Part 2 Finding Jesus – By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
Matthew 25:1-13 –December 8, 2024
Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and we are continuing our series on “Finding Jesus.” Last week, we looked at finding Jesus in unexpected people. Today I want to look at finding Jesus in unexpected times.
Before Jesus came to Bethlehem, the prophets had been silent for 400 years. People had the promise of a Messiah, but things had become worse rather than better over that time. Israel had been conquered by the Romans. People were wondering – Where is God? Some took matters into their own hands and created organizations like the Zealots, who actively rebelled against Rome. The Pharisees believed that if they could just get Israel to be righteous enough, then God would send his Messiah. But God was silent, and people were waiting.
I am not good at waiting. I would sooner go way out of my way rather than wait in a traffic jam. I am learning to practice patience, but I am a work in progress.
I remember one time I was waiting in a restaurant for my friend Doug. The server had seated me, and I was in the restaurant for about 10 minutes, and Doug still had not shown up. My friend is usually on time, so I texted him and said that I was seated at the front of the restaurant. He texted me back and said that he was seated at the back of the restaurant. I was waiting. He was waiting. A person can miss a lot if they don’t wait well.
Our passage today is about waiting well. After God had been silent for 400 years he showed up in the person of Jesus Christ. He showed up as a baby born in a stable. But the religious leaders of the day were so wrapped up in doing good and being religious that they missed him. He arrived, and they continued to wait. The zealots were hoping that the Messiah would overthrow Rome. Jesus showed up to overcome evil, sin and death. As Jesus didn’t do what they thought he should do so they continued to wait.
How you wait matters. When Jesus came, the date of that first Christmas was not marked on a calendar. It was an ordinary day – just like any other day. That is why his coming was so unexpected. Jesus comes into the ordinary. The Church has been waiting for Jesus to return for the last two thousand years.
Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, 500 people witnessed him ascend into heaven. Angels appeared to the disciples while they were staring into the sky. Here is what they said,
Acts 1:10–11 (NLT)
10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Jesus is going to come again. The church has been waiting for him to return for the last 2000 years. The fact that he has chosen to wait, does not mean that he will wait indefinitely.
Here is what the Apostle Peter says,
2 Peter 3:8–10 (NLT)
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief….
Here is what we know about Jesus’ second coming. It will come unexpectedly.
Matthew 24:36, 40–44 (NLT)
36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. 44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
Jesus will come when you least expect him. Jesus came; he comes to us now, and he will come again. But one of the constant themes of scripture is that Jesus will come when people least expect it.
It was true 2000 years ago. He came at a time and a place where he was not expected. It is true now. Jesus comes to us now, often quite unexpectedly. When he comes again, the Bible says it will be like a thief in the night. If you knew when the thief was coming – you would be ready for him. Jesus says to be ready all the time.
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I could tell you to expect the unexpected. But that works for tours of a haunted house. You know something is going to pop out at you. But it doesn’t work so well for something that we have been waiting for, for weeks, and months, and years.
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I know some churches and some people who put a real emphasis on prophecy. When you talk to them, they will tell you that Jesus is coming back very soon. They look at the world around them and the signs of the time and say, Jesus’ coming must be right around the corner.
Some of you live with that reality first and foremost in your mind. I can’t disagree with you and say that Jesus’s coming right around the corner. Because the reality is, I don’t know. No one knows. But we do well to live with anticipation of his coming because his coming will be unexpected.
There are others of you for whom this is just not on your radar screen. Some of you function as if the promise of Jesus coming back is irrelevant, or at least irrelevant to you in this life. But the reality is, you don’t know – no one knows.
Are you anticipating Christ’s return or ignoring its possibility?
There are pitfalls for either side of these ways of living. I have known people who have believed so much in the imminent return of Christ that they failed to live well in the present. They made bad choices in the present because they did not think they had a future. And when Jesus showed up in their present, with opportunities to serve this present world, they failed to recognize him because they were so focused on the future. A mentor of mine told me – live each day as if it were your last and plan as if you are going to live to be a hundred.
I have known people who failed to anticipate the Lord’s return, and they were presumptuous about the way they lived. They lived as if they were guaranteed 80 years. They lived as if they could turn to God whenever they wanted, not realizing that whenever we turn to God, it is always a response to God’s call to us. They put off responding to God because they believed they had all the time in the world – but their hearts grew cold – and life passed them by, and when it came time to meet God in death, they had so hardened their heart to him that they couldn’t hear him, although I was convinced that he was calling them. There is something about living with the possibility that we could meet with Christ at any time that helps us to live well.
If you leave prophecy aside for a moment. None of us is promised tomorrow. We have all known too many people who died suddenly and unexpectedly met with Jesus.
So, whether it is in death or in his seconding coming – how do we prepare to meet with Jesus. Let me read today’s story again.
Matthew 25:1–13 (NLT)
“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids* who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight, they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’
7 “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’
9 “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’
12 “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’
13 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
The story that Jesus told would be an image that his hearers would readily identify with. In first-century Palestine, the wedding would be performed, and then a processional would escort the newly married couple from the bride’s house to the bridegroom’s house. This processional would often happen after dark, and the bridesmaids would be a part of the procession carrying torches.
But in this story, the procession was delayed. They waited, but the bridegroom didn’t come. They became drowsy and the bridegroom didn’t come. They fell asleep and the bridegroom didn’t come. But at midnight, they were aroused by a shout the bridegroom is coming.
