There’s a game most children play when they are younger, one that I used to love playing with my brothers. It’s fairly simple.  Some hide, and one seeks.  Hide and seek is the game.  The one who is it counts and whether it’s to 10 or 20 or whenever, he calls out “Ready or not, here I come.”  That’s what we hear Jesus saying today.  Ready or not, here I come!

This is the sort of thing we hear about today in our Gospel reading, yet this is no game.  The parable of the ten virgins falls in the middle of Jesus’ discourse on the End Times, delivered during Holy Week in the Temple in Jerusalem.  This entire discourse teaches the suddenness and the unknowability of the Day of the Lord.  The point of this parable is the some of the virgins were ready for the groom when he came, and some were not.  The groom did not come when the would be attendees to the marriage feast expected him.  The point is not where the foolish virgins went or what they were doing. The point is that they were not present when the groom came. They were simply not ready for his coming.  By the time the groom arrives, it is too late to prepare, once the door is shut there is no possibility of entry into the heavenly wedding feast.

Repeatedly in Jesus’ discourse on the End Times, He warns that many invited to share in the eternal joy of His kingdom will miss out by failing to be ready for Him. Though some will be condemned because of their serious crimes and gross sin, unrepentance, many more will fail to enter because they neglected their faith. 

Like the virgins, when an apparent delay comes, when God doesn’t act as fast as we want Him too, we are prone to become drowsy and sleep.  We think, “it’s ok to take a little nap, I won’t miss anything.” “It’s alright to run out for a bit, I won’t miss anything important and will back soon enough.” Throughout the ages, people have lost sight of the coming of the Lord.  Some have despaired of His ever coming, and others have simply figured that it would be no time soon, and so they lost their focus and got busy living in this world as though this world was all there would ever be.  Either way, the result is that when the call comes - or in many cases already came - they were not ready.

Do you treat faith in Jesus this way?  Are you watchful and ready when gossiping about others? Are you watchful and ready when you are having that extra drink when you’ve already had too many?  Are you watchful and ready when you are doing that thing in the dark, by yourself, when no one else will ever find out? Are you awake, or are you asleep and lazily prepared with an attitude that you can take time off of church and come back later, whether you attend every week or only once a year.

The younger children from Zion Christian School sang in our Service today, “This Little Light of Mine.”  In order to have the light of the Gospel shine, they need the oil.  In order to have the light of the Gospel shine, you have to be ready.

The foolish virgins in the Gospel lesson were foolish because they did not prepare for the possibility of the wait being longer than they expected.  They failed to prepare for the wait, and when the Bridegroom came, the found themselves caught short.  The oil for their lamps was their preparation - ours is not oil.  Ours is focus on the Word and the Sacraments.  Our is the stubborn insistence that doctrine be pure and our practices reflect our belief, not undermine it or cheapen it and treat it like some silly party or nostalgia or meaningless rote.

Being ready focuses on thing, and one thing alone – Jesus, the bridegroom who has been crucified and the One who lives and reigns, the One who cries out “Be ready, for here I come!” Being ready is not about faith per se, it is about the object of that faith – Jesus. It is not something we can hoard or create or sustain by our own powers.  It is gift that is given, something that is bestowed upon God’s people by the power of His Holy Spirit working through the tangible means of the Word of God, of the waters of Holy Baptism, of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Faith in Christ alone not only receives the Word and promises of God, but it also preserves it.  It is what makes one ready, providing light in the darkness of this present age.  No matter how depleted your faith, Jesus’ grace delivered through His Word and Sacraments can fill you with overflowing means to be ready for Christ is coming quickly.

Because in these means, God forgives your sins.  That is what is truly means to be ready for Christ – to live a life of repentance over sin and faith in Christ alone. For Christ died for you, to forgive you of your sins and to open up eternal life for all who believe in Him.  By His sacrificial death, your sins are forgiven. 

Now He invites you to share in the cross.  He isn't likely to ask most of you to hang on one, nailed through hands and feet.  The cross appointed for each of you is the one that fits you. Our trials and troubles and the losses that we must endure should not shake us.  The fact that we must endure such things should not surprise us - the Bible tells us that it will be so. Some die in persecutions, and some die in bed of old age.  But when death comes, the cry, "Come out to meet Him," has come for that individual.  But you are not uninformed about such things.  St. Paul remarks that we do not grieve as others do who have no hope.  We have hope, a sure and certain hope, of the bridegrooms return, of the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting. While we know not the day or hour, we pray for God to preserve us the face of temptations to think that the Last Day is far off.  Christ’s return is immanent, it is soon.  He calls out to you today, “Ready or not here I come!”  Be ready, by abiding in His Word and Sacraments.  May we welcome Him when He comes, and until that day, live in repentant faith in Christ who has died for us, who has been raised for us, and to whom we pray, “Amen. Come quickly Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).