Keep Your Lamps Ready

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.” That is, the kingdom of heaven is like those who are turned out to meet the King when He comes, from every sort, every walk of life, all holding their lamps.

“Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.” In this assembly, all waiting for the Bridegroom, there are wise and there are foolish persons.

This is the nature of the Church on earth. The Church Militant, as she is wont to be called, is a mixed assembly. The Word of the Lord is preached to all the people within earshot, whoever comes near. The Law falls heavy upon the hearts of all men, and the Gospel is proclaimed for the forgiveness of the sins of every man, woman, and child. But not all believe. One of the mysteries of the Faith is that some hear and do not believe. The Holy Spirit works faith when and where He wills.

Nevertheless, the Word is preached in season and out of season, day and night, and the assembly of the Church hears the Word and the lamps are lit. The message of the Word remains the same – be prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom, for He is coming soon. In the words of an old spiritual, “Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, for the time is drawing nigh.” The Bridegroom is coming soon, and He will come quickly upon His people. Be ready.

The Church on earth is like this group of virgins, all huddled together to wait for the coming Bridegroom so that they might meet Him and join in the festal retinue on the way to the marriage feast. They all have their lamps, and they all start out with them burning brightly. That is, you all bear the light of Christ. St. Paul says that we bear about the death of Jesus in our bodies. Your faith, lived out in your life, shines like stars in the heavens for all the world to see. And so you are ready to receive the Bridegroom when He comes, to follow where He leads.

But then sleep falls upon you. Sleep falls upon all men. That is to say, the slumber of sin falls upon the hearts and minds of each and every sinful child of Adam. Your corrupt nature is incapable of staying awake even one little hour, of waiting and watching faithfully for your Lord to come to you. You become weary of waiting, and you nod off.

You forget what your purpose is. You forget about the good works to which your Lord has called you. You get distracted from the life of faith in which your Lord desires to find you. You see what the world is doing, and you wish you were having the so-called “fun” those people are having. They are not sacrificing for the love of their neighbors. They are not facing ridicule, persecution, and death for the confession of the Faith. They are not sitting and waiting for someone who, for all intents and purposes, will never come.

So what harm is there in dozing off? What harm is there in relaxing a bit? You look over your shoulder, and there is no one there watching. So put down your lamp, let your light grow dim. Someone will wake you up when the time comes. Someone will see the Bridegroom coming and warn you. Someone else will worry about keeping awake and alert while the hours crawl by.

The foolish of this world believe these lies, and they are deceived into forgetting their task and letting their lamps go out, not taking heed to the matter at hand – the coming of God.

Notice that all the virgins – the whole lot of them – fall asleep. There is no one so perfect and holy that she stays awake. They all fall asleep before the Bridegroom comes. So it is with you. There is no one righteous, no one holy, not even one. You have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You have all nodded off, become drowsy, and fallen asleep before the day of the Lord dawns.

The Bridegroom was delayed, and so the virgins fell asleep and their lamps burned down. Then, suddenly at midnight comes the cry that the Bridegroom is near. The five wise virgins have extra oil, but the foolish do not.

The wise virgins are no better in themselves than the foolish. Remember that they too fell asleep. That is, their light has faltered because of their sin. However, their jars have plenty because they received the Gifts of God, which give them renewed fuel to burn brightly before the world and before the Bridegroom who is coming to lead them into a place where they will need no lamp nor sun.

These are you, O Faithful, who have received the washing of regeneration, who have been crucified with Christ and raised to new life by the proclamation of the Holy Word, who have received the holy pilgrim-food of the Lord's own Body and Blood for the strengthening of your faith. These wise women did not buy extra oil, but it was provided them, so that they might be ready to meet the Bridegroom and enter into the marriage feast in His kingdom.

On the other hand, the foolish virgins do not have enough oil to see them through until the Bridegroom arrives. They started out ready to go. Their lamps were trimmed and burning brightly. They had received the anointing of faith. They received the Gifts of God. But their roots were shallow, and they withered easily. They were distracted by the world, and deceived into thinking that they could rely on what could be bought at the time.

These foolish virgins relied on the praise and honor of this world. The people of this age believe that everything can be bought for a price. Fame, honor, friends, comfort, even love can be obtained for a price. And so why should you plan ahead? Why should you store up for the future? If you can go to the grocery store four times a day, why make a shopping list? If someone will always lend you a little to get you through or cover you til next week, why plan ahead?

The Christian life is not like a drive through the city, where there is a grocery store or a Wal-Mart on every other corner. Rather, it is more like an expedition through a wilderness. You cannot simply stop at the next exit to pick up what you forgot. You need to use what is made available to you, or you will fail. When no one else is around to cheer you along, will you rely on the praise of the world, or on the Bread of Life and the Springs of Living Water?

Finally, after all the preparation, all the waiting, and all the anguish, “at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!'” So the virgins all rose and trimmed their lamps. The wise had the Gifts in reserve, fortifying their lamps to light the way into the Marriage Feast. But the foolish were faced with the darkness of their exhausted lamps. There was no oil to be had – it could not be bought or borrowed at any cost.

The Bridegroom comes to take up all who are prepared. Those who have stored up His Gifts are ready to follow Him wherever He leads, knowing that He will lead them into the marriage feast in His Kingdom. These are you, O Christians, who have received the Holy Sacraments as a sign and foretaste of the Feast to come. This Word is for you, who have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, cleansed with the Blood of the Lamb shed on the cross, and fed with the Body of Christ.

What the wise virgins formerly had only in deposit and pledge, they now receive in full, as they enter with the Bridegroom into His marriage feast, where there is no darkness, but joy.

However, those who relied on other fuel, who banked on their ability to obtain their own way to the feast are left out. Those who depend on the world's vanities are cast off and remain in the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Their light has gone out; their witness has been dimmed and dampened. They did not hold fast to the token and pledge of their Bridegroom, and so they will not share in the consummation when He comes in glory. Their portion is only judgment and condemnation, darkness and death.

The kingdom of heaven is like these ten virgins – five wise who are saved, and five foolish who are lost. Be of good cheer, you faithful people! You are these who are saved. You are counted among those to whom the Lord has entrusted Himself. You are these for whom Christ Jesus our Lord died upon the cross and rose again to give Himself to you as the seal and pledge, the down payment and guarantee of your salvation.

You are sinners – make no mistake about that. While you live in this body and life, you live with the consequences of Adam's fall and whatever other sins you have added to the mix. You have fallen asleep while waiting, and you will do so again. You will do sins, so long as your sinful nature wages war within you.

However, you have received the grace of God won for you by Jesus Christ. You are baptized, made holy and perfect, freed from sin, death, and the devil. You are rescued from condemnation and hell. You are united to Christ in His death, so that you may share in His life. You have received His Spirit, and you here today receive His Body and Blood to forgive your sins and strengthen you on your way as you wait for His glorious return. You wait and watch and hope, struggling against the sleep of sin but always clinging to the promise of the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come when our Bridegroom calls us to Himself.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.