Hear the Parable of the Ten Virgins. In that parable, Jesus tells us that the women are all “virgins.” That was His way of saying that they were still unmarried. So, Jesus tells us about ten virgins, ten young women who have not yet married, waiting for their wedding and the wedding reception to follow. They’re all waiting for the bridegroom.
This parable isn’t about whether you are naughty or nice. It’s about whether you are wise or foolish; it’s not about morality, but faith. To be wise is to believe and trust. Scripture tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). To have the “fear of the Lord” is to believe in Him. That’s the beginning of wisdom. The end of faith, however, is our salvation (1 Peter 1:9). To be foolish is to be unbelieving. As Scripture says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).
The unbelieving, foolish virgins brought their lamps—but no extra oil. The wise, believing virgins carried extra jars of oil and their lamps. Now, who looked better as they waited for the bridegroom? The foolish virgins did, for they brought their lamps but weren’t lugging around any extra baggage, extra oil for their lamps.
But the wise virgins didn’t look wise, not as the world saw it. Oh, they were wearing their wedding clothes, but they also seemed so silly! Jars of extra oil are not part of a bride’s wedding ensemble. What were they thinking? They acted as if this wedding was the biggest event in their lives, the only event. And for them, it was!
What looked stupid to the world was the wisdom of faith being lived out in their lives. And what looked good to the world was foolishness in the eyes of God. Now, we want it both ways. But you’re either the foolish unbeliever or the wise believer. There’s no middle ground. And this belief is real, for it changed how they lived and what they did.
And here we are, living as part of the Church of Christ, watching and waiting. How foolish we look! Now, this foolishness isn’t the stupidity of crackpots trying to predict what no one can predict—when Jesus will return. That is foolish—in the eyes of the world and God. Jesus had just said in the chapter preceding today’s Gospel reading: “But as for that day and hour no one knows it, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).
So, here we are. We don’t know the hour or day of Christ’s return. We even know that we won’t know the hour and day of His return. And, yet, here we wait. How foolish does this seem, watching and waiting for Jesus?
But such foolishness extends even further in the mind of our fallen flesh. How foolish is it to get up on Sunday, especially when it’s really cold, so you can hear God’s Word preached to you? You could more easily read God’s Word at home, on your own. And so, our sinful flesh says that coming to church is foolish. But Scripture abounds with admonition after admonition to gather as God’s people.
How foolish is it to our sinful flesh to hear the forgiveness of your sins when you already know that, in Christ, God has already forgiven you? And, yet, Jesus commanded His pastors to speak such forgiveness. How foolish does it look to eat bread and drink wine, believing them to be Jesus’ body and blood, just as He says?
How foolish is it to pray, praise, and give thanks when you have other, pressing matters in your life? How foolish is it to give offerings to God when you have so many other items that you can buy with your money. If such ways seem silly to us in our sinful rationalizations, of trying shape Christ’s Church in our image instead of Christ’s Church shaping us, what then of the world?
Yes, how foolish it seems that we speak of sin and sacrifice, of sin-cleansing blood, and forgiveness when the world couldn’t care less about that and, frankly, wants something else. How silly of the Church to preach Christ crucified for the sins of the world, even knowing that this world, and even disoriented Christians, clamor for fun and entertainment. A theology of the cross? That’s as stupid and out of place as a jar full of olive oil.
But that’s how it is. We Christians look like the village idiots of religion. The other world religions think that we’ve got it all wrong for believing that we are righteous before God because of His mercy and grace, all because of Jesus, not because of anything we do. That sounds crazy to the other law-driven religions of the world. Everyone knows that you have to earn your way, make yourself right with God, and follow your path to enlightenment.
The world sees the Church as a ship of fools, who come to church, not for self-motivation or entertainment, but to receive God’s forgiveness. Preach “repentance into the forgiveness of sins,” Jesus told His Apostles (Luke 24:47). And so, we die to ourselves, that’s repentance, to live in Christ, that’s the forgiveness of sins.
