Last Sunday

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Is 65:17–25; 1 Thess 5:1–11; Mt 25:1–13; Ps 149; anti: v. 2   –     11/23/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

As with most of His parables, Jesus is not speaking to the ignorant pagan or atheist, but those who are already in the Kingdom of God, the Church, visibly if not by faith. A warning about His return in Judgment would mean nothing to a pagan or an atheist: ‘What does it matter to me what you say about your god? He’s not my god and I don’t believe in him and he has no judgment against me’, they would say. They cannot hear Christ’s warning until they have first seen their sin and need for Christ to be their Savior, only then will Jesus’ warning about judgment frighten them. But in this parable the warning is to you and all in the Church, that you Watch! and, Take up your lamps! The wedding feast is ready so you be ready as well! The danger of unbelief is before you, the pagan and atheist are already condemned, they are already judged.

Last year I quoted Rev. Stoeckhardt to you, and his point remains relevant this year as well: even the wise virgins fell asleep. Even Christians do not always have their minds and thoughts “fixed upon the Lord in heaven and upon his glorious return but often lingeringly look upon the fun and games found in this perishable existence. The Lord does not expressly rebuke this sleepiness in our text. The wise virgins have, nevertheless, readied their lamps. Believing Christians are prepared to receive their Bridegroom, whether he comes today or tomorrow. They have put on their wedding finery. They are properly dressed for the wedding.” (422) Once again I urge you to wear your baptism proudly and buy the oil of good works for your lamps of faith so that whether waking or sleeping you will be ready for Christ’s return. Though you may slumber, as is common to man, I would have you be prepared when the cry of the archangel wakes you: Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.

How do you prepare? A noble and very useful means that the church has always used is fasting. Once, there were the two seasonal fasts of Advent and Lent. The details differed century by century, but the point was that you denied yourself something you normally enjoyed, or would feel the pain of its absence, and in so doing you trained yourself by this fasting to deny your desires, deny your belly, curb your passions. Another practice was the weekly fasts throughout the year, where all adult Christians, with the exception of pregnant and nursing women for whom fasting was forbidden, would fast from all food two non consecutive days in the work week, again with the idea of teaching your body self control so that you will be better able to stand in the day of temptation. This is a God pleasing practice.

However, consider what Jerome says about the fasting to monks and nuns, “You must not go on fasting until your heart begins to throb and your breath to fail and you have to be supported or carried by others. No; while curbing the desires of the flesh, you must keep sufficient strength to read scripture, to sing psalms, and to observe vigils. For fasting is not a complete virtue in itself but only a foundation on which other virtues may be built. The same may be said of sanctification and of that chastity without which no man shall see the Lord [Heb 12:14]. Each of these is a step on the upward way, yet none of them by itself will avail to win the virgin’s crown. The gospel teaches us this in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins; the former of whom enter into the bridechamber of the bridegroom, while the latter are shut out from it because not having the oil of good works they allow their lamps to fail.” (NPNF 6.267)

Jerome’s point is that while bodily preparation through fasting is good, it cannot come at the expense of your duty to God which are the bridal gown and the lamp, and your duty to your neighbor: the oil of the lamp. While fasting is a good practice and can be a good work, the sole purpose is not merely refraining from food or drink, but rather when hunger strikes your belly you turn to prayer or you turn to read or sing God’s Word. Fasting is a foundation upon which you are able to build other virtues; or to put it another way, fasting is the foundation upon which you prepare for war with the devil and the world through combating your own flesh.

Now let us turn to our text: [Jesus said:] “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. These virgins are all the Christians whom Christ bought with His blood. They represent you. Some Christians are wise and some are foolish. Some spend their days in selfless living by serving others and by denying themselves, thus buying the oil of good works and joyfully partaking of God’s Word and Sacraments to fill their lamps and keep the light of their faith burning. God has given them good works to do to sustain their faith to the end, and our Lord Jesus will welcome them into His wedding feast with joy. These wear the white robes of righteousness, have gladly heard and received God’s gifts even though they are weak, and they have shown their faith by their works.

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But some Christians do not take up the good works which God prepared for them beforehand but rather indulge in the pleasures of this world and do not train their bodies or their minds for the day of trial, and thus do not buy that oil when the time is right. They wait for too long. They neglect reading and hearing God’s Word, they neglect the Lord’s Supper, they neglect the good works of faith, but are contented to trust that mere membership or attendance in a church means they will have free access to a cache of common oil. Which, like I told you last year is why we read,

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.

