Matthew 25:1-13 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 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, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. 9 But the wise replied, No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, Lord, lord, open to us. 12 But he replied, Truly I tell you, I do not know you. 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. 1
11.09.2014 Burning the Midnight Oil At some point in my life I don t remember where or when, but it was before the Internet I came across a bumper sticker that read Jesus is coming look busy. I guess that s clever, I remember thinking. But now with the Internet being such a great vehicle for capitalism, it s easy to find that phrase printed not only on bumper stickers but also on buttons, t-shirts, mugs, baseball hats, and probably a lot of other items as well [SLIDE]. Anytime that Christianity is combined with commercialism I get a little uneasy, but I do like seeing Christians not taking themselves so seriously. In fact, I think we could use more t-shirts like this one [SLIDE], which would be a great tool for evangelism. Jesus is coming look busy. At first glance that phrase seems amusing [SLIDE]. It presents an image of Jesus almost as a father returning home from work and expecting to see the children all diligently doing their homework. Dad s coming home. Quick! Look busy! Or it suggests Jesus as a company supervisor, whose entrance into the office causes everyone to put down their coffee, stop with the small talk, and get back to work. The boss is coming. Look busy! The phrase look busy suggests that people aren t doing what they should be doing. They re napping or they re goofing around. But there s also this expectation that when Jesus comes he will expect people to be busy doing something. Perhaps praying, leading a Bible study, or attending worship you know, something churchy. Jesus is coming! Quick! Grab your Bible! Implicit in this thinking is the notion that Jesus coming is something to be feared rather than something to be welcomed. Jesus is coming! Oh, no! I had better stop doing what I m doing and start doing something Godly. This is not at all the attitude that Jesus is wanting to instill in his disciples when he tells them this parable. He is not teaching them to be afraid. The coming of Jesus is 2
not a warning to be feared but a promise to be received with joy by all who are Christ s disciples. If we make it out to be anything but that, then we show that we don t understand the nature of Christ or his ministry. So let s look at why Christ tells this parable to his disciples. Seeing the context in which he tells the parable will help us understand why he tells the parable. Chapter 25 comes toward the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is in Jerusalem [SLIDE]. In fact, Jesus has entered Jerusalem in triumph, with crowds celebrating his arrival. After arriving in Jerusalem he chases the moneychangers out of the Temple. He then tells several parables that challenge the authority of the scribes, Pharisees, and other religious leaders. He responds with grace to questions that are intended to entrap him. He issues a series of curses on the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, for they talk of righteousness but their actions show that they are full of unrighteousness. All of these incidents occur in public at the Temple, as recorded in chapter 21 to chapter 23 of Matthew s Gospel. At the start of chapter 24 Jesus is now leaving the Temple [SLIDE]. His disciples are with him. As they are walking together the disciples point out to him the various buildings that comprise the Temple, but Jesus is not impressed. He says to them, You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down (Matt. 24:2). Scripture doesn t record the disciples reaction, but I imagine it was one of shock. They ve just been told that the center of Jewish religious life will be destroyed in their lifetimes. That takes a while to process. So a short while later, while Jesus is sitting alone, the disciples approach him. Verse 23 even says that the disciples come to him privately. They have been thinking about what he told them about the destruction of the Temple. Tell us when this will be, they ask, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? (Matt. 24:3). 3
Jesus does not give them the answer they are looking for. He does not give them a date and a time. Instead he tells them of the need to be watchful. He underscores this need by telling them a parable about ten bridesmaids who were watching and waiting for the groom to arrive so they could accompany him and his bride to the wedding banquet. This is one of the simpler parables that Jesus tells. It s so simple that we don t need it explained to us. We re even told that five of the bridesmaids were wise and five were foolish. So, we get it don t be like the foolish bridesmaids; bring extra oil, be prepared. Jesus may come at any time, like a bridegroom arriving in the middle of the night, so keep awake, be alert. But again, that sounds like an ominous warning. So let me ask again, Is Jesus coming something to be feared? Let s look at the context. We already saw how reading Scripture in context helps us better understand its intent [SLIDE]. The events that led up to Jesus telling this parable were rife with tension between Jesus and the religious leaders. Jerusalem at this time is a cauldron of tensions. The people are gathering for Passover. There is a nationalist spirit in the air, for Passover is like Independence Day to Jews. They long to be free from Roman oppression. The chief priests and elders are threatened by the popularity of this prophet Jesus from Galilee. Something must be done to stop him. And the Romans want at all costs to keep a lid on this boiling cauldron and maintain order. In fact, the situation is about to boil over. Shortly after Jesus tells this parable, the plot to kill him will be set in motion. The chief priests and elders will conspire and Judas will agree to betray him. Both of these events are covered in chapter 26. So Jesus knows what s coming. He knows what awaits him. He understands the mission that God has sent him to fulfill and that he willingly chooses to take upon himself. It is a mission of mercy, a mission of sacrifice, a mission that will lead to the cross. In other words, Jesus tells this parable knowing that he is about to die, and that a great injustice is about to be done. 4
