2020 has been a great preparation for the coming of Jesus. What do I mean in saying this? No one could have predicted what 2020 would hold. In fact, I am sure if you go back to all those New Year predictions everyone would have been wrong. There have been so many twists and turns that this year feels a bit like a roller coaster that you cannot wait to get off.
As we have lived out 2020, we have been given a rare opportunity to truly evaluate where and what we have been living for. It has been a personal challenge for me, and it has been interesting see how others have struggled to deal with such a powerful look into the mirror of their soul.
For a world that does not acknowledge the power, presence, or the purpose of Jesus, the responses we have seen from people makes since. If this life was the final prize. Everyone would want to preserve as much of this life as possible. So, when this life and all its security start to fall apart, the natural reaction is fear and anxiety, control and protection, anger and frustration, deceit and manipulation. And because everyone is doing this from their own point of survival, chaos erupts. It becomes virtually impossible to distinguish a clear direction to take, for the moral code has been redefined to the survival of the fittest. The spiral of action and reaction begins to spin completely out of control. ...
...For a world that does not acknowledge the power, presence, or the purpose of Jesus, the responses we have seen from people makes since. If this life were the final prize, we could easily understand. Blaming God for the hailstones, if God exists, of course after all, why would a loving God do that? The self-surviving world has no room God, it has no room for a moral code outside of its own self-interest. Therefore, not only is God to blame but no one can tell me what is right or wrong for me because the end justifies the means.
But for people who do believe in Jesus and know his power over sin and suffering. For people who know that Jesus is alive, and his presence is very real and a tangible part of their lives. For people who understand the glory of the cross and victory of the empty tomb, the hailstones remind us of how far we have fallen from God’s holiness, how much our sin has infected our hearts and how desperate we are for God’s mercy and saving grace. As we face the days to come, we become ever so aware that the time to be prepared is now.
Like the 10 virgins in our Gospel text. ...
...God’s call to be His bride is not only the one thing we were designed to be, but in waiting for the groom to come it is possible to rejoice because we know that we are prepared for that day.
God has made a way. It is God who provides holy oil to everyone who has or will call upon the name of Jesus.
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
Our necessary and needed response is simply to call upon Jesus. To call upon His name and allow Jesus to reveal just how powerful he is over the sin and suffering we face. To call upon Jesus and experience just how he is present with us every hour of every day. To call upon Jesus and see how his victory over cross and empty tomb sets us free from death and the grave. To call upon Jesus and share with him in his glorious kingdom.
God has given us a unique opportunity in 2020 to prepare for the coming of Jesus and the church has been given a great opportunity to be prepared as the bride of Christ. May this look into the mirror lead us
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