Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Where Are the Party Lights?

What happens if the lights go out? We use lights, not just to see in the dark, but also to set the mood for the occasion. At a wedding reception, we don’t just want cold fluorescent or bright LED lights. We want soft yellow lights, small twinkling lights, and candle lights. So, I suppose if there were to be a power failure, we might even enjoy the mood all the more, gathered together around nothing but candlelight. That is the way we like it for our favourite hymn on Christmas Eve, also.

But what if someone forgets the candles? Note to self. What if everyone forgets the candles? That is, in fact a possibility if it is only left up to the busy pastor to check ahead of time. And then, if there are no candles and a power failure occurs, then we will be truly in the dark—some frightened, the possibility of injury, and no way to continue the celebration.

This is the possibility that is often overlooked in the great parable of the ten virgins (often our Gospel reading for the Last Sunday of the Church Year). It is the day that we focus on the Last things, including the coming of our Lord Jesus and the great celebration which that means for His people. He likens it to the expectant joy of the arrival of the bridegroom for a wedding reception. You know what that is like when everyone is waiting for the entrance of the bridal party.

Remembering that there are no electric lights and they are depending upon the lamps being brought by the virgin attendants, we are enlightened to see the parable more distinctly. The foolish five brought no extra oil. They were not prepared for any delay, or any other cause that might result in the lamps burning down. The five wise were prepared for such situations, seeing as they are never entirely unexpected. They brought extra oil with them. They wanted to be sure that there would be lights so that the bridegroom will receive a joyous welcome and that the wedding celebration would not suffer any disruption.

We can also see that the five wise were not being selfish or arrogant against the foolish who asked them to share their oil. It would not be good if they shared their oil and then all the lamps went out before the festivities were through. They could not risk the light going out on everyone, bringing an early end to the joyous occasion and dishonour to the bridegroom.

We can also see that the five foolish had no other option but to try to rouse some merchant in the middle of the night to sell them more oil, like someone frantically running from store to store on December 24th, trying to find candles for the evening service. And whether they were able to purchase any oil and relight their lamps or not, they did not make it back in time and it was too late. The door was shut, and they were excluded as being unknown gate crashers. Truly, if they had known the bridegroom and appreciated the wondrous occasion of His coming, they would have been joyously diligent in the preparation of their lamps, and not acted like careless stand-ins who had no personal interest in a proper welcome of the long-awaited bridegroom.

We have reason to celebrate and to light the candles. Next week we will begin lighting the candles of the Advent wreath, adding one candle more every week until our celebration of the coming of Jesus. And then, hopefully, we will be prepared with candles plenty to celebrate, not only His coming into this world at His birth, but also our expectation that He is coming again in glory to take His bride to Himself for a never-ending celebration.

Christ is coming. He has said so. His word is truth. He is the embodiment of the Word of God. And as surely as He is coming, so sure can we be that His coming will be a joyous occasion for those who wait with anticipation and are prepared. Christ is coming to take to Himself His bride, the Church, the gathering into one of all who love Him, from every nation, tribe, people and language.

He has promised Himself to those who will receive Him. He has washed His bride with the precious water of Holy Baptism. He has covered her with His own regal righteousness. All of her blemishes are cleansed and healed, even as each of us individually has been absolved of our sins, cleansed of our iniquities, and purified from every unrighteousness. He has adorned us with His own holiness. This is why not only at baptisms are we traditionally clothed in white, but also at weddings the bride wears white. It is not, as commonly thought, a symbol of her chastity. Rather, it is a proclamation of how Christ has prepared His Church for His coming and for their life together in eternity.

And the lights also carry meaning. Generally in church, the more candles we light, the higher the rank of the celebration. We light more candles for services where Christ comes to us in His body and blood in the Holy Supper. We light more candles when we include a baptism, and throughout the season of Easter. As already mentioned, throughout the coming season of Advent the number of candles increase until the great celebration of the coming of Christ in the flesh to take on our sins, mirrored again in the great celebration of the resurrection of Christ from the dead proclaiming His victory over all sin, death, and the power of the devil.

