引言
今年是和合本圣经翻译出版100周年纪念–这是外国人为中国人翻译的中文圣经，他们在最后一次开会的时候说“这是我们为你们中国人翻译的最后一本圣经了，以后你们华人要自己翻译了。”
今年也是我拥有自己的和合本圣经50周年纪念。我记得小的时候很想认识字，可是没有人教我，后来上了小学一年级，学习注音符号，就等于今天的汉语拼音，就靠着注音符号，一个字一个字来认识华文字怎么发音，然后跟着字典，明白这个字的意思，上小学后的第二年，1969年，我获得生平第一本圣经。这是外婆给我的礼物，用报纸包起来，（那个年代还没有塑料产品出现）然后交给我。我打开一看，原来是一本全新的圣经，非常的珍贵！拿在手里，我第一个问题是，从哪里开始读起？
到了我中学二年级，在教会参加少年团契，团契辅导说，我们应该每年把圣经读完一次，所以我就每天读4章，1189章用一年读完。之后发现这样读完，对圣经还是不太懂，所以就买了一个本子，把圣经读第二次，每天读了4章就写下标题在本子上，这样做就能让我每天读经之后温习那本本子，复习昨天、前天、上个礼拜读了什么。
我再去买了一本本子，每个主日写下牧师讲道内容。到今天，听牧师讲道，我还是会写记录，然后温习。
读书要记得，听道要记得，不是靠老师或者牧师。有一个秘诀，就是上完课之后八小时，马上要温习第一次，然后24小时之内，重新再温习一次。如果怕自己忘掉了，要怎么办？讲八次给别人听，你一定不会忘记了。有些人聪明，3次就记得了。我需要8次。
你如果问少年的我，信耶稣的人需要注意什么？我会跟你说，要警醒，就好像今天的圣经，天国好像十个童女的这个比喻说的。如果你再问我为什么要警醒？我会跟你说，耶稣现在复活升天了，他一定会再回来，你不要因为不警醒，就忘记了这一件事。
讲解经文
耶稣对一般人经常讲比喻，他甚至讲了一个撒种的比喻来解释为什么他要用比喻。为什么讲天国要用比喻？因为关于天国的事情，很难用地上的语言来让我们十足明白。比喻意涵很丰富colourful, 一个名词带来的联想很多，包括颜色形状甚至气味，人会被吸引了，就开始听下去了。
说话可以创造出一个世界来，你知道吗？
但是比喻有它一定的限制，所以耶稣讲很多个比喻。但是比喻有一个非常厉害的地方，就是它是天国的语言，让你把天国的某一方面牢牢的记得了。就譬如马太福音的这几个比喻，（出现在投影片上），每一个比喻其实都很厉害，听得高兴的时候，突然有一个转折，好比手术刀狠狠的切下来，然后耶稣继续的讲下去，他还会问听众问题，看他们有没有跟着。
马太25章这个比喻出现在耶稣的听众面前的时候，他们一定很感兴趣，因为谁不喜欢婚礼啊？耶稣提到天国好像10个童女，他们有一个任务，就是在婚礼当中欢迎新郎。可能耶稣时代的习俗跟我们太不一样了，新郎没有设下一个时间表让大家预备迎接他。所以大家都要等他。
新郎来了，迎娶的时间就到了。
你会不会说这样给大家等他不是太好啊？但是你知道吗？天国的这一件事，就是来颠覆我们所有的人, 包括你的priority。你不是最重要的，天国的主人才是最重要的。
童女需要带着灯去迎接新郎，可是人家喊“新郎到”的时候，他们的灯里面的油快要用完了。一开始的故事告诉我们，5个童女愚拙，5个聪明。她们的分别不在于长相，说话能力，服装，IQ。这里的区别只是跟一件事有关系，就是有没有多预备油？有多预备的，就是聪明的，可以进去宴席，跟新郎一起坐席。没有多预备的，就是愚拙的，进不去了，等到买了油来，敲门，也敲不开了，里面说“我不认识你们”
为什么用愚拙和聪明的来区分她们呢？原来在耶稣时代，犹太人的信仰传统里有一个部分叫做智慧文学，这个部分最出名的经卷就是箴言书，传道书，我们从箴言书，就会看到有些人是有智慧的，他们懂得敬畏上帝。有些人是愚拙的，他们以为上帝在或者不在，没有很大的关系。诗篇14：1里说到，“愚顽人心里说没有上帝”，who cares？你认识这样的人吗？或者，让我问你，你偶尔也有这么想过吗？你每一天真的是出于敬畏上帝的心来做大大小小的决定和说话吗？你觉得你是聪明人，还是愚顽人？
耶稣就用了智慧文学的方式来开始故事，这好比诗篇第一篇给我们看到的两条路，一条是义人的路，一条是恶人的路。耶和华知道义人的路，恶人的道路却必灭亡（1:6）
耶稣这个比喻的关键
耶稣来到耶路撒冷，这是他人生的高峰时期，他需要让世人认识他的身份，以及对他的启示来做出决定。他用了许多天国的比喻，来带出他已经来到一个很关键的时间点上（deciding moment）。
在马太福音 24 章耶稣提到人子降临的时候，没有人知道，所以人要警醒，因为不知道主什么时候来。然后耶稣就讲了一个比喻，就是关于仆人在主人不在的时候，是否照着主人说的去行，派粮食给家里的大小呢？如果仆人忘记了自己的身份，动手打同伴，又好像挪亚日子的人一样，只顾着吃喝嫁娶，那么主人回来的时候，这个仆人就要被定为和假冒为善的人同罪，就要悲悲切切了。和合本圣经说哀哭切齿了，这是用来形容一种极度的悲切，完全的绝望了，因为已经没有改变任何事情的可能性了！！
25章说到天国好像童女的故事，其实就是来跟我们讲，如果你要改变那个结局，现在就是时候（now is the time）, 那我们就会问，要做些什么？在比喻里聪明的童女，预备了油。这到底什么意思？其实就是她知道新郎可能会拖延，所以她预备好了，不管等多久，她都预备好了，这才是这个比喻最关键的地方了（the crust of this parable）！
