1 ‘At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 ‘At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”
7 ‘Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.”
9 ‘“No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”
10 ‘But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 ‘Later the others also came. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us!”
12 ‘But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”
13 ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Those of you who are or were married, what do you remember about your wedding? I remember that Liz and I got married at 11.00 on a Saturday morning in Chelmsley Wood Baptist Church in the outskirts of Birmingham. Our reception occurred immediately afterwards in the hall at the back of the church building. It cost about £80. By mid-afternoon we had left in my parents' car making for Scotland where we were to spend our honeymoon. The wedding ceremony was all over in a few hours and at a modest cost, though the blessing of it has lasted 51 years so far.
Wedding ceremonies were rather different in the world of first century Palestine when Jesus told this parable. Their weddings were not only joyful occasions, they could also last several days. The couple would not go away on honeymoon, but would stay at home and welcome all comers. There was no set time when the bridegroom would come to the house of his bride to eat the wedding feast or to take her to his own home for the that feast. The festivities lasted for a week or so, and were marked by great joy, feasting and music.
In the parable Jesus told, the virgins are waiting to escort the bridegroom into the house. Once he arrived and went in, the door was shut, and there was no possibility of late access. So the foolish virgins were shut out and would have missed the whole week, not just one supper.
Let me remind you of the context in which Jesus told this parable.
Matthew 21 recounts how Jesus entered Jerusalem on a on a donkey and, on the following day threw the traders out of the temple courts. This led to a series of disputes with temple authorities and the Jewish leaders prompting Jesus to tell the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22: 1-14. In that parable, those invited to the wedding refuse to turn up, leading to the wedding feast being thrown open to all who will come.
Further controversy with the Jewish leaders leads to Jesus speaking about the imminent destruction of the temple and about the coming day of judgment. Jesus ends with the warning, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come" (Matthew 24:42), leading into a parable about a faithful and wise servant whose readiness for his Lord's return contrasts with the behaviour of the wicked servant (Matthew 24:45-51).
This is the background against which Jesus tells the Parable of wise and foolish 'virgins' (Matthew 25:1-13).
Let me take you back for a moment to the ministry of John the Baptist.
John had pointed Jesus out to his disciples saying, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Later, some of John's disciples come and tell him the Jesus is baptising people and is getting a greater following for himself than John. John answers them by saying,
'You yourselves can testify that I said, “I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.” The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.’ (John 3:28-30)
The people of Israel have been waiting for centuries for the promised Messiah – waiting with hope and with longing. John had been sent by God to prepare the people for the Messiah's arrival. Now that he had appeared, it was only right that people flocked to him. He is the bridegroom come for his waiting bride. John is only the bridegroom's friend.
Jesus uses a similar picture in the parable he tells the Jewish leaders about a wedding banquet. They profess to have been waiting for the Messiah to come, for the promised bridegroom to appear, but now that he has arrived they are refusing to come with him into the feast of good things God has to give them in him.
In Matthew 8, a centurion sent a plea to Jesus for his servant to be healed. He feels that he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof but is confident that if Jesus will only say the word, his servant will be healed. Jesus commends the faith of this centurion saying:
‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 8:10-12)
Jesus is warning his Jewish hearers that many of them will miss out on the great wedding feast of the kingdom where Gentile believers will sit down to feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
When Jesus first told the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, it was told as a warning to his Jewish hearers. The time for waiting is over. Jesus, the Messiah, has arrived. Are they ready to welcome him and to enter with him into the feast of good things God has for them in his kingdom? Sadly, so many were not ready to welcome the long awaited Messiah.
But when Matthew recorded this parable for his readers and hearers it was not so that they could simply congratulate themselves that they had recognised that Jesus is the Messiah and had chosen to follow him. It was not recorded simply so that they might point their fingers at their fellow Jews who had failed to recognise Jesus as Messiah.
The immediate context in Matthew comes at the end of Jesus teaching about the time when he will return – his second coming.
Jesus tells his disciples that no-one knows the day of hour of his return (Matthew 24:36), so they must always we watchful, ready for their Lord's return whether it should be soon or many years away (Matthew 24:42-44).
And this is the message of this parable for us. It may seem to us that the bridegroom has been an awfully long time in coming. Maybe we sometimes have similar thoughts to the comments reported in 2 Peter 3:4 where some are saying, "Where is this coming he promised?" With the passing of the years we may begin to doubt that it will ever happen – or at least we don’t believe it will happen in our lifetime; no need to be ready just yet!
Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish virgins it intended as a warning to us – a warning that we need always to be ready for the coming of the Lord, for as Jesus says in Matthew 24, "Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come… you … must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
As we listen to Jesus words in this parable we need to understand that he is speaking to us. The virgins are us, those who are Christian men and women who profess to be looking for and longing for the day of Christ's return. But in the parable, only half of them were prepared for his coming: they had the lamps required for a night-time wedding, and had taken the trouble to put oil in them. The other half were not prepared. The message, in the light of the return of Christ at the end of time, is clear: ‘Be prepared.’ Most of the Jews were not prepared when Jesus came, and have not gone in with the bridegroom. But Jesus hopes for better things in his church.
Jesus is warning his followers that his return may be delayed longer than they expected but that we must never become complacent.
Note that all of the girls in the parable looked the same, but they were not. Only half of them were ready for the feast and went in to enjoy the festivities with the bride and groom. And then the door was shut! We should hear this as a terrible warning! It is possible to be often in church and in Christian company, to appear to do and say all the right things but yet not be ready for the Lord's return. In the words of the parable, it is possible to have a lamp that looks good, but has no oil in it. Many see the oil as a picture of the Holy Spirit. It is possible to live out one's life among the community of God's people while still being a stranger to the transforming presence and power of the Spirit within you. That's what Jesus means when he tells Nicodemus, "You must be born again" – born of the Spirit.
And note that, in the picture language of the parable, there are some things you cannot borrow from others. You need to possess them for yourself. It simply is not possible to rely on anyone else for them. Holiness is one of those things.
In Ephesians 5 where Paul likens the relationship between Jesus and his people to that of a bridegroom to his bride he says, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." Christ wants his people to be holy. And holiness cannot be bought or borrowed from someone else. If you are not what you profess to be, nobody else can help you or stand in for you. The bridegroom will come. And then it will be too late.
And that is the third terrible lesson of this parable. There are some times when it is too late. ‘Too late’ is a terrible verdict. The train has pulled out of the station; it's too late now to get on board. The doors of the polling booth are now closed; it's too late to cast your vote. And those terrible words are never more awesome than when applied to the return of Christ. Make sure you don’t miss the party! That is what Jesus means. Make sure that you are ready?
What do we have to do to make sure that we are ready for the moment when Christ shall return? I have got three points, which are not really three separate points at all.
The first is that we need to trust in Christ. In Romans 10:11-13 the Apostle Paul writes concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, "'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame'. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’" Paul is arguing that whoever we may be, we need to place all our trust in the Lord Jesus. We cannot get ourselves ready to meet with God, but the Lord Jesus gave himself for our sins. He paid the penalty which our sins deserved. There is and will be no condemnation for those who place their trust in him. 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
That's the first point, the first way of ensuring that we are ready for Christ's coming.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand…
When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh, may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
The second is not really a separate point but rather a separate aspect of trusting Christ. If we are to be ready for Christ's appearing we must be disciples of Christ, listening to him, learning of him and following him. In John 10:27-30 Jesus is recorded as saying, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one." Trusting in Christ is not a momentary transaction that marks the beginning of the Christian life; it's a quality that must characterise how we live day-by-day. Our lives need to be marked by listening to Christ, learning from him, following him and growing more like him. It is to such that Jesus says, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." We are kept safe by him for the day of his coming.
My third point again is an aspect of the first and second; we need to keep the Lord Jesus central to our lives. Writing to the Christians in Colossae Paul says that it is "Christ in you, [that is] the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). It is Christ's living presence in us that prepares us, or makes us ready for, the glory that will be ours when Christ appears. This is expressed in a number of different ways by the Apostle Paul. In Galatians 2:20 he writes, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." His old life is gone and the life he now lives is characterised by Christ living in him. And in Philippians 1:21 he expresses this same thought, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Cherish the life of the Saviour in your life. Live moment-by-moment by him and for him and you will be ready for his appearing, ready to embrace him as the one who is your life and your love.
Are you ready?
Oh, and one last thing, we need to be telling others how they also may be ready. When Jesus returns he will come to judge the world in righteousness. There is only one way to stand in that day and that is to be trusting in Jesus the righteous one. We need to be telling people the good news that there is a way to stand before God with confidence and joy in that last day. Jesus is the way.
Peter Misselbrook
Marshfield, 30/6/2024, 10.30