Be Ready and Keep Watch!

So, Andy and I are big fat nerds.  Truly.  I’m sure if you are someone who knows us, you are laughing and nodding your head and wondering why I’m just now discovering it.  Last week, I decided to work on another blog post.  (Yes, it has taken me a whole week to brainstorm and plan this post, but I hope it will be worth it.)  I was reading Matthew 25:1-13, and I was having some trouble with the point of the parable, so I decided to go around our house and gather some of our Christian books/resources that could help me gain insight.  Do you know that when I was done gathering, I had about 5 humongous books on the dining room table?  We have several extensive commentaries in this house, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, a Bible dictionary, and a Greek to English Linear Study Bible.  Might I also just add that I asked for the Concordance for my Christmas gift when I was in the fifth grade, and Andy asked for the Greek to English Study Bible this year for his gift from me?  NERDS!  And also to our great shame, these are books that are hardly used!  In fact, I had to learn how to use the Greek to English Study Bible for the purposes of this blog.  All those great resources going to total waste.  I think this might be a classic sign of the road to hell being paved in good intentions.  Hopefully, I’m turning over a new leaf in this area, and you’ll see more signs of this type of study in future blog posts.

 

Anyway, back to my week of study.  It all started with Matthew 25:1-13.  This is the parable of the ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom with lamps.  It is supposed to represent the coming kingdom of heaven; Jesus is the bridegroom, and we are the virgins.  If you’ll remember, the bridegroom in the parable is late in coming, and all ten of the women fall asleep.  When they hear the call that the groom is on the way, they all wake up to trim their lamps.  Five of the ladies are out of oil and have not brought any extra.  The other five have brought extra oil, and they refill their lamps.  The first five are forced to go to the store to try to buy more oil for their lamps and in the process, they miss the bridegroom.  When they try to get into the wedding celebration later, they are denied entrance and the groom tells them he doesn’t know who they are.  Jesus summarizes the parable saying, “Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

 

My biggest questions after reading the text were “What does it mean to be ready?” and “What does it mean to keep watch?”  After all, the virgins who were prepared, had enough oil, and were waiting when the groom came were the ones who got to go to the party.  The others didn’t get to go because they were not ready.  And at the end of the parable, Jesus seems to equate being ready with keeping watch.  The girls who were prepared were ready and watching for the bridegroom.  The others weren’t.  But, truly, what does it mean to “keep watch” and “be prepared?”  How do we do that in our own lives?  I’m sure it doesn’t mean sitting on our porches, watching the sky, and hoping Jesus comes today.  It has to be more than that, but I couldn’t get my head around what it might include.  So, I did the first thing I always do when I am looking at a difficult passage – an internet search!  I have no idea how people lived without the internet!!  What a wonderful tool with so much information right at my fingertips.  However, most of what I found focused on how Christians and nonChristians can look very similar – they might both be sitting in church and appear to be watching for Christ, but the only ones who are truly watching are the ones who are prepared.  Interesting interpretation, and one I think really works for this passage, but it didn’t satisfy my questions. 

 

So, I started a “Speight house search,” which involved gathering all the resources I could find that might help me in some way.  Thus, the “Shannon takes over the dining room” show.  I used Andy’s commentary first, but it offered pretty much what the internet search had offered, and I wasn’t satisfied, so I decided to consult the Greek to English Bible next.  It took some time to figure it out, but can I just say it is the coolest thing ever??  It allowed me to pull out the words “ready” and “keep watch” and find their Greek translations.   Then I used Strong’s Concordance and the internet to find the Greek definitions and other places in the New Testament where the same word was used. 

 

I found the word “ready” in verse 10 (“The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet”) is the Greek word, hétoimos, and it means “ready because prepared, standing by, ready to meet the opportunity (challenge) at hand, ready because the necessary preparations are done or sure to happen as needed.”  I started looking up all the places in the New Testament where hétoimos appears.  It took me a while to find a theme because not all the verses applied to something we could do.  A lot of the verses used the word to mean something that was already done.  For example, when Jesus tells the disciples where to find the upper room for his last supper, he uses the word hétoimos to tell them that they would find everything already prepared for their arrival.  But then there are other verses that make it look like we do have some responsibility in being ready.  Finally, 1 Peter 1:3-5 helped me reach the conclusion that we can be ready for Jesus because he makes us ready.  He enables us to be ready. 

 

Listen to the verses in 1 Peter so you can see it too: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who though faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Our inheritance is already prepared for us because of Christ’s death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.  We can have new life in him through our faith.  It is already there based only on his actions and on nothing we have done.

 

However, I don’t think this verse is satisfactory for explaining the parable.  In 1 Peter the emphasis is very much on what has been done for us, but the girls in the parable were prepared or not prepared based on their own actions.  I know that bringing extra oil could be a symbol for trusting Christ as Savior, and maybe the meaning ends there, but I personally believe that the word may also represent a little more. 

 

Titus 3:1-5 uses hétoimos to say that people should be “ready to do whatever is good.”  The scripture gives more clarification of what this means when it continues saying, “slander no one,” “be peaceable and considerate,” and “always be gentle to everyone.”  1 Peter 3:15 also uses hétoimos when it says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.” 