反省
江丕盛教授一月份来到我们当中为教牧，长执做装备课的时候，他多次提到要趁丰年的时候做预备，不要等荒年，那个时候已经没有得收集了。相信大家都记得在创世记里，约瑟为法老解梦，有7个丰年，之后再来7个荒年。我们是否aware我们在丰年，或者说我们可能快要到丰年的结束了？我们有没有一个方向来做这一切的预备？无论是个别的堂会，或者整个宗派，或者四宗整体？
今天有许多议题，是需要关注的，大的题目譬如地球变暖，是一个全世界都需要关注的，如果以更加贴近我们的，无论是性别(sexuality), 年老(aging), 生命或者死亡的议题，都是需要老早就做预备的，然后在社会还没有关注的时候，教会已经做了研究，发出先知的声音。但是我们可能在顾着教会的增长或者不增长的题目，结果没有时间去想。
每一个世代要挑起的任务是不同的，在21世纪许多本地教会都纷纷展开社区服务的时候，我们的禧年社区服务中心也成立了。到底什么是我们的社区？我们要怎样做社区？这五年来参加了不少长老会办的区域性的宣教会议，开始扭转我对宣教的概念，以前的概念就是我们教会是差派者sender，把宣教士派去宣教工场mission field，有“这里”和“那里”的分别。
现在的概念，就是教会里一切的活动（敬拜/事奉/培育/儿童/青少年/乐龄事工/星期一晚上的课/福音课），其实是装备我们。
让你去到巴刹，办公室，专业圈子，客户群，学校，补习中心，医院，诊所，来做主的见证人。
你是被差派的，无论你有没有志愿做，但是别人看你，就是代表耶稣、代表教会。无论你觉得自己走路稳不稳，讲话行不行，你就是他们唯一见到唯一跟耶稣有关系的样本了。所以你每一次来敬拜，周三乐龄，周间的小组，你都需要赶快的吸收和学习，因为一走出去，你就开始服事（minister to ）你见到的每一个人了。然后你回来小组或者乐龄聚会，你就是告诉别人你的服事遇到什么，邀请别人跟你一起去行动。如果教会的每个成员都这样的去服事人，你说教会是不是就活在人群当中见证基督？
第二方面，是一个集体性的行动。譬如教会坐落在马太区。我们5月1日将有一个跟地球变暖，但是缩小范围来谈“塑料太多，危害环境“的课题，中间我们会讲创世记1章的故事。这就是我们的平台，要让社区的人可以跟我们一起讨论。如果你愿意，请你替我们分发传单，我们还有7月8月的特别聚会，都是希望从平台角度跟社区居民有往来。
2017年11月我们到社区分发Jseed的传单，去了1000家。2019年3月我们印了传单，也到社区去敲门，希望分完1000张，我们再印1000张，如果可能，今年我们分3000张传单到社区。你需要传单的话，在崇拜厅的门外已经放置了传单，欢迎你带走，跟别人分享。
结论
教会就活在终末时期，我们等候耶稣回来，但是这个等候是需要非常用心的，每天都学习，因为每一天你都透过你说的话，做的事，别人都从你身上来看，那个你在等待的耶稣是怎样的。
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Chinese Union Version of the bible, this was the last Chinese bible translation by the foreigners for the Chinese, and the Chinese were told from then on they would have to do their own translation. Incidentally this year also marks the 50th anniversary of my owning my own Chinese Union Version bible. When I was young, I was yearning to learn how to read, but no one could teach me, and when I started primary 1, and began to learn phonetic notations, equivalent to today’s hanyu pinyin, and via these phonetic notations (Bopomofo), I learned how to pronounce the Chinese characters character by character, and subsequently with the help of the dictionary, to learn about the meaning of each word, and the following year, in 1969, I got my first ever bible. It was a gift from my grandmother, it was wrapped in newspapers, and then given to me. When