Matthew 25.1–13
A sermon from St Margaret’s Nedlands 8th November 2026
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (ESV.)
Jesus’ parables are a unique collection that stand out for their stamp of individuality. In chapters 24 and 25 Matthew gives us a collection of parables relating to his return in glory.
Ten bridesmaids were waiting at the place where the wedding banquet was to take place to welcome the bridegroom on his arrival. It sounds like they had those little clay lamps that burned olive oil, though my friend John Nolland thinks they had torches and were meant to provide a torchlight procession to welcome the groom with a bit of fanfare. This would require a fair amount of olive oil to soak the rag wound around the torch stem. Maybe it was both; they didn’t have matches to light the torches. Whatever it was, their job was to welcome the bridegroom.
The bridegroom was delayed. We are not told what delayed him, just that the girls all went to sleep. When the watchman’s cry awakened them, some of the lamps were running low on oil. The five who had prepared for the possibility of a long wait accompanied the groom to the banquet and the others were shut out. We could argue about whether shutting people out was fair, or whether the five wise girls should have shared their oil, but this is not a parable about justice or generosity, but about the Lord’s return at history’s conclusion.
The thing that stands out is that Jesus really believed and taught that he would come again. This is remarkable, given that this teaching was given only a week before he died. He was crucified confident that he would return to the world at a definite historical point of time, but possibly not until many would have given up all hope.
The question we need to ask ourselves first, then, is whether we are still expecting his coming, or like the foolish bridesmaids have we gone to sleep, with no forward preparation for the day. We can’t deny that the promised return has taken a long time.
Moderns have a difficulty here, and Jesus seems to have foreseen it. Almost two thousand years has elapsed since Jesus spoke these words, and the feeling expressed by some later in the first century fits our situation perfectly.
Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.[1]
George Eliot—you may have read The Mill on the Floss—was born Mary Ann Evans. She is said to have been a devout evangelical Christian in her youth, but David Strauss’s book, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, caused her to abandon her Christian beliefs. She translated the book into English, and it is still studied by those with a mind to prove Christianity false. Strauss regarded any interruption of nature as impossible. Miracles are put down to the Gospel writers injecting their mythical view of things onto Jesus. The idea of him returning on the clouds is grotesque. Strauss’s Life of Jesus goes through the Gospels systematically deconstructing their stories and relegating everything supernatural to the category of “myth.” Though the book appeared in 1835, it remains influential and can be seen as one of the chief causes of the abandonment of Christianity in European societies. In Germany for example the idea of Jesus’ return is seen as the fantasy of religious fanatics (Schwãrmer).
When Strauss came to unpick Matthew 24 and 25 his main point of attack was Matthew 24.34:
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“Generation” means Jesus’ contemporaries at that time; Strauss is adamant about that. Jesus predicted his return within the lifetime of his disciples, and most scholars have bowed to his opinion. The conclusion drawn is that Jesus was mistaken, and therefore could not be the Son of God. Many of us will have heard this argument.
We might ask, then, why there are any Christians still around, if Strauss proved that Jesus was mistaken in one of his central claims. Surely this should be proof enough of the falseness of Christianity. But here we are, still believing! How? The main reason is that we have manyreasons to believe in Jesus, and one disputed point is not going to sweep away everything we believe on other grounds. We may not be able to give an answer to this or that, but we put something we cant answer in the too hard basket for the time being, and attend to things we can be more certain about. Scientists do this all the time. For us,there is also the Holy Spirit who helps us believe.
What are the things we can be confident about? Firstly, we have every reason to believe that God is real. I will not rehearse the evidence here, but it is substantial. Second, Jesus was a unique figure in human history. But what if his story is mostly myths and legends, as Strauss claimed: the disciples surrounded this Jesus they had come to believe in with supernatural stories to express how great he was. So, why did they think he was so great? They said it was in part because of the miracles he did. But miracles are impossible according to Strauss, so why did they believe he was their promised king? Was it his deep voice or his long hair? It just doesn’t add up. No more than Strauss did people then think miracles were possible. That was why they followed him, because what he was doing was impossible—except for God. Even a modern historian—not a believer—thinks Jesus must have done miracles; there is no other explanation for why so many followed him.[2]
But Strauss’s belief that miracles are impossible is surely wrong; he was in the grip of a philosophy that said God could not interrupt the course of nature. But if God created the world—a very great miracle—he can work outside the normal patterns of nature, if he chooses.
But what about his claim that Jesus was mistaken about his coming again: did Jesus promise he would return within the lifetime of his followers? There are several reasons that make me think Strauss must be wrong. Just think about it. I have just said it was only a week before he died that he made this incredible claim that he would come again. He also predicted that he would be crucified. I mean, his disciples wanted him to fight, and believed he had miraculous powers that could ensure them victory. That is something in itself—giving yourself up to a hideous death knowing God would bring you back to life.
