Although it might seem obvious, what defines five of the virgins as foolish and five as wise must first be identified before you can get this parable. We think it obvious – five planned ahead and five did not. What more could there be? In reality there is much more.
Scripture defines foolishness as ignorance of the character of God. So the foolish virgins presumed that because Christ the bridegroom is taking so long, either something went wrong or else there is plenty of time for a diversion. The fool does not take God at His Word and so the seeming delay becomes the opportunity to doubt the Lord’s promise and choose the wisdom of the flesh. The wise trusts the promises of God. As Scripture says, “the fear of the Lord (faith) is the beginning of wisdom.” The wise trust that God will do what He says.
Foolishness always presumes itself to be wise. In this way, the foolish are deluded and not self-aware at all. The Scriptures contrast over and over again the false wisdom of the world with the foolishness of God and the wisdom of God with the foolishness of God. Remember that both the foolish and wise fell asleep so it that cannot be the distinction. It is why and how they slept that distinguishes them.
The wise slept in confidence of God’s mercy while the foolish slept figuring they had done all they needed to do or had time to finish later. They did not know God and in the wisdom of the world, ignorance is bliss. The blissfully ignorant slept away the night without a thought about God or His Word. They thought only of themselves. But the wise slept because they knew the character of God – He keeps His Word. So they had oil for their lamps. They were ready for the Lord whenever He came.
The reality is that this is not a story about a wedding of old. It is not an anecdotal memory of yesterday but the blueprint of who we are now and the future God has prepared for us. We are the virgins, those who wait upon the Lord’s timing. We do so not as the foolish who know nothing of God’s ways but as the wise who know the character of God. We have seen the cross. We know what God’s love for us cost our Lord. We know that we deserved nothing of His kindness. But we know that God has acted in a generous mercy to save us in spite of our unworthiness. So we sleep the peaceful sleep of those who know God’s mercy.
We are ready. Not because we have done anything of merit. Not because of us at all but only because of the Spirit, we are ready. We live by faith. We sleep as the faithful who delight in the Lord’s mercy and who know that faith prepares us from whatever comes – in this life and for eternal life.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” That is the wisdom which endures and that is the wisdom which we know and confess by faith that will enable us to endure. The world will always see faith as foolishness and the cross as the epitome of foolishness. But it is the power of God to save us and knowing this is what equips us for this life and for eternal life.
The mystery of God is revealed in the cross. The wise virgins knew this and if we are wise this is what we know – the defining truth of our every reality. The bridegroom does not lie. The wise count on this as the foundation for this life and the hope of everlasting life. The wise are not perfect but they have faith. You who are sitting in these pews, the faithful who are here because you trust in God and most of all in His mercy revealed in the cross, you are the wise.
The world around you is filled with foolishness. They live in blissful ignorance of the eternal while they indulge ourselves in the pursuit of the present. They put more confidence in the IRA money they have put away and the shopping apps on their phones than in the Word of God. They worry more about political intrigues and climate issues than the new heavens and the new earth inaugurated by God’s mercy in Christ. They pursue the whims of their feelings as if they were the truth of the ages. The sleep away their lives in ignorant bliss of the true meaning or importance of the things around them and, to be sure, their very selves.
The wise know their sins, know their unworthiness, know their weakness, and know their limits. They are not afraid of them. They gladly surrender them to the Lord who, in His mercy, claims their sins, their frailty, and their death as His own. They sleep in confidence that the mercy of God is the only thing that can save them and that the mercy of God already has saved them through the cross.
The foolish are always victims. They have plenty of excuses of why they were not ready, why they did not have time to pursue the things of God, and why it is God’s fault they are not ready. They have every excuse but they have not faith. The wise have no excuses. We are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone; and we cannot fix it. We gladly confess that sin and the death that is the fruit of sin because we know it is not the last word. We have no excuse but we have a Savior. This Savior is sure and certain. He is the reason why we do not put our confidence in the things of this life or the things of this world. We bring to the Lord our sins and He forgives them. We bring Him our afflictions and He grants us healing grace. We offer to the Lord the death we deserve so that He might give to us the life we do not.
So we plead our baptism because that is only and always Christ’s work, uniting us to His cross and raising us to life. So we wait upon the Lord’s voice to absolve us of our sins because it is the final word that takes our sin as far from us as the east is from the west. So we kneel at this rail to eat the bread which is His flesh and drink the cup which is His blood. This is not only our hope but our glory. Because of this, we sleep the restful sleep of those who know God has prepared us in Christ for the day when He returns in glory and our faith in this promise will not waver. We have God’s oil for our lamps. And when Christ comes again in His glory, it matters not if the days be short or long, we are ready. For when He comes, He will gather the wise in faith to Himself and invite us into the joy of our Master where God brings to completion at last, everything that He began in us.
In the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.
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