it was unwrapped, it was a brand new bible. In my hands, the first question which came to mind was, where should I begin? When I was in secondary 2, I joined the junior youth fellowship in church, there was a counsellor in my fellowship who said, one should complete reading the entire bible cover to cover every year, so I read 4 chapters every day, and spent one year to complete reading 1,189 chapters in total, and subsequently realized that even though I finished reading the bible, I still could not grasp a lot of it, so I bought a notebook, reread the bible again, and jotted down the subtitles in the 4 chapters which I have read daily in the notebook. Why, you may ask? So that I would be able to go through the notebook daily, to review what I read the day before, the day before that, the week before and so forth. Thereafter, I bought an even larger notebook, took detailed notes of the sermons every Sunday. This habit persisted till today, and when I listen to sermons, I will still make it a point to take notes, and then review what the pastor had said thereafter. We do not depend on our teachers or pastors to help us to be able to recall what we have studied and learned, or to remember the sermons we have listened to. And there is a secret to success in this respect, 8 hours after your lesson, you have to immediately review the materials once, and within 24 hours of that lesson, you have to review and revise one more time. If you are afraid that you will not be able to recall what you have learned, what should you do? You should articulate that to others 8 times, and that way you will for certain not forget. Some of the brighter ones could recall with just 3 times, but for me, 8 times.
If you were to ask that teenage me, what should someone who believes in Jesus be mindful of? I would have told you, stay alert, as described in the passage this morning, the message underlying the parable of the ten virgins. And if you were to ask me why should I stay alert? I would have told you, Jesus has resurrected and ascended to heaven, and He will most certainly return, and you do not want to forget and miss this because of the lack of vigilance and alertness.
