32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Or RCL 23rd Sunday After
Pentecost)
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
(homily preached---by proxy---St Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony IN---thanks Karen;)
Does anyone really like this
parable?
Not me
I DON’T like this parable
I like weddings in John’s
Gospel way better
In Matthew’s weddings people
get thrown out because they aren’t wearing the appropriate clothing
Or they aren’t LET IN in the first place
No…I like weddings in John…lots
and lots of really good wine!
All this tells me
…This quick and heated
reaction of mine
Is that I have some real work
to do
And so my prayer this week
has been:
GIVE ME A WORD
GIVE ME A WORD
I have challenged myself to
EMBRACE this parable!!!
And my job is to bring you
along…
in 12 minutes we will all
LOVE this parable!
Game on!
Some of the difficulties we
21st century folk have:
1.
the virgin/bridesmaid
thing goes sideways for us…
the image doesn’t really work…
we aren’t ‘in the know’ about the
role such virgin/bridesmaids played in ushering the groom to the wedding…
so it just doesn’t speak clearly to the 21st century….
metaphors matter
2.
The ending…the
shut door….
OUCH…way too harsh…
I thought we were all supposed to share???
3.
Why is being
foolish worthy of eternal damnation!!!
If so I am totally doomed!
I am not totally foolish…
but I am often foolish in the way these virgin/bridesmaids are:
being unprepared…counting on my friends to bring a little extra food to the
picnic!
-----
This is probably at the core of things…
My guess is that all of us
on any given day
are both a bit wise and a bit foolish…
Matthew’s community…the
people he loved…
the people to whom he
addressed his Gospel…
had come through some
significant trials BECAUSE of their
faith.
Debates in the synagogues
about these Jesus Jews were hot…
Boiling over really
But they keep the faith! Worn
and bruised, yes.
They are still waiting and THEY
long for a WORD.
The parable is tough because the experiences were
tough.
As we will be hearing the
next couple of weeks,
Eschatological living---
that is the theological word
for living in the MEANTIME
with eyes fixed on the
fulfillment of all promises---
is a matter of readiness,
watchfulness and preparedness.
Now this ‘living in the meantime’ is supposedly ‘central to Christian Living’…and in
theory it is!
“we wait in joyful hope for
the coming of our lord Jesus Christ” etc…
Listen carefully and you will
hear about it throughout the liturgy.
But in practice…
Is it really that central?
We no longer really expect
anything…
We don’t wake up in the morning and wonder…will it be today?
And quite frankly…I’ll speak
for myself here…
I quietly make fun of people
who do.
-----
On my drive to FL this week
I noticed billboards
10 -15 of them dotting this
100 mile stretch in north FL
Billboard after billboard
ARE YOU READY!!!! Or
something similar
And some of the
graphics…bloody zombies and all….
I caught myself…chuckling
inside…my internal voice saying
“…well I guess I’m as ready
as I will ever be…how about you!”
-----
GIVE ME A WORD
I am looking to this parable in search of ‘A WORD”
-----
I think it is a fair strategy
to engage Matthew’s Gospel
keeping The Sermon on the Mount
in mind
As the centerpiece of the
Gospel’s teaching
It seems totally legit
We can wear ‘sermon on the mount colored glasses’
The parable centers on those
lamps
And the necessary oil for the
lamps
and the purpose of lamps is to provide light
The role of the
virgin/bridesmaids is to light the way for the groom
it is midnight…the text says
The darkest time of the night
No well-maintained concrete
sidewalks in first century Palestine
There are rocks in the path…and
maybe even sink-holes
There is a real danger of
tripping or stumbling
And out of the corner of my right
eye
I see Matthew’s Jesus preaching
his Sermon
A city set on a mountain cannot
be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and
then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand, where
it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine
before others,
that they may see your good
deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
Add then out of the corner of
my
left eye
I see and hear a choir
singing that Advent song
“keep your lamps trimmed and
burning
keep your lamps trimmed and
burning
for this world is almost
done” (you could sing this;)
putting the two together
I heard an answer to my
prayer: GIVE ME A WORD:
By my very baptism
I became, in fact, a child of the light
As the Rite says
‘I have been entrusted to
keep it burning brightly’
I may let it get covered up out of spiritual apathy or
inattention
I may turn my head toward Idolatry
as other desires climb over
my baptismal desire for God alone
I may allow the weight of bad news
A weight that wants me to
believe that BAD NEWS is the WHOLE story
I may allow for that to creep
in and suck the oil out of my lamp
But I am
in fact
a child of the light.
And like the bridesmaids
thank God I am not in this alone
Here is the thing
The groom has not yet arrived
We are living in the middle
of this parable
The door is still open
Our lamps have not run out
it is the present time
We live in the MEANTIME
And in this time
I have to figure out how to
wait with joyful expectation
That kind of waiting IS the disciple’s job
What I am waiting for
… everyday
Is for the Lord to show up In
my WAITING!!!
And the Lord does!
Through the power of the Holy
Spirit
The Lord shows up in my
waiting!!! Everyday!
Call to mind
Right now
The Lord showing up in your
waiting
(pause)
It is true, isn’t it?
The Lord shows up!
When my head hits the pillow at
night
That is when I try to
remember
I have to practice calling to
mind how the Lord shows up
I try to recall
The showings of the day
I am quite accomplished at
highlighting the absences
They are so loud aren’t they?
…they practically scream,
But the presences…
they are softer and quieter…
but ever so much more powerfully light-giving
-----
My friends
We will maintain our ‘child of the light’ identity
We are the lamps
Some days we are dimmer than
others
…this is after all a journey
A long one
Coming here
Placing ourselves in the
midst of this hope-filled people of God
This is what changes us…
We may not notice it change
us
But it does
-----
There is this large Maple
outside the front door of my house
Back in August it was 100
shades of green
Vibrantly green
And then
A couple of weeks ago
A drove home from St
Stephen’s
Down my gravel driveway
And it showed up
And it was bright RED…gorgeous!
It happened slowly
That changing from green to
red
But it was always changing…bit
by bit…
We are always changing
We are never the same person
from one day to the next
We may not notice it
But it is true
Keeping our lamps trimmed and
burning
Might mean that it’s best to
notice
To notice the path our change
is taking
Gather the light around the
path
Don’t walk at midnight in the
dark alone
Too many things to trip over
And if a friend’s oil is low
Let your light shine in that
direction
In the MEANTIME
Is LONG-HAUL time
The urgency of the
Thessalonians
And the weariness of Matthew’s
beloved community
Have died down
But our task is demanding in
a different way
Like a 60+ year marriage
we learn to say “Yes”
Over and over again
It is our baptismal YES.
YES! We are waiting for you to show up in our
waiting!
We keep waiting because you
keep showing up as promised.
And
Here is where we come
right here
to hear and to share
The HOPE-CREATING and
JOURNEY-SUSTAINING
Promises of God!
There is a wedding,
we are invited
we have a role to play
an important one
We have been entrusted with the light!