Last year I asked many of you to consider which you are. Are you among the wise who attends to God’s Word at home and here at church, not only when it is convenient but especially when it is inconvenient? Are you among those who know they need forgiveness, who know they need and, indeed long for, the Lord’s Supper? Are you among those who desire to please God the Father with all that you do? Or are you among those who are content to attend church only occasionally? who don’t feel the pain and guilt of sin? who don’t feel the need for the Lord’s Supper? who think that adopting the name Christian is enough? who make no practice of faith? You have had about a year to consider this, what is your answer? Have you changed? Have you improved? Have you disciplined your body and your mind? If not, now is the time for you to repent your laziness, repent for the fact that you have not done what God desired you to do. Then, having repented to attend more faithfully to God’s Word and Sacraments, and, I would highly suggest, train yourself through fasting this Advent or Lent, that you may become stronger.

I can happily say, though, that in the last year I have seen some of our members much more than the year prior. I am very glad that you have come; and I hope I am faithful in teaching you and bringing you God’s gifts.

What about you who weren’t here this Sunday last year? Take this time to examine yourself and spend this next Church Year in self discipline and good works. Stay awake! Keep the light of your faith burning through prayer, reading and hearing, and joyously receiving the gift of Christ’s body and blood. Consider also taking up a habit of fasting. And remember what St. Paul says in our Epistle reading, [S]ince we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Regardless or whether you were here last year strive to be like the wise virgins. Remember that now is the time to buy oil, there will be no time later. When the foolish virgins awoke as the cry when out it was already too late: And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Inaction and sloth harm faith, which is much of what St. James was at great pains to teach the Church. God has not called us to be lazy and half hearted, but to seize the day, as it were, for the sake of His kingdom. As humans we must rest at times, but the daylight hours are given for the sake of exercising faith. You are called to be a child of the light, not a child of darkness, We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

Again Rev. Stoeckhardt offers us wisdom at the close of the Church Year, “Between the beginning of faith… and the end there lies still a great span of time. The Bridegroom tarries. Christ permits his Bride, the Church, to wait abroad for a long time. And this period that lies between believing and seeing, in which we are presently living, is an evil time. The devil with his thousand artifices, the world with its thousand temptations, every day life with its thousand vanities lulls also Christians to sleep. Sand is thrown into the eyes of the believers, the virgins. They all at times are lulled to sleep.” (424)

No one is able to stay awake. No one has been vigilant day and night thinking always of what pleases the heavenly Bridegroom. Our sinful flesh tempts us rather to please other men and the world. We don’t always think of obtaining heaven, but our hearts are inclined to earthly gain and pleasure. By nature we do not trust Christ’s comfort and help in trial, but tend toward despair. We see that even the apostles were overpowered by temptation and lulled to sleep in Gethsemane. However, even that weakness of the men should comfort us weak Christians, because they were weak like us and yet the Lord Jesus restored them. It is not good or right, not wise when a Christian slumbers. But the Lord does not rebuke this sleep. “The lamps of the wise virgins still burn brightly and have enough oil in their vessels.” (424) God in Christ laid down His life in your place that you might be free from your sins. He provided you the white garment of salvation in Baptism, gave you the burning lamp of faith, placed upon you the breastplate of faith and love, crowned your head with the helmet of hope for salvation, and lastly Himself provides you the oil of good works that your faith may burn brightly. He knows we are weak and cannot stay awake. He knows the natural inclinations of our flesh and heart. But He has forgiven you your sins, even the sins of sloth by his death on the cross.

Thus, as Alfred Edersheim said, Christ now teaches that the main lesson of the parable is “the need of individual, personal, and spiritual preparation. Only such will endure the trial of the long delay of Christ’s Coming; only such will stand that of an immediate summons to meet the Christ.” (787–788) And it is for that reason that I began the sermon by pointing you to fasting. God has given me the good work of being the steward of His gifts and of teaching you so that your heart and soul is well fed and strong, as Hebrews 13 states, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you (17). Part of my duty to God is to equip you so as to strengthen your faith, I do this through the work of the ministry: preaching, administering the sacraments, and teaching the Bible; and to restore you when you have fallen, I do this through providing you with the comfort of God’s Word and with His forgiveness in Absolution. But I also equip you through advice in holy living, what we call the guiding use of God’s Law, thus my constant admonitions to read your Bibles at home, for fathers to guide children in the catechism, and now my suggestion that each of you, who are not pregnant or nursing children, that you take up the practice of fasting. The wise virgins are those who made a practice of holy living, the foolish are those who coasted along. Be like the wise. Know your Bible by heart. Know the hymns of the church. Pray in earnest. Imitate Christ in His humility, in His prayer, in His fasting, and look to Him your Lord and Savior who alone rescues you from the outer darkness and brings you into God’s light. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen