martin Luther on October 21, 1522. This will help us understand the crucial difference between these virgins and see Martin Luther s view of the oil. Five are wise, five foolish. Here He calls all Christians virgins. The foolish virgins are those Christians who give the appearance and impression of being godly. They want to be good evangelicals and are able to say much about these things. They praise the Word and say: Yes, it is a splendid thing. This is what it means. It cannot possibly be otherwise according to the Scripture, etc. Paul speaks of these people in 1 Cor. 4:20: The kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power. It consists not in speech, but in life; not in words, but in works. Although they are able to say much about many things, they are in reality unwise virgins who only have the lamps or the vessel, that is, the external equipment, and they behave according to their nature, as Matthew writes (7:22), saying: Lord, Lord! The mouth is there, but the heart is far away (Matt. 15:8). The oil is not in the lamp, that is, faith is not in the heart. They give it no thought. Indeed, they know it not and imagine that their lamps are ready. Their nature is that they gladly hear the preaching about faith, and if they have heard the Word, they invent and fabricate for themselves a thought, a delusion in the heart which they consider to be oil, and yet they remain the same as before in their behavior. Following their old ways, they are just as wrathful as before, just as covetous, just as unmerciful toward the poor, just as discourteous, etc. This faith is a manmade thing (He then says) The other virgins (the wise ones) carry in their hands not only the lamps, but oil with the lamp, that is, the true faith that God has created and made in their hearts. (Martin Luther sermon October 21, 1522) 6
Did you notice that the foolish virgins wanted to barrow some oil? One striking feature of the parable occurs when the foolish virgins ask the wise virgins to borrow some of their oil. The refusal may seem selfish and unkind unless you understand the situation. To loan the oil would mean that no one would have enough oil. And the larger point is clear. No one can borrow another person s faith. You can t get into heaven by living near a saved person. One day you will stand before the Lord and he will say, Why should I let you into my heaven? What answer will you give? As we face this season of Advent, we know that Jesus is coming. The Bridegroom is on the way. He coming may be delayed and we may need to wait. While we wait, do we have the faith (oil) to sustain us for the night? Do we need to replenish our oil supply before the Bridegroom arrives and we miss the celebration? In conclusion, I share this quote by the noted author Thomas Merton: What is uncertain is not the coming of Christ but our own reception of him, our own response to him, our own readiness and capacity to go forth and meet him. (Thomas Merton) 7