 

After reading these verses, I think being prepared is a two part cycle.  I think it means trusting Christ for our salvation – salvation that was prepared for us based on his resurrection and not on anything we did for ourselves.  We don’t make ourselves ready for the banquet – he makes us ready.  However, because he has made us ready, I think we should be prepared to “meet the opportunity or challenge at hand.”  Demonstrating that we are ready might mean sharing the gospel verbally through our words and answers to questions or it could mean living out the gospel with our lives by being kind and considerate and peaceful and loving.  Additionally, I think the two might go hand-in-hand.  If we have really trusted Christ for our salvation and if we really knew him, wouldn’t we want to share him with others through our lives and our words?

 

The virgins in the parable that were set apart and accepted were the ones that were ready and prepared.  I think that today they would represent people who have accepted Christ as their Savior and are also living in a way that demonstrates they have made this choice.  For the record, I DO think the only requirement for heaven is to trust the Lord for salvation, but I AM skeptical when people say they have made that choice but don’t live in a way that shows it.  Looking at my own life, I just don’t understand how you can really know the Lord and not want to live for him.  That said, I also think being ready is probably an ongoing process on our end.  We will always be ready if we have accepted Christ because the Lord has made us ready, but to be the type of people who live in kindness and compassion and are prepared to give an answer for our faith will mean continuously growing in our love and understanding of the Lord.

 

The second word I studied from this passage, “keep watch,” also communicates a diligence and attention to our walk with the Lord and supports my belief that being the person this passage calls for is a process and a commitment.  I pulled this word from verse 13 that says, “Therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.”  The Greek equivalent for this word is “gregoreo.”  The English teacher in me must also point out that gregoreo is a verb, so it is something we do J.  It means “be vigilant, responsible, watchful, stay awake.”  As I used Strong’s to find other verses that used the same word, I was struck by the sense of urgency that is found in all the verses using gregoreo.  Some key verses that use it are: Mark 32:34, 1 Corinthians 16:13, 1 Peter 5:8, and Revelation 3:3.  The one that impacted me the most was the scripture from 1 Peter.  It says we must keep watch because “your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 

 

I have been a Christian for almost as long as I can remember.  I’d say at least 23 years.  And in that time, I have done a lot of Bible studies and engaged in more conversations about the faith than I could ever count.  I’ve heard all the talk about the devil and his power, but I have to admit that until recently, I always thought people gave Satan way too much power.  I’m a big fan of taking responsibility for your own actions.  It would drive me crazy when people would blame the devil for their temptations and failures.  I wanted to scream, but YOU are the person who fell.  It is YOUR fault – not the devil’s.  Stop blaming him and start taking some responsibility to change.  I still think we need to take responsibility for our actions, but I think a big part of taking responsibility might be just what Jesus commanded when he warned in the parable to keep watch.  And confirmed by 1 Peter, I think keeping watch means being aware of the fact that the devil is always looking for ways to invade our hearts and minds and keep us from being effective for Christ.

 

I know Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis is a fictional story, but it offers a Biblically based perspective on Satan that is quite interesting.  It shows Satan as cunning and tricky.  He isn’t blatant or obvious because if he were, we might not fall for his traps.  Instead, he takes us away from Christ by little incremental steps until we are no longer “keeping watch” and are instead completely relaxed in our own faith and our commitment to share Christ with others.  One of the first examples of the book is of a man who is on his way toward discovering more about Christ when one of Satan’s demons suggests to him that it is time for lunch.  The demon says that the man’s love of food is one area that he has most strongly under his control – in other words it is the area where the man is the most tempted, so it is the easiest distraction.  I have several areas of personal weakness, but one of the strongest areas is my need to be productive.  For example, right now I have spent almost 3 hours working on this blog post.  I’m starting to feel a strong pull to move away from this and toward my “to do” list.  Considering that spending quality time with the Lord is next on my list, it is also the thing I’m most tempted to skip by rationalizing that I’ve already spent 3 hours thinking about scripture.  Keeping watch for me would mean recognizing this temptation from Satan, and staying strong in my commitment to keep my quiet time even in the face of all the things I want to do today.  Your weaknesses may not be the same as mine, and the actions you take may be different, but keeping watch would mean knowing our areas of weakness and temptation and taking the necessary steps to strengthen ourselves in these ways.  If we don’t, we may find ourselves like the unprepared virgins who were locked out of the wedding banquet.  Jesus himself says that if we do not keep watch, we will miss him when he comes to us.  He warns to “keep watch” in the parable and in Revelation 3 which I’m going to use to conclude.  Below, I have typed the scripture and underline all the places where the word “gregoreo” is used.  I think you will find this scripture insightful and convicting, and will hopefully find new encouragement to keep watch and be prepared so that you do not miss Christ when he comes – in the form of a stranger (Matthew 25:34-40) or when he returns to earth again (Matthew 25:42-44).

 

Revelation 3:1-3: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.  But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”