The disciples don t understand this. They still imagine that Jesus will harness all that nationalistic fervor and enthusiasm at Passover and lead the people in triumph over the Romans, that he will reign as an earthly king. That is, they want to confine him to a framework that is easy for them to understand so that they know what to expect. They understand kingship. As David was king and sat on a throne in Jerusalem, so too will Jesus be king and sit on a throne in Jerusalem, or so they think. Jesus as king is easy for them to grasp. They only want to know the day and the hour. Lord, tell us when this will be. Although Jesus would reign as king, his kingdom would not be of this world. He would not be an earthly king. He is the bridegroom. He won t come marching into town leading an army. Jesus is not Braveheart, although people sometimes mistake the two. No, as the bridegroom he will arrive extending an invitation to all who are ready to receive him. The only question is, will we be ready? Will our lamps be burning? Will we be able to see him? There is an English idiom I know, here I go again with the idioms burning the midnight oil [SLIDE] It refers to someone who is working or studying late at night. It harkens back to a time before electricity when people used oil lamps to light the dark. If you needed to work late say, until midnight you would literally need to burn the midnight oil. In the parable, the bridegroom arrives at midnight. It is dark, obviously, so lamps need to be lit to welcome him. The wise bridesmaids are ready with extra flasks of oil to fill their lamps. They are ready to burn the midnight oil. What does readiness look like for us? How do we make sure that we are ready when Jesus comes? It begins with repentance. This parable is not the first time that Jesus has talked about the kingdom of heaven [SLIDE]. In fact, it is the last. The phrase kingdom of heaven occurs thirty-one times in the Gospel of Matthew, and Mathew 5
25:1 is the last time it appears. The first mention of it comes not from Jesus but from John the Baptist, whose first words in the Gospel are, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matt. 3:2). A short while later Jesus will echo those words, for they are the first words of his public ministry. He has not yet even called the twelve disciples. After Jesus hears of John s arrest, he returns to Galilee. Matthew 4:17 tells us, From that time Jesus began to proclaim, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matt. 4:17). The coming of the kingdom of heaven is a call to repentance [SLIDE]. In Hebrew, the literal meaning of repent is to turn back, to return. You turn back from the wrong direction in which you were going and return to the intended course. The coming of the kingdom of heaven calls us to repent, i.e., to turn from our natural state of self-seeking ambition and selfish desire, of self-worship in which we are lord of our lives. It is a call to acknowledge the lordship of Christ. The lordship of Christ sounds like a heavy theological phrase, but it s really just about learning to love Jesus above all else. Let me give an example that may help us understand what this looks like in practical terms. I have been sporadically reading a devotional called Jesus Calling. It was assigned for one of my seminary classes. Most devotionals contain meditations on a verse or short passage from the Bible. They are almost always written from the perspective of the author, who offers his or her thoughts on the passage. Jesus Calling is different. It is written from the perspective of Jesus himself. What I mean is that the author, a woman named Sarah Young, wrote all her meditations in the voice of Jesus. That may strike some of us as presumptuous. How dare she write words that Jesus did not literally say! But everything that she writes is in accord with what Jesus says in the Bible, even if they are not his actual words. I want to read to you the entry from this past Thursday, which is when I was writing this sermon [SLIDE]: 6
Seek to please Me above all else. As you journey through today, there will be many choice-points along your way. Most of the day s decisions will be small ones you have to make quickly. You need some rule of thumb to help you make good choices. Many people s decisions are a combination of their habitual responses and their desire to please themselves or others. This is not My way for you. Strive to please Me in everything, not just in major decisions. This is possible only to the extent that you are living in close communion with Me. When My Presence is your deepest delight, you know almost instinctively what will please Me. A quick glance at Me is all you need to make the right choice. Delight yourself in Me more; seek My pleasure in all you do. When Christ occupies the central place in our lives, our perspective changes. We experience everything through the lens of Christ. We see as Christ sees. We listen as Christ listens. We speak as Christ speaks. We act as Christ acts. Our values become the values of the kingdom of heaven. We seek Christ s will rather than our own. This is what it s like to wait for the kingdom of heaven. This is how we spend our time until the bridegroom arrives. And yet, in a sense, we don t have to wait for the kingdom of heaven to arrive. It already has. The second coming of Christ has already happened. Wait, what are you saying, Pastor John? Did I miss it? Was I sleeping? No, I don t mean the SECOND COMING, but Jesus promised the disciples that he would come again. And indeed he did, he does, and he will [SLIDE]. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you, he tells the disciples, assuring them that even though he will no longer be with them in body, he will come to them in spirit (John 14:18). Again, earlier in the Gospel of Matthew he tells them, For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matt. 18:20). Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit, his Spirit, will come to them. The same promise holds true for us. The Spirit of Jesus Christ is constantly coming to us. The simple fact that we have faith that we profess faith in Jesus Christ is a sign 7
that the Spirit has already come to us. What s more, Jesus comes to us through our prayers. Jesus comes to us through the bread and wine of the Lord s Supper. Jesus comes to us in worship and in Bible study and wherever two or more gather in his name. Jesus comes to us so that we will not be alone and so that we will learn how to live a life of Christlike love. He comes to us now in Spirit, giving us a taste of the kingdom that will come on earth as it is in heaven. He gives us a taste of his kingdom now, until the day he comes in glory to usher in the kingdom of heaven in its fullness. When that will be we know neither the day nor the hour. Even still, there is much that we can do to prepare for it. Before the kingdom of heaven arrives in its fullness we can live as though the kingdom has already arrived. Our lives can reflect the values of the kingdom of heaven here and now. We can pray that his will be done in us and through us. That will be a sure sign that we know he is coming, and that our lamps are lit in expectation. Jesus is coming so let s get busy. 8