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THURSDAY OUTLINE

᛭ INI ᛭

(5. Oops!: The Lord warns you.)

Listen again to the last words of your Lord from the Last reading (the Gospel) on the Last Sunday of the of the Church Year: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” He’s speaking to you. Won’t you listen? He’s warning you! Won’t you take heed? He says, “Watch out! Look out! Pay attention to what happened to those five virgins. They were locked out. ‘The door was shut.’ It wasn’t opened to them. Listen, pay attention to what I say to people like them: ‘Assuredly, I say to you, “I do not know you.”’”

(4. Ugh!: We fall prey to figuring.)

Our our flesh, our Old Adam, our sinful nature, falls into figuring. “That won’t be me!” says the flesh, “I’ve got more time.” The flesh cries out, like 2 Peter says, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Our flesh always figures that it’ll be ok. It has more time or needs more time.

So it was with the foolish virgins. They figured they had enough. They decided when enough was enough. They had a guess for when the Bridegroom would return. They figured that their fellow virgins had oil to spare. They figured they’d stay awake. They figured it was possible to get into the party showing up late. They figured themselves out of the Kingdom. Their lack of faith put on full display in all their figuring.

That’s the danger, dear saints of God, with figuring. When you figure or guess or plan with things that the Lord hasn’t given you to figure or plan or guess, you’ll come out wrong. That is what it means to be a fool. To live your way is foolish and is the way of unbelief,

To be wise is to not play that game at all. It is to be ready always. It is to never figure or guess or plan according to the way you’d like things to go. To live this way is to be wise. It is the Lord’s way, to let the Lord be the Lord, to let your own figuring alone.

So, the Lord warns you, because He cares for you. There may be another game, another trip, another job opportunity—or not! There may be another chance to hear the Word of God preached, taught, or read, another chance to be absolved, and other chance receive Communion—or not! The flesh plays the odds, decides when enough is enough, a figuring that lands you outside the party.

(3. Aha!: The Lord also promises you.)

The Lord warns, but the Lord also promises. It’s hidden, hidden in the fact that there aren’t only foolish virgins but wise. The promise is there in them, that they do have oil. They’re ready. They get in! And the promise is on further display in their conversation with the foolish virgins.

The foolish beg them, “Give us some of your oil.” “No!” the wise respond, “There will never ever be a sufficient amount for us and for you. Go to the sellers and buy for yourselves.” We’re not told they’re successful…seems unlikely at midnight.

The promise here is that the wise have oil. Where did it come from? Well, it couldn’t come from anyone else. Doesn’t seem you can share oil. You couldn’t seem to buy it. The comfort as we approach the Bridegroom and His coming isthat you don’t have to find or figure for the oil all: OIL COMES FROM THE LORD ALONE.

(2. Whee!: OIL COMES FROM THE LORD ALONE.)

OIL COMES FROM THE LORD ALONE. As the Psalmist says, “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.” (Ps 104) He supplies oil, indeed, as David also says of the LORD, who alone supplies oil: “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (Ps 23)

Christ Himself has the oil without measure. The Psalmist says of Christ: “God has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Ps 45:7), because Christ got “the Spirit without measure.” (Jn 3) In the Bible, oil is a sign of the Spirit, as it was with the anointing of Saul and David. As it is with His Word and Gifts, so it is with the Spirit, whatever the LORD has He gives away for free. No buying required! He is always that generous with those who trust in Him, “Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.” (Is 55)

He already paid everything for you. He shed His precious blood, more costly than gold or silver, indeed, more costly than the universe itself—paid for you! He anoints you with His holy oil, the Holy Spirit, in Holy Baptism. He fills you anew with each Absolution—a return to soothing steam of the baptismal waters. He gives and gives and gives till your cup is overflowing. Or as Luke as it, “Good measure, shaken together, pressed down, overflowing, will be poured into your lap.” (Lk 12)

OIL COMES FROM THE LORD ALONE. “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1-Cor 4) How much is enough? Fleshly figuring! How much is the Lord giving? Always more and double more!—you have “received from the LORD’S hand Double for all [your] sins.” (Is 40) He died for your figuring. He has more forgiveness for it, too.

(1. Yeah!: We live humbly before His warnings and joyfully in His promises.)

Because OIL COMES FROM THE LORD ALONE, we can have “confidence in the day of Judgment.” (1-Jn 4) To figure is to fall back into fear, if not now, then some day.

But as we live in this world, and get a little sleepy—grow a little older—we can live humbly before His warnings. We do that by heeding them! He’s deadly, eternally serious about it: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man is coming.”

Humility—wisdom!—is to live your life acknowledging that you can figure your way out of receiving the Lord’s gifts and kingdom. We can live a life going “I’ll do that another time,” and then the door will be shut. No way in.

OIL COMES FROM THE LORD alone also frees us to live joyfully in His promises. That He pours forth His grace, mercy, and forgiveness in a great many ways, a great many ways that will fill us with oil. You’re baptized. He forgives and frees you from your sins. He gives you, today, His body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of all your sins, so that we would be prepared for the wedding feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end.

OIL COMES FROM THE LORD, and He has more than you can burn up in your little lifetime.

᛭ INI ᛭