Jesus very often spoke to people in parables, and He even spoke the parable of the sower in order to explain why He had to speak in parables. And why were parables used when it came to speaking about the kingdom of heaven? Because it is very difficult to use earthly languages for us to fully comprehend matters related to the kingdom of heaven. Parables are rich, colorful and vivid, every noun spoken brings about many associations, including colors, shapes, even smells, man’s interest would be piqued, and would then begin to listen. Do you know that a world could be created by mere spoken words? But there are certainly limitations to parables, which was the reason why Jesus had to speak many parables. But there is something extremely powerful and mighty about parables, and that is, it is the language of the kingdom of heaven, and it allows you to very firmly remember certain aspects of the kingdom of heaven. As was the case with these parables in the gospel of Matthew, every parable is incisive, at the moment when you felt delight when listening, there was a sudden twist, almost like being cut ruthlessly by a surgical knife, and Jesus would continue, and He would ask the listeners questions, to ascertain if they were following Him and His train of thought.
When Jesus told this parable in Chapter 25 to the crowd in front of Him, they would have been very intrigued, because who would not like weddings? Jesus mentioned that the kingdom of heaven would be akin to 10 virgins, and they have a mission, and that is to receive and welcome the groom at a wedding. Perhaps the customs and traditions in Jesus’ era were not similar to ours, the groom did not set a timetable to give everyone a heads up to prepare for His arrival, so all simply had to wait. So the bridegroom arrived, it is time to get married. Would you say that it was not too pleasant to keep everyone waiting? But you know what? The thing about the kingdom of heaven, is to knock all of us over (disruptive technology?), including your priorities. You are not the most important, but rather the master of the kingdom of heaven is the most important.
The virgins needed to bring their lamps with them to receive and welcome the bridegroom, but when they proclaimed ‘the bridegroom has arrived’, their lamps had almost run out of oil. At the beginning of the story, we were told 5 of the 10 were foolish, and the remaining 5 wise. The distinctive difference did not lie with their looks, eloquence, how they were dressed or who had a higher IQ? There was only one thing which mattered here, which was, who had prepared additional/back-up oil? Those who did were wise, and were able to go to the banquet and be seated together with the bridegroom. For the ones who did not, they were foolish, were unable to attend, went to buy more oil, knocked on the door, but to no avail, and the reply was “I do not know you.”
Why were they differentiated by whether they were foolish or wise? Because in Jesus’ time, there was what was known in the traditional Jewish faith as ‘wisdom literature,’ which consisted of 7 books, the most well-known books included book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and from the book of Proverbs, we could see that some people were wise, they knew to fear God. Some were foolish, they reckoned it did not matter whether or not God exists. Actually, Psalms 14:1 reads ‘Fools say to themselves, “there is no God,” so who cares? Do you know of such people? Perhaps, let me ask you, do you occasionally have similar thoughts? Do you really have God at the center of every decision you have to make daily, regardless of how insignificant it may be? Do you think you are a wise person or a foolish one?
Jesus started this parable with the methodology utilized in the wisdom literature, and this allowed us a glimpse of the two paths described in Psalm Chapter 1, one being the way of the godly, and the other the way of the wicked. Certainly the Lord guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction (Psalm 1:6).
When Jesus got to Jerusalem, He was at the pinnacle of His life, at this point, He needed the people to know His identity, and also to make decisions in light of His revelations. He had utilized many parables about the kingdom of heaven, seeking to demonstrate that at that point in time for Him was a decisive moment, a critical juncture. In Matthew 24, Jesus alluded that when the Son of Man arrived, no one would know, so all have to stay alert, because the timing of God’s arrival would not be known. Thereafter, Jesus told a parable, about whether a slave would follow the master’s instructions in His absence, and distribute food to the others at the proper time? If the slave were to forget who he was, and began to beat his peers, just like people in Noah’s days, only cared about eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and when the slave’s master returns, he would be assigned a place with the hypocrites, and there would be mourning/grieving. The Chinese Union Version described as weeping and gnashing of teeth, and these were used to describe a type of extreme grief, complete despair and despondence, because the possibility of altering or changing anything would no longer exist.
This story in Chapter 25 about kingdom of heaven being akin to the ten virgins, actually is attempting to tell us, if you want to change that ending, now is the time, then we would in turn ask, what do we need to do? In the parable, the wise virgins, were well prepared and had adequate oil. What does this mean? It simply means that she knew the groom might be delayed, so she was ready and prepared, regardless of how long the wait might have been, she was ready and prepared. This is the crux of this parable.
