March 23rd 2008

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

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

In the passage today we hear about ten virgins who went to meet the Bridegroom. This text at first is very peculiar, some pastors describe this as Ten Maidens of the Bride but here here we find that the word used for virgins is the very same word used for the Virgin Mary. If it is ten virgins waiting for the Bridegroom then are we talking about polygamy?

So really who are these Ten Virgins from a Christian perspective? St. Matthew is seen by many as a catechism preparing people for admission to the Lord’s Supper. The Ten Virgins are a picture of Baptized Christians like a bride awaiting for the marriage union with the Lord where two become one flesh such as we see pictured in Rev. 19 or Ephesians 5.

In Ephesians it depicts a bride who is washed by the water and the Word which is baptismal language thus without spot or wrinkle, anticipating the marriage.

The Christians faith says that the Bride walking down the isle at a wedding is virgin, one who has fasted and prepared for the this Holy Union with her future husband. She prepares herself by self examination and contemplation for this Holy Union where two will become one flesh.

When a couple comes to me and says they are engaged, I ask them why? They stare at me for a moment like I asked an obvious question but they respond, “Well, we are planning to get married and live the rest of our lives together.” But it means more than that, engagement is a time of self examination in view of this greater marriage that will take place. This is why a Christian couple abstains for sexual relation in order to self examine themselves for it is not they but God who will join them together in Holy Matrimony and the One who will establish a relationship built on true love and not on lust along side of God's love for them. So they are to remain virgin.

So the virgins who are the baptized and the Bride of Christ are called to live a life of self examination reminding themselves of what this marriage with Christ is all about where two become one flesh at the Lord’s Supper. We begin the service with confessing our sins to God our Father, because in Baptism we are made children of God. We confess our sins to our Father through Christ and receive absolution with the very Name that has been placed upon us in Baptism, “I forgive you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So we live a life of examination as St. Paul says as we anticipate our marriage union with Christ at the Lord’s Supper.

So the Ten Virgins are the Ten Baptized representing those who live in the anticipation of the union with Christ as they sing “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

But five of the Baptized had not lived the examined life anticipating the coming of the Lord. It is like Adam and Eve who were not satisfied with the life given to them by God or the Tower of Babel, a people who wanted to make a name for themselves and become authors of this life.

You see, sin can be something against the Bible, or doing something wrong against God’s will, but there is a more significant notion to sin that is sometimes lost, that is, we are not satisfied with the genuine life given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ.

In other words, pure love, forgiveness, and mercy that was given to us in Christ is not sufficient. We find a need to be the author this life. We might see it as living two different lives, we live a life as the redeemed and the other life we try to author of ourselves in order to gratify ourselves.

So in sin we build our own life along the life given to us in Christ. In sin we follow our lust and our own desires and seek satisfaction in ourselves and not in Christ. Here is an example, if I were to walk up to another Christian guy and say, “I love you,” he probably would look at me somewhat strange or maybe get a little violent with me. Much of our own culture sees love as something sexual. Instead of Christians seeing love that God has for us in Christ we frequently see within our culture that we are driven by sexual or lustful desire. As we begin to author our own life in sin, the life given in Christ can become doubtful because we become delusioned of what the true life is all about. Thus we may conclude that the love of God is not genuine, satisfactory or even fulfilling during the time of crisis.

Today we hear of five unfaithful, it is easier to sin when other Christians are doing the same (especially when we receive false counsel from other Christians), just as we see with Adam and Eve when they ate of the tree, they did it together (or the tower of Babel).

But the faithful baptized live a life as the faithful virgins, with our wicks trimmed and the oil that continues to flow from the fountain of Israel that keeps their lamps lit. The faithful live a life of self examination and see what is so genuine, so pure, so righteous which is found not in ourselves but in the Bridegroom, namely in Christ’s Body and Blood.

As the faithful participate in the Lord’s Supper, they are united by One Blood thus becoming blood brothers and sisters in Christ. It is here where genuine communion and relationship are made, not from a life that we author but the life God has authored through Christ unto all eternity.

It is at the supper where our Lord says, “This the New Testament in my Blood,” that all our prayers are satisfied in His blood, taking away our sin, and bestowing on us what is most genuine and pure, namely His love and mercy.

Can you imagine if relationships were build on the genuine love of Christ, how genuine it would be, how unselfish it would be, that we love one another as God has loved us. Oh faithful virgins, today Christ comes to you, bestowing upon you the joy of life, in His mercy and forgiveness won for us in Christ and Him crucified, here is a peace that surpasses all understanding, let us and our whole life rest in Him.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. John Dreyer