He also promised he would rise from death. That he did, is the main reason we believe in him, and think there must be an answer to the puzzling things we don’t understand.
And then he also foretold the coming of false messiahs leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. It is a matter of history that this happened. False prophets and messiahs did appear; some think they were trying to imitate Jesus. And Jerusalem was destroyed just 40 years after he said it would be. On the orders of General Titus, the temple was brought down to ground-level, exactly as Jesus predicted. He went on to say that the Jews would be led away captive, and that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. It is a fact that Jerusalem was in Gentile hands from AD70 until the Six-Day War in 1967. No wonder some Christians are excited that Jesus’ return might be near. I think you will agree that there is enough here to convince us that Jesus knew what he was talking about.
Four of his predictions remain unfulfilled. The “times of the Gentiles” are not yet complete;[3]people are still believing! The Jews as a nation have not yet turned to Christ,[4] there have not yet been signs in the sky,[5] and he has not yet returned. All these things belong to the windup of history.
But Strauss is also mistaken on his central point. What did Jesus mean by “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” What did he mean by “this generation?”
It is true that “generation” most often means those who are alive at one time. But not always. Both Jesus and John the Baptist believed humankind was composed of two distinct groups, the children of God, who would inherit his kingdom, and those who would be destroyed. They have two generative origins, Satan and God. “His winnowing fork is in his hand,” said John. “He will clear the threshing floor; he will gather the wheat into his barn, the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”[6] He spoke of wheat and chaff! John also said to the people who came out to him to be baptized: “Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming judgement?” By “brood of vipers,” (offspring of snakes) he alludes to God’s word to the snake in the Garden of Eden: “he [Eve’s offspring] will crush your head; you will strike his heel.” the word for brood is gennema It means “coming from one parent,” almost the same meaning as “generation (genea).” Jesus speaks the same way.[7] He also taught that we must be born again of the Spirit of God if we are to become God’s children and enter his kingdom: “that which is of the flesh is flesh; that which is of the Spirit is spirit.”[8] You might say they thought in terms of two races. And there is one place where Jesus in contrasting the race of wickedness with what he calls the children of light uses the word generation, not to speak of contemporaries, but of two distinct “races.” “The children of this age (aeon) are wiser in their own generation, than the children of light [are in their’s].[9] He is talking about those who belong to the evil generation or race—the Devil’s children. It is a way of speaking that belongs with his kingdom vision, and we find it at other places in the New Testament.[10] In Matthew 24.34 he uses a similar idea; he means that the evil age will not come to an end before everything he has foretold comes true. But as to when that will be, “the day and the hour,” he cannot say. Only the Father knows that.
I for one continue to believe. I don’t see anything that falsifies Jesus’ promises and warnings. I hope you too will go on believing and delighting in the expectation of his coming. For it should be a matter for great joy. In a world in which everything passes away, and where the struggle between good and evil is intense, and those who are right frequently go under, it is a stabilizing thing to know that God has appointed a king, and commissioned him to build a kingdom, and set a day to bring all things to a fair conclusion. And that the king and judge should be such a one as Jesus, who touched lepers and rescued a condemned woman: that is indeed thrilling.
In hindsight, I don’t think it should surprise us that so many years have passed. No doubt the first Christians hoped everything would be accomplished in their lifetime, but we may be glad that God has extended the age of grace long enough to include us. As Peter said,
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.[11]
And we shouldn’t overlook that Jesus said the gospel would be preached to all nations before the coming of the end.[12] It is hard to think that all the nations could hear the Christian message in one lifetime. Only now we can say that this prediction has been fulfilled.
We may wonder whether it is not in God’s plan to allow the human race—(the generation of wickedness) to use Jesus’ language— to run its course. When past generations learn about electricity, and engines, and atomic power, and digital electronics, could they not object that if they had had such things they could have made the world a good place? I am speculating here, but I am increasingly convinced that human history means more to God than we think. What is not speculation, is that grace has come to us, and this because God determined, before he created the world, that you and I, creatures of the 20th and 21st centuries should have a place at the banquet of his Son and his bride: “the glorious company of all faithful people,” as our prayerbook says. And, given Jesus’ insistence that not even he knows the time of his return, it makes perfect sense that he would have prepared his followers for the possibility of a long wait.
In next week’s reading we will put our minds to the question what it is that the Lord wishes us to be doing while he is absent, to be prepared for that glorious day.
[2] Morton Smith, Jesus the Magician (1978).
[3] Luke 21.24.
[4] Romans 11.
[5] Matthew 24.29.
[6] Matthew 3.12.
[7] Matthew 23.32.
[8] John 1.
[9] Luke 16.8.
[10] The “corrupt generation” in Acts 2.40 is an allusion to Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 32.5, where he refers to Israel’s wicked “race” which will bring about their eventual exile. Also see Philippians 2.15.
[11] 2 Peter 3.8–9.
[12] Matthew 24.14.