It has been 2000 years since Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, this 2000-year wait, would that be considered a long wait? Perhaps to us, indeed, it would be way too long whether it was a 2-year or 20-year wait. To the first generation disciples, they were adamant that Jesus would return in their lifetime. But after several centuries had come to pass, because of internal conflicts, the church had to start convening council meetings to resolve as to what we believe in, and after several of these meetings, Jesus had yet to return. Up till now, we are still awaiting Jesus’ return. If the church were to forget, or did not have on the agenda that Jesus would without a doubt return, we would be committing errors similar to those of the slaves in Chapter 24, bullying/mistreating our peers, thinking that we are the masters ourselves. The end results being grieving and gnashing of teeth and this indeed would be something very frightening.
We also know that in the church’s long history, there were certainly many periods of darkness. For some, they associated these periods of darkness with the times when the pope was corrupt or during the autocratic eras of papacy/the church government, but the western church did in fact experience a few episodes of severe black plague, in the 1440s, 25 million lives were lost, and EU population decreased by 30-60% over this period. In the 17th century, in Italy, London, Vienna, there were several episodes of large scale contagion/pandemics of infectious diseases, and led to the loss of countless lives. With events such as these, led people at that time to surmise that the end time has arrived, the world was about to end. But history has taught us, this was not exactly the end time, and theologians had also helped us to clarify what exactly is the end time, from Jesus’ perspective, began with His birth, and God thrusted into the history of man, and to act on what the turnaround/upturn which He had intended. God intended to bring about a turn-around in the history of the rebellious man, whom God had loved since creation. The word became flesh/God became flesh in the man Jesus, allowed us, to encounter, a complete man, who can whole-heartedly rely on God, listen to God, obey Him, and to bring about a brand new path for us. Lent helped us to commemorate this precious turn-about, which has brought about a turn-around in human history.
God’s bringing about the deliverance for us, just like the many parables which Jesus had spoken, vivid and bountiful, and beyond our understanding, but the church would need to continue to stay alert, and be aware that Jesus is the master, and one day, God would provide for all authority in heaven and on earth, to be given to Jesus. And at that time, all knees will bow down to Jesus, and all tongues will confess that He is Lord. And before the day comes, there would be no wavering in terms of the what the church would be required to do, we are Jesus Christ’s witnesses, to witness that God, through Jesus who obeys, had brought about a path of life for us. Turnaround in/Upturning peoples’ lives are possible, precisely because believing and trusting in God has already brought about this possibility. We can look to the cross, we can rely on Jesus, because of Him, we will be binded to Him, and our lives can be renewed, and every day can bring about fresh starts/renewals, do you believe that? You have to believe this, otherwise, why would you be sitting in this auditorium?
There is myriad of items which the church has to accomplish, but first and foremost, the church needs to understand her own identity, and from that understanding of her own identity, to take a fresh look at what the priorities for the church would be. The deliberation of every matter should be made from our identity, as to why we have to act, and how to go about it. And to fully comprehend our relationship with Christ, this relationship has to be so intimate, as would be the case with the branches always having to remain in the vine, and that even being split or apart slightly would be unacceptable. We have to wholly/fully allow Jesus to be our master, to be the master of the church, and when Jesus allows us to be the salt in this world, we will fulfil this duty and obligation to the utmost, and when it comes time for us to be the light, we will similarly not hide or conceal ourselves.
This parable of the ten virgins, has an important message, that is the church has to be fully prepared, do not lose heart and be discouraged, will persevere and not give up, till Jesus returns, He will be our God. Regardless of who comes into the church, our lives can be turned around/transformed because of Jesus, and for those who believe, God’s spirit will continually challenge our priorities, so that we will always obey Him, to follow His will, and to abide by His truth. Our God will certainly return. Are you ready for this?
Response: The church’s one foundation, is Jesus Christ Her Lord