We can even laugh at death because of our resurrection to eternal life, made real by Christ’s resurrection. That’s why we esteem Christ, not ourselves. That’s why worship is not about what we want, but about what Jesus wants to give us.
We bury our dead, grieving, but also testifying to the body’s resurrection when Christ returns. Even the souls of the saints in heaven look forward to that great event. Christ’s return on the Last Day and our resurrection of the body is the main event in our future. Just read the New Testament and you’ll see this to be so. And the world shakes its head at us, thinking us fools.
But in the end, the midnight wake up cry goes out. And those who looked foolish turn out to be the wise ones. And those who looked to be wise, wind up being the fools. They run around in the middle of the night looking for oil that they cannot find. They find themselves outside the wedding feast for which they had an invitation.
The folly of the foolish is in their figuring. They figured they could do the minimum, which isn’t how faith brings someone to live. What they hadn’t planned for was the groom arriving later than they expected. And so, they fell asleep, and the groom showed up at midnight. Come on, who starts a wedding party at midnight?
“You do not know the day or the hour.” That’s Jesus’ last word on the timing of the Last Day. He stops our calculating and speculating and has us, instead, live by faith.
But Christ’s delay can make us complacent. Jesus didn’t return yesterday. He hasn’t yet come today, and He probably won’t appear tomorrow. So, we have oodles of time, right? Who knows? God’s way of time isn’t the same as ours. God deals in time, using what the Greek New Testament calls kairos. In God’s way of time-keeping, everything is packed into a moment.
We, however, have a chronology of days, months, years, and decades. It’s as the Apostle Peter tells us. “The Lord isn’t slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). May no one say, “There’s always more time.” You don’t know the day or the hour.
God is rich in His mercy. He gives us the forgiveness and life that Jesus earned on the cross in, not just one way, but many ways. He gives it to us in baptism, in the spoken forgiveness of our sins, in the Lord’s Supper, and in the Word that is preached into our ears. He gives us more forgiveness, life, and salvation than you and I could ever imagine because we can never have too much. After all, we are still sinners!
We find more Jesus in Word and Sacrament than we think that we need. We find more forgiveness and life, which will keep our lamps burning until Christ returns. Only the unbelieving fool would say, “I have enough forgiveness and life, Jesus. I don’t need any more; I’m good to go.”
That’s not what faith believes. That’s not how faith lives. That’s unbelief exposing its ugly face in your life. That’s the foolish virgins thinking they’ll do the minimum, the smallest amount, to get by. And their unbelief that led them to live in such a way left them outside in the end.
The wise virgins knew in whom they placed their hope and for whom they waited. They knew their bridegroom was on His way. They knew He was coming—they just didn’t know when. You also know for whom you wait, and He knows you.
Your Bridegroom, Jesus, died for you, rose from the grave for you, and reigns in heaven for you. He baptized you, forgives you, feeds you His body and blood, and anoints you with His Spirit. He gives you more oil than you can burn in eternity.
To live as the wise is to live in faith, in the hope and expectation of Jesus’ coming, whether that Day is today, tomorrow, or 50,000 years from now. You can live, sleep, and die in Christ, who once came for you by crib and cross. You can live, sleep, and die in Christ, who comes to you now by Word and Supper. And you can live, sleep, and die in the confidence of Christ, for He will come in glory on the Last Day, raising you from death to life eternal.
Of that Day, Jesus said, “Look! I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5). Sin and death will be no more. Even Prophet Isaiah spoke of this in the Old Testament, pointing forward to what God would do. “Look! I will create a new heaven and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17).
That Day is coming soon; we just don’t know when. He comes without warning. But you already know that. And knowing that, come then to receive more oil for your lamp. For it’s unbelief that says you that you already have enough of what Jesus wants to give you. Faith knows, believes, and acts otherwise. Amen.
