Pastor Slaughter

November 12, 2023

Pentecost 24

Theme: He’s Coming!

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

Have you ever had it where you are so excited to have that guest or those guests come over? Last weekend we had the faculty over at the slaughterhouse. I was excited to be able to spend some quality time with everyone and their families. I don’t necessarily think through all of the details. I am like “Hey everyone just come on over!” But God has blessed me with a wonderful wife to help me better prepare. For example, Cait wanted to know the estimate of how people we were having so she could make sure, I had enough burgers and hotdogs to grill for everyone. Then there was some gentle nudges from the faculty, “Hey what time do you want us to come over?”

Can you imagine what it would have been like if we weren’t prepared at all? I am sure Mr. Stob’s adaptive strength would have kicked in and he would have bailed me out. But If I wasn’t prepared, I would have missed out on something. I would most likely have spent my time running to Coborn’s to get more food and I would have missed out what I was looking forward to the most…quality time.

If we are not prepared, we can miss out on something. Today in our lesson we hear about 10 virgins or 10 young ladies who were attendants at a wedding. Five were prepared, five were not. Five were wise, and five were foolish.  They were all looking forward for the groom to arrive and to go wedding celebration. Those that were not prepared missed out on the celebration. Today we are reminded to be prepared because “He’s coming!”

A Jewish wedding was a festive occasion. It was customary for the bridegroom to go too the brides house. The bride would be accompanied by the attendances, here the 10 virgins. Then the groom would lead a procession through the city to the grooms house to celebrate. If you were waiting, can you imagine the anticipation that they had for the celebration? Can you imagine the joy they would experience as the groom arrived?

For whatever the bridegroom was delayed. It is interesting that the bride isn’t mentioned but I think Jesus is drawing our attention to the five foolish and five wise virgins. The foolish ones were not prepared for a long delay and didn’t bring any extra oil for their lamps. But the wise were prepared and took their oil in their containers with their lamps. When the bridegroom came the foolish ones were away buying oil and missed out on the wedding banquet.

What’s Jesus trying to teach us with this parable? First of all, we can say that this isn’t a parable of believers vs non believers type of thing because you have the ladies all waiting for the bridegroom. They knew the bridegroom was coming. But just wanting to go the wedding banquet isn’t enough. We have to be prepared for it! It’s like Jesus is saying that it’s not enough to just want to go to heaven. We have to be prepared for it.

Christians want to go to heaven, right? I mean we are looking forward to the bridegroom returning and enjoying that heavenly banquet. But as time goes on are their things that distract us from being prepared for it? I heard it described this way. Christians, we are a lot like puppies. A puppy has a great desire to please their master. They will sit for a time but are easily distracted. Squirrel… bird and they are off. But it is only with practice that the puppy learns.

We too want to please our Lord and master. We too want to enjoy heaven. But do we get easily distracted as we wait? What other things in life are pulling us away and we become distracted from what is really important? Is it school? Grades? The desire to be successful. The enjoyment from our hobbies?

It’s like Jesus is pleading and begging us, “Hey check your oil! Make sure you are prepared for when I come back!” The temptation is for those things that distract us, to become the things we fill our oil containers (keeping with the illustration of the parable). What’s are we filling the container with? What’s important to you? What good thing is more important then waiting for the bridegroom? What urgent thing has taken the place of preparing with the oil that we need?  What misplaced priority keeps us from what is really important? That is what Jesus describes as “foolish” in our lesson.

How do we make sure our containers are filled with oil? Or how are we prepare for the bridegroom, Jesus, to return? Its through something we call the means of Grace. The means of is the gospel through word and sacrament that gives us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Every time you open the pages of the bible and read it you are preparing yourself for the bridegroom to come. Every time you come and listen to the sermon and hear what Jesus has done for you, you are preparing for the bridegroom to come. As you receive Christ’s body and blood together with the bread and the wine, you get to taste that forgiveness of sins, and are being prepared for the bridegroom to come.

I have always kind of wondered why the wise virgins never shared their oil with the foolish. It’s like come on! Just share a little. But it would be a lot like you if you are gone hunting or camping and its dark outside and your friend’s battery runs out. And they say, “Hey can I have one of your batteries from your flashlight?” Well, no, because you need them.

The means of grace that God has poured into me are so precious that I can’t let it die for the sake of someone else. Those things that God fills us with are so precious and so important, I don’t want to let it go. I don’t want to fill my container up with a Jesus of my own making that says he is loving forgiving so it doesn’t matter how I live. I don’t want to fill my self up with my own works rather then my continued repentance. I don’t want to be distracted from what is really important. And so we spend our time hearing God’s Word in worship, in study of his Word.

The danger with this kind of sermon is we may start to think I got to do better. I got to be better. I have to focus more on the sermon. While spending time in Gods Word and focusing on what you hear in bible study or sermon is important, if we focus on what we do, we miss the point that groom has dressed you. He has prepared you. You are filled with his promises, with his love, with his forgiveness!

We are prepared for when Jesus returns! And guess what? It is worth it! What joy, what happiness to go to the wedding banquet! When Jesus returns, it will be a cause for celebration because we know where we are going! There is a certain urgency in Jesus’ words for today, “Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”  There is no time like the present! We can’t put off being prepared. We can’t put it off till next year, month, week or even second. We keep our eyes on Jesus and wait for his return. We will be able to rejoice, to celebrate at his coming because that means no more sin, or sorrow or suffering. We will be able to celebrate with God for all eternity!

My family in Christ, I grew up in Arizona and didn’t even realize this was a thing till I came to the midwest with extreme cold. Some people don’t let their tank of gas go below the halfway point because of freezing temperatures. It gives piece of mind just in case you get  into trouble. My family in Christ Jesus is going to come again. We have that peace of mind that “He is Coming” because of what he has done for us. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and his promise until he comes again. Amen.