READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 65:17-25
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
St. Matthew 25:1-13
Grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who
is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead,
and the ruler of kings on earth.
Who speaks to you this Ultimate Sunday saying,
“Five of them were
foolish and five were wise”
As we are presented the Gospel today, Jesus appears to set
up a dichotomy between wise and foolish, almost as if He is showing you this in
order to get you to pick a side. However, He includes it in His Word not to get
you to pick sides, but to show you your sin in all matters that it may drive
you to Confession and Absolution from your pastor, as God has given.
Given that Jesus wants our worldview to be that of “sin in
all matters”, you now see other human beings around you and you still see their
weaknesses, but now you feel such compassion and forgiveness for their
failings, as if they were small children and you yourself feel like a child,
worthy of the Master. We are all in the same boat of “lost and condemned”.
The fallible parable goes this way: Inside you are two
wolves. One fights to bring about evil; anger, envy, sorrow, regret, war with
your neighbor. The other fights for “good” allegedly; joy, peace, love, hope,
serenity, kindness, etc. The wolf who wins out, as the false parable goes, is
the one you feed.
Do not read too much into that. It fails on many levels and
just wants you to feel guilty, which is what the Law is good for. The point is,
to start to bring to your mind the idea of good and evil in the world, not just
being “out there” or “at the gate”, but in your house, inside you already.
So we find similarities in our Lord’s parable. There are two
groups, in today’s Gospel reading: 5 wise and 5 foolish. Some teach that the
implication is that you must choose which side you are on. Will you have your
lamps prepped and be ready to shun anyone in need in order to keep your spot at
the party? Or will you be negligent and frivolous in order to prove that you
can do it on your own?
Back to the wolves: you could just let the wolves fight it
out and pick the winner, if you were a neutral party in the whole matter. But
you’re not neutral.
Back to the virgins: if you were a neutral observer, then
you could just let them act it out and be the 11th virgin that goes where the
winners are supposed to go. But you’re not neutral.
Back to the world: when you see conflicts, even world
conflicts, and have a hard time understanding them, this is why. You cannot
blame it on fake news, you cannot blame it on “evil existing”. Although those
are both true, you cannot comprehend the world because you are a part of the
problem. First and foremost: when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, they are
simply reflections of what goes on inside you.
Repent. Inside you are two wolves and both are evil and
sinful. Outside you is the world you have made and, surprise surprise, it is
also evil and sinful. So much so, that you cannot help but be confronted by it
everyday. Are you feeling guilty about being a terrible father? Then there is a
news story about how someone was a terrible father. Are you feeling guilty
about being a poor patriot? Then someone is tearing down monuments on the news.
Are you in a fight with family or friends? Then there is a war going on, just
for you.
You do not get to decide which group of virgins you will
side with, neither do you get to decide which side in the world you pick. This
is because both sides reside in you. You are both foolish and wise, enemy and
friend. You are both at fault and the victim and you just can’t help yourself.
This is exactly St. Paul’s lament in Romans 7:
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right,
evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in
my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law
of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
(v21-23)
Dear Christians. Neither group of virgins gets it right. No
not one. Look at your gospel reading again for the condemning verse (5): “they
all became drowsy and slept.” They all fell asleep at their post. They all
are guilty of dereliction of duty. Make no mistake, it was not the oil that
vindicated, or the lamp, or anything else. It was the Bridegroom.
How you ask? Well, what was the reason that the virgins were
sitting in that place, in the first place? What was most important to them? Why
did they wake from their folly? What place was there for them, afterwards?
From Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those
who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman
stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
And I’ll add: unless the Lord sleeps first, he who falls
alseep, sleeps in vain. As in, death has no meaning and you are simply erased
afterwards. Unless the Lord sleeps, there is no firstborn from the dead. Unless
the Lord becomes drowsy from suffering, there is no end to suffering. Unless
the Lord conquers the dark, there will be no light, even from a lamp.
It is Jesus Christ Who is right and Who must invade His own
creation to bring right. And He does so in the darkness. He is covered by it
and moves in it. It is not His, but it is the reason we can only see as through
a mirror darkly (1 Cor 13:12). It is the reason for Isaiah 5:4, “What more
could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? [Saith the
Lord] Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring
forth sour grapes?” Oh my people?
It matters not. In the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, He even accepts sour grapes, because He intends to change them.
From John 19, “A jar full of sour wine stood there, so
they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his
mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he
bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (v. 29-30).
Though Jesus had received the sour grapes of all humanity’s
iniquities, ineptitudes, and insurrections against God, He still chose to
suffer and die to purchase and win the Light of Faith for you. Though Jesus had
to invade His own Creation, arriving as a stranger, and was kicked out for His
trouble, He continued His work of dying and rising again, for you.
In His crucifixion, Jesus sleeps the sleep of death to
remove death’s grip from foolish virgins. All of them. From you. He is lifted
up on His cross in order to take the field as captain of the fight. He does not
choose sides, He takes His own side, fights His own fight, and defeats His
enemies in the process, changing death into a sleep that can be ended.
The process of building His House, of watching over His
City, and of making sour grapes sweet. Meaning, in the crucifixion of Jesus,
God pays for those things in His blood. In the Resurrection of Jesus, He builds
His Church, completes His Eternal City, and serves His Wine of
Forgiveness which will never sour, in Him.
In Christ, the process is completed. So that when we return
to our virgins, in the Gospel, and the Bridegroom calls out, they all wake up
immediately. They are already under the grace that God had promised them, which
automatically placed them on the Guest List for the Wedding, all 10 of them.
Yet, even knowing this, they still fought against such grace and mercy.
Returning to ourselves, Jesus has knit us from inside our
mother’s womb. He has already built for Himself the Temple He wishes to reside
in and bestow His saving Faith upon: you. He has already placed you in His
City, His Body, and never ceases to watch over you. All of this is only out of
Fatherly goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in you.
Even in your divided, sinful nature, Jesus chooses to create
salvation for you, from outside of you. It doesn’t matter if you’re plagued
with 2 wolves or with 3. It doesn’t matter if you struggle with 3 lives or with
4, 4 worlds or 5. When the Mighty Captain, the Bridegroom, approaches the true
Light of the World shines and casts away the darkness.
In that Light, we see Jesus alone. All trials shall be like
a dream that is past. Forgotten. Lamps, wolves, virgin IQ statuses. There is
nothing but the Savior; wounded, yet not dying; defeated, yet the Victor; as
slain, yet sitting on the eternal throne of God forever, never to die
again.
In this revelation, we are already at the End Times, feeling
the pressure of judgement for our daily sins. No matter which side we choose or
which way we run, the Lord of Forgiveness goes with, so that we realize our
sinful nature, give thanks for God’s revelation, and run to absolution, which
you have already heard proclaimed over you today.
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