November 8, 2020 | A Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13 | by The Rev. Dr. Ryan D. Mills |
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 1“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9But 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.’ 10And 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. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:1-13, NRSV).
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As we greet the increasing darkness of November, made all the more grim this year by the pandemic, it’s nice to remember back to happier, brighter times, and to think about the joy of summertime weddings. Among the local clergy there’s a famous story about a wedding that took place here at Trinity one hot summer day, probably almost 20 years ago now. All the guests were dressed in their finest and seated in the pews. Our natural, eco-friendly heat and humidifier system was set to high like always, and the organist was playing a perfect 10 minute prelude. But there was a problem with the bride’s transportation, a problem with literally getting her to the church on time. And so for almost four hours the guests sat here waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and the dear organist who’d been hired to play before the service kept on playing. The pastor removed one layer of robes after another, and even went into his office to take a nap. People wondered if the bride was actually coming, and began to doubt her showing up at all. Eventually the groom and some other guests went down the street for some “liquid refreshment”–I might have joined them too! So imagine everyone’s relief, amazement, and joy when just four hours delayed, in walked the bride, and the organist finally fired up the “Wedding March.” I’m told no one had ever seen an organist collapse at the organ bench from sheer exhaustion before, but there’s always a first time for everything!
Today Jesus tells us a parable about a delayed start to a wedding, except the one everyone is waiting for is not the bride, but the groom! The one everyone in the parable is waiting for is the final coming of the Lord Jesus himself.
For almost 2000 years Christians have read these parables of waiting for the Lord’s coming in these dark weeks at the end of the year, when it seems like the time for waiting must be up. For 2000 years Christians have asked, “How long, O Lord? How long do we have to wait for you?” We proclaim together the mystery of faith, “Christ has died, Christ is risen,” but sometimes stumble a little at the final part: “Christ will come again…?” To our shame, not many of us wake up in joyous anticipation wondering if today is the day of Christ’s return. But when we look at this world at war with itself, when we look at our weary nation and broken lives, when we remember those who have died whom we miss more than life itself, when we listen to the cries of the oppressed and those who will go to bed hungry tonight for no good reason, then maybe we wonder sometimes too: “How long, O Lord?” As the Psalmist cries today, “I am poor and needy, Come to me speedily, O God, you are my helper and my deliverer, O Lord, do not tarry.”
And so it’s incredible to listen to the joy in the parable today, when all the wedding guests who have been waiting, and wondering, and falling asleep, finally hear the cry, “Look, here is the bridegroom, Come out to meet him!” Can you imagine?! It’s a cry of completion, of consummation, of hopes finally fulfilled, that everything we’ve been waiting for and couldn’t even imagine is finally here. He who once cried out from the Cross, “It is finished,” now has come to finish the job, to bring all things to completion, to heal what is broken, to forgive what has gone astray, to make right what has gone wrong, to make of this old world a new creation, to bring this dark, dying world into bright dawning of his own Easter morning.
This is what St. Paul is trying to encourage us with in his letter to the Thessalonians today. “I don’t want you to be uninformed about those who have died,” he says. Sometimes it seems like our waiting is for nothing and that those who have died are just lost to us, and we worry that when our little lives run out we too will just disappear into darkness. “No,” Paul says, the Bridegroom Jesus Christ himself will descend from heaven, God will finish what he started, for God will raise the dead just as he raised up his Son on Easter morning. The Second Coming of Christ is just the echo, just the aftershock of Easter Morning, and when it washes across us we will meet the Lord and be with him forever. So Christ has power even over our death. On the Cross he died your death for you, and his empty tomb means your tomb will be empty too! The bridegroom will show up for you. He won’t leave you standing at the altar, and the great cosmic wedding feast will begin, and with all those we have loved we will be the Lord forever.
For God provides all that is needed as we wait. God gives the oil of faith, and hope, and love, God pours out his oil of grace and blessing upon you more richly than you or I can imagine. Don’t fool yourself, it’s not from you, but a generous gift from him. St. Augustine once said, “Yes, you made the oil, but who made the olive?” And when the moment of judgment comes, when push comes to shove, will you have put to use all that God has richly given? The 5 foolish bridesmaids that Jesus warns us of today were generously offered as much as the wise bridesmaids, they just didn’t think they needed it! How often do we think we don’t need God’s loving grace in our lives, until we really do! So “stay awake,” Jesus says, or better, “be prepared.” Amidst these dark days let the riches of his grace, the brightness of his light, the depths of his healing and sanctifying oil soak into you. Take it in like a sponge, store it up, he has an infinite supply, and your and my need is so great today.
For the mystery of faith is true: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and he will come again. Yes, once, in final glory, coming to make all things new, coming to bring all things to completion, but he also comes again and again—he comes in faces of your family, your friends, your neighbors, strangers, those in need, every encounter you have this week is an opportunity to serve him as he comes in others. But he also comes to us now, in bread and wine, his body and blood, the bridegroom who gives himself as the main course of his wedding supper. The old Germans used to call this the Abendmahl, the Evening Meal, the Last Supper. A meal were those who wait late into the night for the bridegroom, wondering and waiting for him to come, and who here receive him ahead of time in joy.
So you who wait amidst the darkness this day, come and eat, come and soak up his oil, let your lamps be filled and recharged. Until the great day when the bridegroom comes, the wedding begins, and in his bright courts we rejoice with him forever.
And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills
New Haven, Connecticut
Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org
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