The lights make it possible for us to celebrate. We do not celebrate in the dark. Even at the Easter Vigil as we enter the darkened church, the light of a candle leads the way. It is the light of Christ piercing the darkness of this wicked world, the light showing the life that He is and which He bestows upon each one of us. I suppose that if by circumstance and a lack of preparation we were to be plunged into darkness, still the light of Christ shining within our hearts would allow us to receive Him in the Scripture we have committed to memory, and we could still properly respond with joy and praise in the hymns and canticles which we have repeated over and over again for a lifetime.

But our lights also bring a beauty to the occasion that is fitting for a beautiful Saviour, a faithful and loving bridegroom who gave Himself up to death on the cross in order to rescue His people. The lights speak to us of the One who is light, the light of the world, shining in a dark place, where the darkness cannot overcome it. The warm glow proclaims the warmth of His love toward mankind, the crown of His creation, and the only part of that creation which He redeemed with the warmth of His own blood. So His face shines upon us with a tender glow, which we feebly reflect in our love toward Him and to those around us.

Without lights burning there is no celebration, no fitting welcome for this heavenly Bridegroom who is coming. The wise made sure their lights would be burning. They brought extra oil with their lamps. They knew they could not give it away. They trimmed their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom full of joy.

The foolish let their lamps go out. They did not think to bring extra oil. They did not think of the necessity of lights for the occasion. They did not think much of the heavenly Bridegroom. They were not worthy to be attendants for His coming. Their lamps went out and they were shut out.

At the end of the parable, Jesus repeats a warning which He said also at other times. “Therefore, watch, for you do not know the day or the hour.” Keep your lamps burning (whatever that means) so that you will be ready when the bridegroom comes and you will meet Him with joy. Unlike the parable when the virgins all knew the night, although not the hour, we know neither. They had to be ready throughout the night. We have to be ready throughout our lives.

They all grew weary while waiting and fell asleep. We all grow weary waiting for Jesus, and we will continue to get weary through our trials and tribulations, our sins and sufferings, our doubts and our arrogance. There were eleven disciples that went with Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane. And when He was in deep agony in prayer, He had asked them to watch and pray with Him. But they all fell asleep. “Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

What does it mean to be ready? What does it mean to have the needed oil to endure any delay in the bridegroom’s coming? Many faithful Christians and teachers of the Church throughout history have expressed their ideas. But perhaps the best idea is that the Lord does not explain what the oil is, because it is no one single thing. Rather, it is whatever is needed at any given time to keep you expectant of the coming of your Lord and Saviour. What is needed to keep you waiting even when you are weary? What is needed to keep you faithfully expectant even through trials and tribulations, sins and sufferings?

At some times it is the Scripture passages that you have committed to memory. When you are alone, apart from other Christians, and without the ability to reach for your Bible or to access the app on your phone, what will you have in reserve? At other times it will surely be the hymns and canticles that we sing over and over again in Church. Can you sing “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying” from memory? Surely you can sing, “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace.” Will the needed oil be the remembrance of your baptism, like oil sealing the washing away of spot and stain? Could it be the conscious confession of your sins and the frequent declaration of the forgiveness of your sins? Will it be a habit of daily prayer and devotion or the regular reception of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharistic Feast?

I don’t know what it will be or what combination of things it will be, but it would be wise of us to take to heart and to treasure all the ways that our Lord gives us such heavenly treasures. It would be wise to take every opportunity for the Holy Spirit to be at work in you through the means of grace. It would be wise to be conscious of every good gift that comes down to us from the Father of lights.

And as we see the lights begin to shine this coming Advent season, it would be wise to let them remind us of the coming of the Bridegroom with all of the joy and mercy and peace that He comes to give.