Watch and Be Ready for Christ’s Return

Last Sunday of the Church Year| Matthew 25:1-13| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| November 23, 2025

“Wake, awake, for night is flying,”

The watchmen on the heights are crying;

“Awake, Jerusalem, arise!”

Midnight hears the welcome voices

And at the thrilling cry rejoices:

“Oh, where are ye, ye virgins wise?

The Bridegroom comes, awake!

Your lamps with gladness take!

Alleluia!

With bridal care

Yourselves prepare

To meet the Bridegroom, who is near.”

(Philip Nicolai, Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying, LSB 516)

Jesus begins this parable of the ten virgins waiting for the return of the bridegroom after spending much time warning His listeners to keep watch for the return of the Son of Man. He says in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” So, you should never believe anyone who claims to know when Christ will return. He says that His return will be like the days of Noah, when people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving into marriage, until they were swept away after Noah and his family entered the ark. People will be interrupted doing daily tasks when He returns. “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming,” (24:42) He then compares His return to a thief in the night, saying, “If the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into,” concluding, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (24:43-44) Jesus then tells a story about a wicked servant who says, “My master is delayed,” and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, but then the master of that servant returns at an hour he does not expect and cuts him into pieces. This is the context of this parable. Jesus wants us to recognize that we do not know when He will return, so we must always be ready. Keep watch!

He then tells a parable of ten virgins, five of whom were ready and five who were not ready for His return. The ten virgins are the church visible, everyone who has appeared to be or claimed to be a Christian throughout history. They all look the same on the outside, dressed in the same garb, carrying beautiful lamps. They profess to be Christians. They go out to meet the bridegroom. The bridegroom is Christ, the Husband of His bride the Church. And so, the Christian Church is in the world, ministering, worshipping, proclaiming to the world as she waits for Christ to return.

The ten virgins look the same, but they are not the same. Five are foolish and five are wise. What makes the five foolish? They brought lamps with no oil! That is foolish. What good is an oil lamp without oil? It’s no good for lighting the way. But the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps, so that they would be ready for the bridegroom whenever he comes. The lack of oil by the foolish virgins exemplifies their utter unreadiness. They are not serious about waiting and watching for the bridegroom. They look like they are ready on the outside, with their clothing and lamps, but they lack the most essential thing for readiness: oil to light the lamps.

But what does it mean to lack oil in real life? What does it mean to be foolish? Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man…” (vs. 26) So, who are these foolish virgins without oil? They are those who appear to be Christians on the outside, but they are not. They are hypocrites. They profess to be Christians. They are members of Christian congregations. They even attend church and even listen to sermons and receive the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood. But they do not believe. The Word of God has no effect on their heart. They do not treasure the words of Christ in their hearts and ponder them. They do not do as Jesus preaches. They do not repent of their sins in their heart or trust in Christ for forgiveness, neither do they respond in love toward God and their neighbor. God’s Holy Spirit does not abide in them. They have no faith. They do not love Christ or His Christians. Although they may hear sermons and receive the Sacrament, they despise them and do not lay hold of the promises attached to them. In short, they have no oil for their lamps. They look like Christians on the outside, but the light of faith is not burning because they have no oil on the inside.

And why is this? Jesus again says in His Sermon on the Mount, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23) Jesus says this while preaching against laying up treasures on earth, concluding that you cannot serve two masters, God and money. The foolish virgins have no oil, because they are not treasuring up the things of God, but rather the things of this world. They think worldly. They desire that which will perish, whether money, goods, property, fame, human wisdom, power, glory and love of people. They do not hear God’s Word gladly out of faith and love for Christ. Rather, they pursue things of this world gladly, as if their true treasure were here on earth.

And the end of all this is that they are not ready. They are like the servant who gets drunk while his master is away or the watchman who falls asleep and lets the thief break in. It is utter foolishness. Why even bother calling yourself a Christian, if you despise that which makes one a Christian, the Gospel of Christ Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, who leads you in all truth! They don’t have oil, because they don’t value the oil. They don’t value the Holy Spirit, the Gospel, the Sacraments, Jesus. They have no faith. And so, they are unprepared when Christ returns.

