The urgency of the call which you proclaim is not necessarily to do something radically different but to remain steadfast in what they are already doing.
Over the next couple of weeks, the assigned Gospel readings make an intentional shift toward the end times and the second coming of our Lord. Beginning with the parable of the Ten Virgins, the call will go up to be ready, watchful, and prepared for His arriving. There is a special urgency in these texts, one you would do well to capture in your preaching. Time is not simply rolling on forever. There will be an end. There will be the return of the Bridegroom, and you are tasked with keeping this reality before the eyes of your people.
We are told there are ten virgins. Five of them are wise and five are foolish. The distinction between the wise and the foolish is that the wise bring enough oil to be found ready when the bridegroom comes. Both groups go out to meet him. Both are excited about his arrival. Both grow drowsy and fall asleep as they struggle with his delay. The oil, or lack thereof, becomes crucial when the bridegroom’s arrival is announced. The text may seem harsh to our modern ears as the foolish virgins rush off at the last hour to procure some oil. In the end, they desperately seek entry into the wedding feast, but it is too late. “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”
A sermon on this text may begin by retelling the parable, making it descriptive and relatable to the people of God. For everyone listening knows someone or at least fears that someone they know will be one of those foolish ones pounding on the locked gate, longing for entrance when it is too late. Moving the story from the theoretical to the practical will go a long way toward heightening the urgency this parable demands. If the foolish virgin is reimagined as my close friend or even my child, one who was waiting along with everyone else but was found unprepared when the time came. This makes the message all the more crucial.
For everyone listening knows someone or at least fears that someone they know will be one of those foolish ones pounding on the locked gate, longing for entrance when it is too late.
So, here the preacher must deal with the oil for the lamp. What is necessary if you are to be found ready when the bridegroom is announced? It may be helpful to begin by highlighting what the oil is not. That is, the works and wisdom of mankind. Explore the options of the oil being one’s good works, the low-hanging fruit which can easily be dismissed as necessary for entrance into the wedding feast. How could anyone be sure they have enough oil? Or the right kind of oil? Is it not foolish to trust that your oil is enough? When He comes, will you be left scrambling to get enough oil to top off your lamp?
Yet, it would be good to push this further. It is not just the oil as the outward works of man, but man’s disposition toward God and His connection to the rituals and traditions. You might focus on one’s morality or his religious appearance. In other words, it would be good to take the time to call out anything that begins with man, with his effort and devotion. Assurance of being found ready does not come for us but is received as a gift from God.
Having explored and exposed such things, you would be ready to proclaim the true nature of the oil for our lamps. The “oil” is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is the gift delivered by our God to His elect. The oil, therefore, does not begin with your effort or devotion but with the work of the Lord. The Good News is the Spirit has chosen to work His gifts through means. He has attached His promises to water and Word, bread and wine. To be where He gives His gifts is to receive the necessary and crucial oil in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s arrival.
Here, the parable of the Ten Virgins becomes an encouragement for your hearers to continue to do what they are doing, to gather around Word and Sacrament, to repent and believe. The urgency of the call which you proclaim is not necessarily to do something radically different but to remain steadfast in what they are already doing. The distractions of this world will never cease to offer another way, another path, so we may somehow be found ready. But it may just be that what your people need to hear is the encouragement to, “Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
God bless your preaching!
--------
Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Matthew 25:1-13.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Matthew 25:1-13.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