Let me remind you of what the Bible says about the second coming of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:15–16 (NLT)
We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.* 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
The Lord will return with a shout. The Bridesmaids were aroused from their sleep with a shout.
When they awoke, they all found that their lamps were starting to flicker. They were running out of oil. But five of them were wise and had brought extra oil. Five of them were—– the Greek word is actually the basis of our word moron. Five of them were morons, and they didn’t pack extra oil.
So, their lamps are going out, and they couldn’t do anything about it. They asked to borrow some from the five who had brought extra. But they didn’t have enough to lend.
Spiritual preparedness is not transferable. Each person is responsible for themselves.
So, the foolish bridesmaids had to run off to find oil. But by the time they got back, they had missed the processional, and they were locked out of the banquet. Although they were waiting for the bridegroom, he came unexpectedly.
The only difference between the wise and the foolish was the fact that the wise were prepared for the wait, and the foolish were not. The question the parable pushes on us is, are we prepared for the wait?
The answer, of course, is that some are prepared, and others won’t be prepared, and spiritual preparedness is not transferable – each person is responsible for themselves. The question then becomes, are you prepared for the wait?
When Jesus comes back, it will not be good enough to say if I would have been prepared if I had a better church or a better small group or an easy life. If I had more spiritual friends or more spare time to do spiritual things, I would have been ready. The question is, are you prepared for the wait?
When I look at the church in North America, this question makes me uneasy.
In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of the unjust judge who gives a widow justice just because she kept on showing up at his doorstep. She wore him down. The lesson is to persist in prayer. But at the end of that parable, Jesus tacks on this question
Luke 18:8 (NRSV)
8 … And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
When I was growing up, I wondered what he was talking about. I knew people of great faith who prayed until they prayed through. Of course, he was going to find faith. But we live in a culture where faith is eroding – and fast.
There is a prevailing belief in our culture that, given enough time, science will explain everything. This is, of course, absurd. Science does a great job of explaining how things work. But science does not explain the why’s of life. It is unable to give meaning to life. That is the prevue of faith. It is God who puts meaning into life.
But we live in a world where people have so bought into the cult of science that it has become more a system of faith rather than what it was meant to be – a system of reproducible results.
After buying into this belief system, they say that the universe does not owe you an explanation – life is meaningless – or it takes on whatever meaning you give it. And, of course, you are lord over your own meaning.
And if one dares suggest that Jesus is Lord, which includes being Lord over what our lives mean – we are committing a cultural faux pas – that takes us out of polite society.
This thinking has filtered into the church, where many Christians believe that what they think about an issue is more authoritative than what God says about an issue. (They are Lord over their own meaning)
Now, if you know me at all you know I am not a fundamentalist where everything in life is black and white – I get that there are a lot of greys in life. But not everything is grey. If God says something is black or white, then we can’t change that because we don’t like it.
But often, we do. When we do, our oil goes down, and we are less prepared.
In the chapter before this, Matthew 24, Jesus talks about the time just before Christ comes back.
Matthew 24:10–12 (NLT)
10 And many will turn away from me… 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.
Sin will be rampant, the love of many will grow cold. When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on earth?
The question our parable today forces on us is – are we prepared for the wait? The answer is – in our world, it is hard to wait, and the oil is burning fast. How do we get extra oil – so that when we need it, it is there. How do we prepare for the wait?
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The first thing that we have already noticed is that no one can do it for you. Spiritual preparedness is not transferable. It helps if you are around good people because we can spur each other onto love and good deeds. But as our parable points out, we will be surrounded by people who are prepared and people who are not prepared.
I would have you note that the wise bridesmaids carried a heavier load to the processional. They carried the weight of the extra oil. It also cost them something upfront. They had to purchase the oil ahead of time.
I heard Dallas Willard say grace precludes earning, but it does not preclude effort. In other words, we are saved by grace. We are saved by God’s unearned favour – there is nothing that we can do to earn grace. Jesus did all that needs to be done for our salvation.
But the fact that we can’t earn our salvation does not mean that there is nothing to be done.
2 Peter 1:5–11 (NLT) (READ WELL)
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter calls us to make every effort to respond to God’s promises.
It cost the wise bridesmaids up front, and they had to carry a heavier load. There is an effort in preparing for the wait.
2 Peter puts it this way – make every effort to respond to God’s promises. I like that. The Christian life is not about trying to make yourself better. It is not about self-improvement. The Christian life is about responding to God, to living out of faith in the promises of God, and it is God who changes you. It is God who prepares you. It is God who gives you the ability to wait well.
It seems that this passage would indicate that part of waiting well, is to be ever growing in your faith. Are you growing in your faith? I know many of you are – I know some of you are not.
In fact, the promise of God is that if you grow like this while you are waiting, you will be productive and useful in your knowledge of the Lord.
No one can do those things for you – spiritual preparedness is not transferable. So, the question is, are you prepared for the wait. There will be a time when Jesus will come for each of us. It may be with a shout and the trumpet call of God, or it may be in death. No one knows when these things will be. We don’t know when Jesus will come back, and we don’t know the hour of our own death. In the middle of these unknowns, we are called to wait well.
The good news is that the trumpet has not yet sounded, and you are still living and breathing, so you have time to prepare for his coming.
The real question is if you knew that Jesus was going to return in 6 months from now – if you knew he was going to return on the May 24 long weekend – what would you do differently now to prepare for his return? If there is something you would do differently, then start doing it now.
(Sinner’s prayer)
Prayer of reflection.