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Rejoice at the Thrilling Cry Text:
Matthew 25:1-13 “Lord, lord, open to us” [Matthew 25:11 (ESV)].
Lord, open to us. With this parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus prepares his disciples for “the delay”—that seemingly long period of time between his passion, resurrection and ascension and his promised return as victorious Lord of all. He prepares us, first of all, by telling us there will be a delay, a significant passage of a time of waiting—how long, no one knows. Some 2,000 years later we easily forget the lively expectation of the Lord's return in which the first disciples lived from day to day. So lively was that expectation that at First Church of Thessalonica, when fellow Christians began to die before the Lord's return, they were puzzled and troubled and began to grieve like men who have no hope. Some even started to spin their own, homemade theology to explain it all, beginning to think that Jesus must not have meant that he would really come again “as they had seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11), but meant only some sort of “spiritual,” invisible coming again. That was the burden of founding Apostle St. Paul's letter to them, reassuring them of our Lord's visible return. But for now, during the delay, those who die in the Lord are with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-18). They are with the Lord because in faith, in this life they had said, “Lord, open to us.” And He did.
Lord, open to us. This parable warns that there are wise and foolish followers of Christ. In the famous hymn by Philipp Nicolai, “Wake, Awake,” Christians are likened unto the “virgins, pure and wise” who, “at the thrilling cry” announcing the Lord's return are bidden to awake, take their lamps with gladness, “with bridal care And faith's bold prayer, To meet the bridegroom” [LW 177:1]. What is it that makes some wise and some foolish? The only difference in the parable is that some are prepared with enough extra olive oil for their oil lamps and some are not.
Some are wise and some are foolish. When you do a brief word study of the word “wise” in the New Testament, the first persons that are so called are the wise men from the east who were drawn by the star to visit the newborn King of the Jews in Bethlehem. That star along with the further detail provided by the chief priests and scribes who pointed to the prophesy of Micah were the Word of God that drew the wise men to Jesus. The oil, the fuel of hope, the lamp giving light to our feet is the Word of God (Ps. 119:105). Later Jesus would say to his disciples, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” [Matthew 7:24 (ESV)]. St. Paul would write to the young pastor Timothy, recalling “how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” [2 Tim. 3:15 (ESV)]. In First Corinthians St. Paul calls “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God,” “whom God made our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” [1 Cor. 1:24 (ESV)]. The Word of God is the oil, the fuel of the light that brings the wisdom of faith, which is what makes ever ready for the Lord's return.
Through the years the lamp of faith in God's Word at times dimmed, faded and flickered and the Church became drowsy amid the ether of human inventions and traditions that obscured the pure Gospel. On this day, November 20, 2005 we celebrate the 425 th anniversary of the rediscovery of the light with the publication of The Book of Concord. As the pure light of the Gospel awakened many in the days of the Reformation, they were made bold to confess the Truth in the face of all darkness. Through the years to our modern time similar cycles between drowsy devotion and spiritual awakenings have come and gone. Our current struggles are between those who have given up on the oil and the lamp of God's means of grace (Word and Sacrament) and those who are rediscovering the energy of confessing the Word of God in its truth and purity.
“Lord, open to us.” The “foolish” said these words too, but too late. The parable says there is coming a time when it will be too late. The time for preparation for the Lord's return is now. That preparation is in saying “Lord, open to us” now, while the supply of the Word is available.
Lord, open to us. These are the words of sincere and regular confession and absolution. To all that believe and are baptized the doors stand open now. This is the time of grace. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” [2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)].
Lord, open to us. These are the words of the liturgy that teach us how to approach God as our loving Father who has mercy on us; joining in angelic chorus in praise to God; asking for what we really need as revealed in His Word. He opens the doors of his mercy and grace as His Holy Word is read and heard and sung and preached into our ears. It is no other than Jesus our Savior who is preaching through His Word when we gather “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;” when we are baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He opens His heart when we approach the gates of His presence and receive the Body and the Blood, the tokens of His invitation, preparation, forgiveness and salvation. By simply coming forward and kneeling in response to His institution we are saying, “Lord, open to us,” and He does.
Lord, open to us. Sometimes the doors seem closed. But they're not. Or maybe we may think the doors are opened only for those who are worthy, who are “good enough” to deserve his invitation. No. The invitation is to all, the good and the bad whoever they may be, because the invitation is based not in our own supposed worthiness, but in the worthiness alone of the Lamb who was slain for us men and for our salvation. God so loved the world in spite of their sin and rebellion. God so loves you regardless of how far you have fallen away from Him! As long as the doors of God's mercy and grace are open, the invitation stands. He provides the wedding garment and clothes you with Christ's righteousness.
But there is coming a day when the doors will be shut, locked and barred. Then the foolish, having too lately awakened, will say, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But He will answer, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” from behind locked doors.
“I do not know you.” Devastating words. The question is not as much “do you know the Lord” as it is “does the Lord know you?” The most terrible words at the end of days would be, “I never knew you.” To those who are wise, who have made the Word of God their center, their wisdom, their light, however, will be spoken the gracious words, “Come. Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Therefore today we say to you in the name of the Lord, “Awake, O sleepwalkers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph. 5:14). The Apostle who quotes these words says, and we say to you, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” And what is the will of God for you? It is to be converted and saved by the Spirit of God through His Word [Eph. 5:15-21].
Lord, open to us. For now we can petition God with those words and He opens the gates—washing us with water and the Word, feeding us with the Body and the Blood, preserving and strengthening us with his gift of faith that lives on the Word of God.
Lord, open to us. We pray that prayer today, while there is still time. “Lord, open to us” is the repentant prayer of faith in the One who came to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. “Lord, open to us” is the repeated prayer fueled by the oil of the Word of God, the life of repentance and faith. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” [Luke 11:28 (ESV)]. Lord, open to us. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” of His final coming [Matthew 25:13 (ESV)]. But you do know that this day and this hour the doors of His mercy are open. So we end another year of God's grace in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We end another year of God's grace today with the prayer, “Lord, open to us.” ___________________
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