Who then are the wise virgins with oil? They are the true Christians, who are not just Christians on the outside, but they treasure up the promises of Christ revealed in the Word and Sacraments on the inside. Their light shines brightly, because they hold fast to Christ through His Word. Again, Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount, “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) To be wise means to gladly hear the words of Jesus and believe them! St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 10, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” Your lamp burns when you have faith in Christ’s word. David says to God in Psalm 119, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The wise are wise, because they do not despise God’s Word, but hold it sacred, gladly hear and learn it, and trust in the promises of God’s grace and forgiveness found within it. There is no other way to know God’s mercy and love through Christ Jesus than through His Word and Sacraments.

And so, the wise virgins, these true Christians with oil for their lamps, are prepared for Christ’s return. Yet, it is not simply that they are prepared, but they are eager and joyful for His return. St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.” True Christians don’t have oil just as a thoughtful precaution. They have oil, because they love Christ Jesus and believe in His promises. They rejoice that Christ Jesus has rescued them from death and hell, ransomed them from sin and Satan by His holy, precious, innocent suffering and death on the cross. They rejoice that He comes, not to deal with them according to their sins, but to grant them everlasting life and gladness. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and look forward to the day of Christ’s appearing. They do not sleep soundly, careless of whether Christ returns, but they are like an excited wife whose husband will return in the night from a long journey, who frequently wakes up in a fit, peering out her window to see if he has come, leaving the light on for him.

Our hymn of the day expresses this joyful anticipation well in the second verse:

Zion hears the watchmen singing,

And all her heart with joy is springing;

She wakes, she rises from her gloom.

For her Lord comes down all glorious,

The strong in grace, in truth victorious;

Her star is ris’n, her light is come.

Now come, Thou Blessed One,

Lord Jesus, God’s own Son,

Hail! Hosanna!

We enter all

The wedding hall

To eat the Supper at Thy call.

 (Philip Nicolai, Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying, LSB 516:2)

This is why the faithful gladly come to hear the voice of their Bridegroom and to eat the Supper He has prepared for them, His very body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. They do so with joyful anticipation of being with their Savior Christ Jesus, for whom they long.

Yet, they all fall asleep, both foolish and wise, and the watchman cries at midnight, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” This all shows that Christ will return at a time no one expects, whether hypocrite or sincere Christian. All virgins trim their lamps, but the foolish have no oil, so their lamps go out. They ask the wise for oil, but the wise cannot give them any. One cannot believe for another. Besides that, it is too late. They tell the foolish to go and buy oil, in other words, go and listen to the Gospel and receive the Sacrament, but that time has passed. There is no more preaching. There is not more means of grace. It is as the book of Revelation prophesies, “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” (22:10)

When the bridegroom Christ Jesus comes, the time of repentance will be over. No more will God receive the adulterous murderer into His grace, as He did for King David, who repented with bitter tears. No more may the apostate return and be welcomed back, as St. Peter returned to Jesus after denying Him. No more will the blasphemer be converted as Christ converted Saul on the Damascus road. No, the time for repentance is now! The time to turn to Christ is now! When He returns, it will be too late!

The wise virgins follow the bridegroom into the wedding hall, and the door is shut. The foolish virgins are locked out. They knock and cry, demanding to be let in, but the bridegroom tells them that he does not know them. And so, it will be with Christ on the Last Day. Everyone will appear before Christ as they are when He returns or when they died. If they are not ready, they will be locked out forever. And so, they must always be ready.

Yet, this is not a time of gloom for everyone. For those wise Christians, who enter the wedding hall with lamps full of oil, it will be a great joy. The shut of the door will not be a horrid din of doom, but a joyous sound of consolation. Never again will they face temptation and sin. Never again will they fear falling away or being cast away from God’s presence. Their salvation is sealed for eternity. They never have to fear anything ever again. They may enjoy perfect joy forever with their Bridegroom who knows them. Words cannot express our gladness on that great day. Yet, our hymn of the day makes a valiant effort.

Now let all the heav’ns adore Thee,

Let saints and angels sing before Thee

With harp and cymbals’ clearest tone.

Of one pearl each shining portal,

Where, joining with the choir immortal,

We gather round Thy radiant throne.

No eye has seen the light,

No ear has heard the might

Of Thy glory;

Therefore will we

Eternally

Sing hymns of praise and joy to Thee! Amen.

(Philip Nicolai, Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying, LSB 516:3)