“Make Full Preparation!”(Mt.25:1-13).
The story is told of a guy who stayed up all night preparing for an examination. But once inside the examination hall he went into deep sleep. Another story is of a man who had studied and revised well for an examination. Once inside the examination room, and when the question papers had been distributed, he realised that he had no pen and nobody had an extra pen to give him.
The parable of the ten virgins ends with, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
The disciples came to Jesus privately and asked him to tell them about the last days. “When will it happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”(Mt.24:3).
After a lenthy response, the Lord ended with the parable of the ten virgins who took their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish and dit not have extra kerosene. The bridegroom delayed so the five ran out of kerosene. They begged from the other five who were wise to have extras, but the wise ones refused and suggested they go and buy. While they were gone, the bridegroom came and took the five wise ones into the banquet hall. The others returned when it was too late.
We note that the foolish virgins were wise enough to have lamps and actually went to meet the bridegroom. But they were not fully prepared in the sense that they set a time limit. It was an all night affair, so they were foolish for thinking that the bridegroom will come when they still had enough kerosene in their lamps.
My friend, today is the beginning of the season of Advent. As we reminded some days ago, Advent is the period in which we prepare for Christmas. The choice of the lesson for today and subsequent readings are intented to prepare us for the birth of Jesus who became the Christ, but also to prepare us for the Second Coming of Christ (the Day of the Lord).
What lessons do we draw from the text?
- In as much as we are enjoined to be one another’s keeper, the day of the Lord will be that decisive moment when it is “any man for himself.”
- We do not relax concerning our expectancy of the Day of the Lord. It will be sudden.
- We must be ready till the last moment, so that our labours may not be in vain.
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit help me to live in readiness for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you, and Happy Rally celebrations to our Yellow Wrapper mothers (CWF) of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC).
Rev Babila Fochang.