“JESUS: THE OIL OF FORGIVENESS, ROYALTY, & LIFE”
Saint Matthew 25: 1-13
Last Sunday: 20 November Anno Domini 2016
Father Jay Watson SSP
If you are not awake when the Watchman calls; if you are not awake after the night has flown—the trumpet sounds, the door of Heaven is opened and The Judge descends with fire and judgment—if you are not awake than you are damned. He will come like a thief in the night. But He is no robber but the giver of all good things. He gives you Himself!
Be not like the foolish virgins. The five maids with no oil symbolize all people who have rejected The Christ of God, and who have died in unbelief. More than that, they are all those who die not knowing—not fearing, loving, and trusting God above all things. There are no excuses. The pathetic rationalizations of our modern time are even worse than heathenish idolatry of ages past. There is no excuse writes the Apostle to the Romans.
The parable of Jesus is clear enough. The ten virgins looked the same. Both the five “wise” and the five “foolish” did similar things in their lives. Maybe they all loved their parents; were good friends; were loyal and patriotic; did kind deeds for children and animals; meant well…and “blah, blah, blah.” The only thing that matters when one faces the end of all days—the separation of the goats from the sheep, is whether one has oil in their lamp or not—i.e. whether one has faith in the Bridegroom. This faith is not a work of self; it is a gift. The five “wise” virgins did not make their own lamps, wicks, fuel vessels, or any of the other “well researched” mechanical parts of oil lamps of the year 30 A.D. Only a dim-witted sectarian would obsess over lamp artisanship. The parable is about the Love, and Presence, and soon to be visible & physical return, of The King. The King is the Groom to His beloved virgin bride: The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The five “wise” virgins are you who believe, teach, and confess The faith, which IS Christ and Him crucified for your forgiveness.
The Church is a sheepfold. There is no board-room, union hall, military infrastructure, class room, or entertainment auditorium…there is only the Wedding Hall, the nuptial banquet, the consummation of the true family by the Heavenly Groom and His Virgin Bride, virgin by virtue of His bestowed righteousness, His washing, cleansing, feeding, watering, blood transfusing, mouth to mouth resuscitating…and the two shall become one flesh. The Church, you, is the Body, and Christ Jesus is the Head.
God gives His own creatures humans bodies, and hands, eyes, ears, and all members. God gives a rational, though fallen and darkened, indeed “dead” mind to all men. But God also knows who His lambs are; He has selected His own bride from before all eternity. “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day.” Those with “oil in their lamps” are those whom He has selected to fill with His Word by the Holy Ghost. “God hath not appointed [you] to wrath, but to obtain salvation, by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those with “oil,” the gift of converting faith, are able to see, i.e. believe and trust, their Lord when He returns at midnight. Faith doesn’t save, The Bridegroom Christ Jesus saves. Faith is grasping on to the content of Redemption, the deposit of He Who opens the “door” to the Feast by His own Body given and Blood shed. “I am ‘The’ Door!”
You will continue to grow old, and more infirm. You will die. Jesus will return. There will be judgment, hell, Satan, and eternal consequence.
You have been + Baptized. You have been given all opportunity to be immersed in The Word. “Be sober, [put] on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet the hope of salvation.” You are constantly being called by The Spirit to gather as eagles around The Body on the Holy Altar. You are absolved in Jesus’ forgiving Word of Peace spoken into your ears by His under-shepherds. You have your lamps and your wicks. Jesus is your oil. Be filled. Eat and drink…and watch…for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein The Son of man cometh. He “died for [you], that, whether [you] wake or sleep, [you] should live together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together.” Be comforted in The Communion of Christ.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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