Year A, Lectionary 154
Are we seeking wisdom, the wisdom that points us to Jesus? To use our resources to shine our light on Christ? Jesus the bridegroom is approaching us to invite us into the heavenly wedding banquet but we must not waste our oil shining our lamps on worldly matters. If we do we will be foolish bridesmaids who will be absent in seeing Jesus in our lives and never know God. We must stay alert and always be vigilant for when Christ comes into our lives.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: • Bridegroom • Bridesmaid • Darkness • Death • Focus • Heaven • Hope • Joy • Knowledge • Lamp • Light • Negotiate • Oil • Prayer • Prepare • Rapture • Ready • Reflection • Regret • Relationship • Saint • Temple • Time • Virgin • Wait • Warning • Wedding • Wisdom • Woke •
“So the point of Paul's exhortation here, the point of Paul's eschatology is to give the Thessalonians comfort in the face of death”
“The message here is this: Jesus is not encouraging selfishness, the message is there are some things in life that we cannot borrow from others. There are some things in life that we cannot share with others. There are some things in life that we just have to do for ourselves.”
“we have to do the will of God but we have to do the will of God through his grace, in a relationship with him where we know him as savior and bridegroom”
“Jesus is telling us that you and I are meant to shine our light on the groom, the groom being Jesus. That when Jesus Christ comes both in the last day but also every day, any day of our life, any moment of our life that we see, what we come to recognize the presence of the Lord, we shine our light on the groom.”
“the parable is very clear, the end of time is not a courtroom, it's a wedding banquet. Christ is not a judge, he's a bridegroom. You are not indicted, you are invited. So could we pause for a moment and just celebrate that?”
“No words are so tinged with tears of regret as the sound of the words 'too late'”
“as people of faith we know God is coming back. We are called to give our lives to him and share that hope that we have as people of faith and believers to those that are in need.”
“wisdom is nothing other than the truth of God himself, right, and we need to seek that truth as part of our lives”
“Wise innocence suggests a certain detachment, a person untouched by the world who sees life the way God sees it. A wise innocent observes reality and remains unsullied. Foolish innocence though smells of naivety, not untouched but rather out of touch with reality.”
“Church, this is your invitation. Will you keep oil in your lamps or will you be so busy fussing and fighting that you, that you forget about the bridegroom who's coming?”
“may wisdom enlighten all of us to the power of God's gracious, patient love already enveloping us in her open arms today”
“The key message here is be prepared always for the philosophy of 'never mind, when we get to the bridge we will know how to cross it' has landed many in big trouble”