Are You Prepared?

Pastor David Hansen

November 9, 2008

Matthew 25:1-13

Are You Prepared?

Grace and peace to you in the name of our coming King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today Jesus tells us  about the ten virgins who are waiting for the bridegroom.  Five were prepared, and their lamps had plenty of oil.  Five who unprepared, and were out refilling their lamps when the bridegroom arrived.

The analogy is obvious.  We, you and I, the church, are awaiting the triumphant return of Christ – he is the bridegroom that could come at any time.  We are the ones waiting – the virgins outside the door.

The questions is, are we the wise or the foolish virgins?  Are we the ones who are prepared?

It’s a question that makes me nervous every time I think about it.  As many of you know, I am a fly by the seat of my pants sort of guy – I have never really specialized in being prepared.  But more to the point – I have found that you can never really know the answer to that question until it is too late.  Are you prepared?

I remember back to my college days.  Whenever we had a big test or exam, students would inevitably ask one another, “Are you prepared?”  Usually the best answer anyone could muster was “I think so.”  Almost without fail, the people who said “Yes, I’m prepared,” wound up getting their test handed back to them with lots of red ink and a big old “C” – or worse – on the front of it.  Because no matter how hard we studied, we never really knew if we were prepared until the test was over and graded.

Simply put, I think the question “are you prepared” is a question that always produces fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.  And we have quite enough fear in our lives. I wonder, even as we sit here this morning, how many of you are afraid.

If we had money set aside in the stock market for retirement or to send children to college, we have watched it almost disappear over the last few months.  Are you afraid?

After last Tuesday’s election, the results show that 75% of us in Washington County, 75% of us in this room, did not vote for the man who will be president come January.  Are you afraid?

We are currently waging full-scale wars in two different countries, and Iran continues to threaten to develop nuclear power.  Are you afraid?

So far Washington County has been relatively untouched, but we have watched as home values have plummeted around the country and know that we are probably not far behind them.  Are you afraid?

Illness: cancer, heart disease, and much more lurk around every corner; threatening us and our loved ones.  Are you afraid?

Humans, by their very nature, seem to be prone to feelings of fear and anxiety.  In fact, we have special words just to describe our fears:

Agoraphobia, the fear of going outside. 

Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen.

Acrophobia, the fear of heights. 

Politicophobia – I’m not making this up – the fear of politicians.

Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. 

And my personal favorite, Ecclesiophobia, the fear of church. 

There are literally hundreds of these – even phobophobia, the fear of being afraid.  We are afraid of lots of things.

Honestly, I think that we have more than enough fear in our lives.  We don’t need TV preachers trying to scare us with the return of Christ.  I like to call them preachers of the gospel of fear – you know the ones, they are always asking “Are you prepared?  Are you sure?  Are you really, really sure?”  They seem to feed off of producing more fear – and there’s more than enough fear without them giving us more.

But what then should we do with today’s parable, and the haunting question, Are we prepared for the return of Christ?

A friend of mine, serving as pastor of a church in Tennessee, loved to tell the following story.  Because things seemed to be slowly disappearing, St. Luke’s had put a combination lock on the Sunday School supply closet.  One day, Pastor Mark walked by to see a frustrated teacher fumbling with the lock, obviously forgetting the combination.  Graciously, Pastor Mark said, “Why don’t you let me try?”

Mark walked up to the supply closet, and quietly turned his eyes up to heaven.  After a silent moment, he turned his attention to the lock, and quickly and confidently spun the lock until it clicked open.

The frustrated teacher just looked at Pastor Mark in amazement, her jaw hanging open.  “That was incredible,” she said, obviously impressed with the faith and piety of her Pastor.

With a sly grin on his face, Pastor Mark leaned over to the teacher and whispered, “The combination is written on the ceiling.”

Thinking back on those college days, there was one group who were always absolutely sure that they were prepared – the ones who had somehow gotten their hands on the answer key before the test.  They knew, with 100% certainty, that they were prepared.

Now, here is the secret that all those fear-preachers don’t want us to know: when it comes to the return of Christ, we have the answer key.

The key is simply this – water and the word.

Water and the Word.  That’s all. 

Martin Luther was constantly terrorized by the idea that Jesus would return and find him unprepared.  He tells how the devil would come to him, and ask him if he was sure of his salvation, trying to produce in him fear and anxiety.  Luther told his students that there is only one answer to such doubts, “I am baptized.”  Water and the Word.

When we came to this font, whether as children or as adults, our oil lamps were filled for us.  God adopted us as his beloved sons and daughters and made us his own – and friends, that is all the preparation that we need.  We don’t have to do it – God has done it for us.

People of God have no reason to fear.  We have no reason to be afraid of anything.  We know that when Christ returns, we are prepared – we are the ones with full oil lamps, patiently waiting.

But it is more than that – we have no need to fear at all.

You see, faith is the opposite of fear.  Perhaps our stock portfolio is worth less than it was months ago.  Perhaps illness has found its way into our life or the life of a loved one.  Perhaps we are unhappy with the direction of our country.  Faith says, I am baptized – not I am afraid.

All of this stuff around us – our money, our homes, yes, even our country and our health – is temporary.  We are intended for better things – more permanent things: we are intended for the Kingdom of God, we are intended for spending eternity in the glory and love of God.  I am baptized.

A wise bird knows that scarecrows are only advertisement – only bits of nothing meant to produce fear.  Scarecrows are only placed in the best gardens, with all the best fruits and vegetables, nuts and berries.  A wise bird treats the scarecrow as an invitation, not an obstacle.

Faith is the bird that perches on the scarecrow, and enjoys the feast.

I am not saying that they’re aren’t scary things in life – certainly there are.  But they pale in comparison to what God in Christ Jesus has done for us.

Imagine letting go of all of your fears. What would life look like? What would we do if we didn’t spend our time worrying about things that we cannot change?

I am baptized.  Water and the Word.

I am prepared – God himself has prepared me.

And now, what will we do with our lives without fear?

How will we share the gift we have been given with the world?

I am baptized.  Thanks be to the God who casts out all fear.