What are You Watching?
St. Matthew 25:1-13
November 20, 2022 anno Domini
There is one word to remember on this Last Sunday of the Church Year – watch, watch Jesus. Fix your eyes on Him. See what He has done for you. See what He is doing in His Word and Sacrament. Keep your eyes on the Eastern sky eager for His coming again. Don’t be drowsy. Don’t pull a Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemane. Don’t fall asleep as Jesus is about to deliver you.
That is the warning from the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. It is a particular warning for a particular group of people. This is a parable about the church for the church.
How do we know this is about the church? Because all the bridesmaids look alike. They were all wearing Periwinkle blue dresses with violet undertones paired with apricot accessories. They all are carrying their lamps. They are all waiting on the bridegroom. Outwardly they look alike.
So, it is in the church. We all look alike on the outside, but we cannot see faith in the heart (in terms of the parable – is there oil in your lamp?) We can only see the outward actions and hear the outward confession. If you say, “I am sorry for my sins” the pastor must say, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” If you say, “I believe in Jesus Christ” then we must say, “Amen. You are a Christian.”
But Scripture says that there are pretenders in the Church on earth. There are weeds among the wheat – those whose periwinkle blue gown is exactly the same as all the other bridesmaids, but when the Bridegroom arrives He reveals there is no oil in their lamps.
It seems odd that a person would endure the hassle of being a Christian but have no faith. Why would you give 10% of your income, lose 52 Sunday mornings a year, two months of Wednesday nights, plus a few select Holy Days if you don’t believe in Christ? Why would put up with a pastor pestering you to put away your pleasurable sins, to pray before meals and to educate your children in the faith? I don’t know, but God tells us it happens and that’s why Jesus speaks this parable of warning to you in these last days. “Watch for Me, so this doesn’t happen to you.”
The foolish bridesmaids did not miss out because they were evil, and the wise bridesmaids were pure. Both the wise and the foolish bridesmaids fell asleep, which means they did not watch as they should. Like Peter, James, and John, they dozed off when they were supposed to be awake and alert for the Bridegroom. All sinned and fell short of the glory of God.
What then is the difference? Five were foolish and five were wise. The foolish took no oil with them – there was nothing in their lamps and you couldn’t see that, not until the Bridegroom came and they foolishly thought their lamps would light with no oil. The periwinkle blue LCMS logo embroidered on their Coach purses would not save them. Church membership won’t save you. You’re not going to get in because you are LCMS, ELCA, UMC, AoG, RC, or PCUSA or any of the other alphabet soup in the Christian crockpot.
The difference between the wise and the foolish is Christ. Five looked to Him in faith. Five looked elsewhere. When He arrived the five wise trimmed their lamps. The five fools had no oil and note this – even when the Bridegroom arrived they did not look to Him. They looked to the other bridesmaids. “Give us some of your oil.” Tell Jesus we were members together at Redeemer Lutheran in Saint Cloud. It might have been a different ending if they confessed and repented. “O Lord, forgive us. We were lazy. We wanted to be fashionable. We were so busy putting on our makeup that we didn’t get to Costco to buy the two-gallon pack of Kirkland Olive Oil. And besides the container clashed with our purses. Forgive us for our vanity and laziness. We were thinking of ourselves and not you O Lord.” But the fools did not see it that way.
Jesus once told his men, “Blessed are your eyes for they see.” (Matt. 13:16a) Your eyes see. You see this world as a place of darkness and death. We’re killing three thousand Americans a day through abortion, and we call it a woman’s right. We are mutilating our children because we want them to be whatever they think they can be, instead of teaching them whom God created them to be. We put more stock in political elections, that our election by God to be His children. Our goal is to be happy and love ourselves, instead of being faithful to God and loving our neighbor.
The question with which this parable confronts us is “What are you watching? What are your eyes on? I know the answer. You’re watching Fox News and CNN. You’re watching season 7, episode 14 of your favorite Netflix or Amazon show. You’re on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram looking for likes or bragging up you and yours. You’re playing Candy Crush or Wordle. You’re addicted to entertainment, excitement, and anger. You have learned that the worst emotion is the world is boredom and being patient is a sin. You have become passive in seeking the truth – your screen is your truth. You’re being lured into covetousness of the perfect relationship or the most pleasurable perversion or the most prized possession. It’s eating away at your relationships and helping you avoid your calling to love your wife, care for your husband, teach your children, or make friends with your neighbor. Your screen is your god because that’s what you’re watching.
Repent. Advent is a week away. It is a season of repenting and watching. Cut back on your screens. Designate a screen free evening or two in your home for the sole purpose of Divine and Human interaction. Read the Gospel of John – a chapter a day, say the Lord’s prayer, and a few simple prayers for those you love whom you know to be in need. By Christmas you’ll have read the whole Gospel of Jesus according to Saint John. Read a book. Play cards. Bring out an old board game. Bake some Christmas cookies. Go to a concert. Come to the concert here on December 4th. Watch something than your screen.[i]
Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead and He will separate the wise who see from the foolish who don’t. We confess that we see the salvation of our Lord, that the tree of life is the cross upon which our Savior hung, that its fruit is here in the Lord’s House, in His water, His Word, His bread and wine. This is not exciting or entertaining, but it is essential, and Christ calls us to patience, to wait and watch for Him. There is only one place to see life, to have life, to taste life. That place is Jesus of Nazareth. He died on the cross for your sins, the source of your death. When He walked out of the cemetery, He told His Apostolic band to preach His Word into your ears, pour His water on your heads, put His body and blood in your mouth under the bread and wine that you might have life. We have no screens at Redeemer, and I hope we keep it that way, because life and truth are not in the empty foolishness of our screens, but in the wisdom that is Jesus. God grant us to awake from our slumber and fill our lamps full of Jesus. In His name. Amen.
[i] Previous two paragraph ideas from Pr. Petersen, Redeemer – Fort Wayne