On this final Sunday, we once again find ourselves faced
with fear as Jesus returns and says to you today,
Much ink has been spilled over this passage all in order to
convince us that there is some significance to the number of virgins or that
they are virgins to begin with. Likewise, there have been the exhaustive attempts
to determine just what these lamps are and how to keep oil in them, because
they appear to be the key to salvation or condemnation.
Then, of course, there is always the evil crowd who want us
to be silent so God can speak and if we don’t hear voices in our head that we
are doomed to hell and miss out on the feast. None of this turns out to be
central to this Gospel reading and none of the conclusions mentioned turn out
to be correct.
However, all of those things do turn out to be decoration.
Those details, props, and actors are all there to adorn the real occasion and
fill out the momentousness of the event. That is, the arrival and true presence
of the Bridegroom.
The world understands decoration. It understands the need
for visual representation of an abstract celebration. What is a birthday? You
can talk about it all you want, but without family, cake, presents, and the
birthday boy, you don’t have very much.
Even at funerals or memorials there are decorations.
Although, it is at these times which we are most confused, because we have
decorations, but we do not have the person of honor. The most crucial piece of
the celebration puzzle is missing, but we know we must celebrate something,
somehow.
Likewise, the decorations of this Gospel reading are not
just for show. The decorations are not just there as fluffy detail; just
because without them the story would be too plain. They are there to point to
true presence. And when I say true presence, I’m not just talking about
spiritual, but real, actual, physical presence.
So why is the Church any different? Its not. Or, it
shouldn’t be. We don’t hang something up because we think it looks nice. We
shouldn’t even be hanging things up that are just reminders of what Jesus has
done for us, as if He is only a tool to get us to a higher quality of life with
full lamps, a free country, family, strength for the day or anything like that.
There is only one reason we would even think of adorning the
Church: it points to our belief that Christ is present to commune with us in
His Body and Blood.
Return to Isaiah, heard earlier. The first three verses show
us that before the infant gets long life, before vain labor and calamitous
children are no more, and before the wolf and the lamb graze together, the Lord
is there. “I create”, “I create”, “I create”, He says. Three times. And in
order to enact His orders, He must be present.
Seek more of your answer in Thessalonians where St. Paul is describing
the Day of the Lord. You don’t have a Lord’s Day without the Lord showing up
and on that day we have been destined for salvation, not wrath, through Jesus.
Our Introit seems not to help, only speaking of prayer being
heard, possibly from far away. But that is only true if Truth can spring out of
the earth, far away, which it can’t. Truth, Jesus Christ, springs out of the
earth, out of His mother, with a reasonable body and a reasonable soul. That
is, a visual decoration, easy for us to understand that He is just like us.
In this Biblical light, it is not vampiric or cannibalistic
to believe that Jesus, the Crucified Savior, is present in His own Supper which
He sets before us this day. The real question faced with Christians is not,
“Will you hear God when He calls”, but “Where is Jesus”.
This is the main concern for the 10 virgins: Where is Jesus?
They are so concerned that they dressed to the nines and bring out their lamps
to light His way. This is also the main concern for the watchmen. The only
reason they are on the heights watching is to wait for the morning, in this
case, the arrival of Jesus in order to announce it to everyone else.
The Church is on earth in order to announce the Lord’s
Coming and the way she does this is by proclaiming His death until He comes in,
with, and under the Lord’s Supper. The Church’s Sacraments are not decorations
for show. They are the real and true testament that the Bridegroom has come to
dwell with His people on earth, as He promised.
He comes to dwell in our hearts, bodily. Not just as some
fanciful Santa Clause figment of our imagination, but as true Body and Blood. He
comes as a corporeal child, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He grows and matures
as a natural human being, increasing in wisdom and favor. He eats, drinks,
sleeps, weeps, walks, talks, dresses, thirsts, hungers, touches, and acts.
Today, this same Son of God has not changed. He may be
seated at the Right hand of God in power and glory, but that Right hand uses
that power and glory in order to commune with His Church on earth, even at this
Altar.
The cry of the Watchman is none other than the cry of the
pastor. Christ is here! Come out to meet Him! Not in your dreams or emotions,
but in flesh and blood. The wise virgins look for a body and light the way for
a body. A spirit does not need a lamp to light His way.
This is not a reading of dread or woe or worry about how
much we have prepared or how little we have prepared. It is satanic to shift
our eyes towards how little our lamps are or how poorly they are prepared or
even how full or empty they are. Listen, rather, to the Words of the Bridegroom
Who has come down from heaven in order to bring you with Him.
Take and eat. Take and drink. You are needed. You are a part
of the celebration. This reading is about Jesus coming to get you, coming to
call you, and coming to feed you. The Bridegroom is coming in order to
celebrate His retrieval of you from sin, death, and the devil.
At this very moment, you are right where you need to be. The
Church on earth provides the exact spot where Jesus is: handing out lamps,
handing out oil, handing out His Sacraments. You hear the Word of Jesus,
because it is He who is speaking to you. You receive the Supper of Jesus, because
it is He who is feeding you.
The Sacraments decorate the Church in order that you know
that you are already part of the wedding party, that your lamp is full to the
brim, and that you are inside the feast and not outside. Not because of how you
brought yourself, but because of how Jesus baptized you into that position,
preached you into His Church, and fed you the invitation.
So the Doomsday Clock-ers have it all wrong. It is
already midnight in this world. But that means midnight is passing. That means the
night will soon be over. And even though we still stumble through the darkness,
a light shines. The Gospel is still here being preached and the Sacraments
administered. The clarion call of the Church still echoes loud in the dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment