Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Matthew 25: 1-13

I like weddings in John’s Gospel

And the problem is too much really good wine

 

In Matthew’s Gospel…well, they are odd!

Someone (God even)

Is either throwing a guest out for improper attire

Or barring them entry altogether!

 

I don’t know about you

But I want the foolish to get a second chance!

And…Why couldn’t the others JUST SHARE! 

Slammed and locked doors 

so…final!

sooooo harsh!

 

But…

The first law of parable interpretation says

That I mustn’t approach this story/parable 

using my first 21^st century vision.

 

Let’s dig a little 

Judaea…Roman territory since 200BC

province from 6AD

A backwater…hardly on the radar in Rome
Free to worship

Not slaves…but not ideal

The Romans 2 goals: keep the peace and collect taxes
Pockets of rebellion rose up from time to time
And finally they had success in a coordinated revolt in 66AD

Predictably…and after hundreds of thousands of deaths…

A swift and crushing response by Rome

Temple in rubble

Jewish life in an existential Crisis!

How could God let this happen?

Is God still powerful…is God faithful to the covenant?

Is there any benefit in keeping the Torah?

 

In the absence of the Temple, and the cultic priesthood, and the economy of sacrifice two (at least two) movements fell into the vaccum and began to reground Jewish life

 

One was the evolving Rabbinic movement
Jewish life began to organize around communities led by learned Rabbis.

Another was offered by early Christians (not yet distinct from Judaism)

…such as Matthew’s community

 

And this is the backdrop of Matthew’s Gospel

The way forward, 

Understood as in absolute continuity with all that has gone before,

is Matthew’s…Christian… vision of adopting a way of being…of living…in the light of hope, fidelity and vigilance/watchfulness…these are some of Matthew’s themes.

 

 

Matthew’s Gospel is organized into 5 sermons or discourses
The 1^st is the “Sermon on the Mount” 

Where we hear the famous beatitudes…
“Blessed are the poor, the peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”

As well as the language…the teaching…

about being the light of the world

“You are the light of the world. 

A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket,

But on a lampstand,

And it gives light to all in the house.

So let your light shine before people, in order that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (MT 5:13)

 

Scripture scholars understand the Sermon on the Mount as one tool for interpreting the whole of the Gospel. First things are always important.

Another interpretive tool is how the Gospel ends The last 2 verses, known as “The Great Commission”….(Endings are also important;)

 

“Go, make disciples of all the nations (the gentiles), 

baptizing them in the name of the Father 

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 

And behold I am with you all days until the end of the age.”

 

We need these two tools…interpretive keys

…this “light of the world” business

And this promise of companionship

To help unlock today’s parable 

 

I know that right now 

Many of us…some more intimately than others… 

Might feel frozen…or at a loss to understand

the violence and war and cruelty 

that is raging in many places around the globe

And we have plenty of our own

Closer to home

 

My friends…if our faith

Our traditions and prayer and Scriptures

All that reminds us WHO/WHOSE we are…

If this has nothing… 

for us RIGHT NOW

Then it is not what we claim it is

If it has NOTHING

It has no power to save.

 

But we believe it does

I offer that this parable 

of the wise and foolish bridesmaids

has light and it has companionship

 

Bridesmaids in our culture are pretty much 

Let’s admit…unnecessary!

just a beautifully clad ceremonial photo op!

But in this story…they have an important, SINGULAR role

Their duty is to be there, ready to light the way. 
These weddings were days long occasions. 

Not just family affairs but occasions for everyone in the community

 

The Bridegroom travels to the home of the Bride
she gathers up her life…all that she has known

And is led by her groom back to his home and family

The story doesn’t tell us how faraway the two households were

…but even in our time any number of things might delay an arrival

…weather, run out of gas, flat tire

…some commentators suggest that the groom and the bride’s father 

might have been haggling over extra bride-gifts

(think tipping)

 

The point is…delay would not have been particularly unusual. 

The celebration would not begin without the couple. 

 

The last line about keeping awake…can’t be about literal awakeness

After all---all 10 fell asleep

More likely it refers to being awake in the sense of being vigilant in preparedness…

The bridesmaids had ONE job

…to light the way for the wedding party

To bring them into the celebration

 

In a society ruled by honor and shame

(and one without electric light) …this

torch-bearing responsibility was no small matter

If they all arrived with burnt out torches 

the result would have been profound humiliation

…and unending gossip!

 

In this light, the un-sharing bridesmaids really saved the feast!!!

 

Now, this parable, as it says in the first line, is about the “Kingdom of Heaven”

 

We are the light of the world…Matthew pronounces in Chapter 5.

We are Lamps…with trimmed wicks 

and loaded with oil…At least potentially;)

 

Q: What is it about us…
or maybe, When is it, 
that we glow in such a way 
as to light the way to the Kingdom of Heaven? 

 

This question made me recall those categories in the prayer of St Francis…

*When hating seems to make the most sense…love instead

*Wounds …my own or other peoples’…don’t pour salt in them…soothe them instead

*When I encounter someone lost…how about sharing what gets me out of bed in the morning

*In the face of despair…I can listen…even listening is an act of hope

*Is it dark?…Open a crack somewhere…that is how the light gets in

*Joy… not necessarily the absence of suffering but the presence of God

So… put on Joy…every morning put that on first…

 

I suggest that these actions 

These St Francis Prayer Actions

are generators of Christ-like lamp-light

 

At our house 

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving

We put up our outside Christmas lights
(only the outside…no skipping Advent;)

We have a row of bushes near the door to our house.

ONE string of lights is, like, nothing
…hardly noticeable

Three is still not enough

But 10! 10 strings of light well

…now we are talking

It is 10. But the effect is WAY more than 10!

It’s like 10 x 1 = 100!

 

So too with our lamps. 

Putting our lamps together creates an almost irresistible sign of the Kingdom of Heaven

 

Some days we know ourselves as those vigilant bridesmaids

…gathering our light together to make a great splash to light the way. 

Other times, when we’ve lost our way

…we might find ourselves extremely grateful to others for their vigilance in keeping their wicks trimmed and the oil supply at the ready… 

 

The penetrating light from these Lamps

Is exactly what we need to help us recognize the sometimes tricky, and confusing

Signs of the times

…hidden causes of hatred, woundedness, emptiness 

This light helps us see clearly so that we can act honestly…like Christ…

So that we can grow in Christ-likeness

 

Unlike In Matthew’s Time

Or the time of any of the Old Testament Apocalyptic/End-Times writers

The end of time, for us,  

isn’t week-night supper table conversation. 

Not usually anyway.

 

But when crisis comes

When someone I love gets a terrible diagnosis

Or I lose a job just when I’ve begun saving for retirement

Or there has been an unbearable rupture in one of my most intimate relationships

Or war and conflict seem to be erupting all around

 

In crises…When I don’t have any answers

When I don’t have any creative energy left

I might just want Christ to come again…right now!

Or at a minimum…make a guest appearance! 

 

I think We’ve sort of forgotten something

Something essential to our Christian faith

Something we proclaim every time we gather for Eucharist

Christ has Died

Christ is Risen

Christ will come again

 

It’s the verbs that we need to pay attention to

HAS died –on the cross---in history

IS Risen (Is and still is…present…risen and among us…as promised in those last verses of Matthew’s gospel)

WILL come again (this is a promise and not a threat)

Christ will come again

Which means to me that some of the things I’m trying to figure out

Just don’t have to be figured out by me!

 

A promise and not a threat…but also a call.

 

To keep our lamps trimmed and burning

So that whatever Christ-likeness I bear may be a gift to someone else who needs it and though I’m not sure how the math works

…I just believe

That our light… 

Somehow…

Reaches around the world.

 

This I believe

 

Thanks be to God

(sing/hum…Keep your lamps trimmed and burning…)

 

 

Bernardin DMin Thesis 2020 "Connoisseurship - Using Adult Learning to Engage Preaching in Deacon Formation"

 THIS IS WHERE IT WILL BE ONCE I FIGURE OUT HOW TO "EMBED A PDF FILE IN A BLOG POST" 

Sower and Seeds and Soil, OH MY!

 Isaiah 55: 10-13

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sower and Seeds and Soil, Oh My!

Isaiah 55: 10-13

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sower and Seeds and Soil, Oh My!

 

Isn’t that a beautiful bit of language from God

Spoken through the prophet Isaiah?

“Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down…

“making fertile and fruitful…

“so shall my Word be…

… a grand and magnificent promise.
It sounds like “Not to worry…it will all turn out well in the end”
[Only in lovely poetic language]

 

Are there times when that just sounds entirely too simple…too naive to you?

It does to me. 

It must have to Isaiah’s audience

Isaiah’s audience…the people of Israel…have given up

They are wailing loudly and with conviction “Our God has failed!”

 

Their homeland invaded

Their king imprisoned

Their temple destroyed

All of them…living as refugees under foreign occupation

How does a promise of comfort, redemption and return sound to these people who have 

Given up…thrown in the towel and ceded the victory to the enemy.

 

The link between the First Reading and the Gospel isn’t always perfectly clear

Our parable of the Sower, the Seed and the Soil certainly isn’t as straightforward and comforting as Isaiah’s words

 

It must be that Isaiah’s response to the people 

turns to the natural world…the circle of seasons…the rhythm of life 

not simply for illustration 

but for Wisdom…Wisdom related to the Word of God
the Word that goes forth from God’s mouth

 

 

The story of Jesus, 

as told through the lens of St. Matthew 

and from the perspective of the Matthean community,

facing times a bit similar to those facing Isaiah’s people

…destruction of the Jerusalem, Temple

…Christians navigating their increasingly marginalized place in the Jewish religious world

…many living as refugees outside their hometown

 

Jesus, in the gospel of Matthew

Speaks into this context by way of a seed parable

 

Today marks the first Sunday in Parable Time!
Next week the gospel reading will begin

“Jesus put before them another Parable…

and then there will be another…

 

So it is a good time to ask

What is a parable?

We don’t really have a literary category to match the ancient parable

It’s not quite an analogy (though Matthew gives one in the interpretation)

And it’s not quite a fable which typically ends in a pithy moralism: 

Slow and steady wins the race...from The Tortoise and the Hare

 

Here is a favored definition by the New Testament scholar, CH Dodd:

At its simplest…A parable is a metaphor or simile

Drawn from nature or common life

Arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness

And leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application 

to tease it into active thought.

 

Upon hearing this parable

We ought to get ARRESTED…
And CONFUSED…
And TEASED

into active thought and reflection…
that’s our job today;)

 

It’s not too hard to see the two distinct parts in today’s reading?

Part 1: There is the parable proper

Part 2: And then there is the interpretation

 

To me the parable proper is about the Sower
Sure there are vivid descriptions of the places where the sower sows

…tossing out seed willy-nilly

But it is a kind of “just-the-facts” narrative.
A sower did this
and then these kinda bad things happened

Then this Wow thing happened.
in the last line about the fruitfulness, 
which is bountiful in the extreme!
But I don’t know…
The WOW thing is still about a return on only 25% of the work of the sower.

I’m not a farmer…but taken all together…I’m a little underwhelmed.

 

But then 

In the interpretation 

The focus is squarely on the soil.

 

You might have a similar memory
This is such a familiar parable 

…found in 3 of the 4 Gospels
that I actual remember the gist of the homilies I’ve heard

 

And they follow this simple formula:

·      Strive to be good soil

·      And then do THIS: Donate to the ‘fix the roof’ campaign, volunteer for the soup kitchen…etc…

You know what I mean.

 

We can do better 

 

The interpretation part tells us that What is being sown…is the Word of God…

But what is meant by that…exactly?

Does it mean The Bible itself…the 66 books written over centuries?

Isaiah’s understanding seems more dynamic and alive than that

For the evangelist John, the Word was with God eternally
and took flesh in Jesus

Jesus…IS the Word of God

You know how we say that a book has come out in a movie?

Well, in Jesus, the WORD came out in a person

 

And then, in the post-easter Church
Chrisitan communites understood themselves as

Missionary communities

As carriers of the ‘Word of God” 

Following in the footsteps of Jesus

Their lives were the message…the Word of God

 

When we hear “Word of God” in this passage

It’s that

the life of Christ and handed over-

In the power of the HS…

To the church/the Body of Christ/all of US

 

And Here, my friends,

 is where I am beginning to sense some “TEASING into active reflection”

I only have my own contemplation here

But I hope it will work for you in some way as well

 

I can see myself reflected in each of the 4 soil-types:

Hard and compacted…

sure sometimes I am just closed-minded, not in the mood for growth or change

Rocky…
Sure, I like that idea…until it makes too many demands of me/don’t ask me to go deep

Thorny…

This is the most persistent…Too busy, too preoccupied, too…too everything

And…Good Soil…
Sure, I have my good days;)

 

Taken all together, I say to myself…

75% Inhospitable versus 25% fertile high-yield

Crap!

 

And to that God says, 

Yes! 25%! 

That is totally enough!!!

 

That teases me into active thought and reflection

 

I can hear about myself

I can hear about my hard, rocky, thorny shortcomings

…And my good soil times

I can hear it and believe it and maybe feel a bit disappointed in myself…

But I can’t only hear that…

 

I MUST MUST MUST make space to hear the PROMISES!!!

 

Against all the messages that bombard us daily

Messages telling us that there isn’t enough

Isn’t enough money,

Not enough clean air and water

Not enough safety and security

Not enough recognition or prestige

Not enough ---- fill in the blank

 

And politicians…red, blue, purple striped politicians

Play on this…compounding it…

naming what is wrong

What is lacking

What we ought to fear

 

And into this, God speaks.

God who scatters seed ALL OVER THE PLACE

God who scatters with abandon and…dare I say wastefulness?

 

Why?
BECAUSE…there IS enough

There is enough seed, enough grace, enough love

And 

We ARE enough

 

Now this is where I’d like the TEASING to stop

With all that abundance!
I wish it did;) But it doesn’t

 

The tougher teasing is in knowing 

that precisely because God loves me/us 

Loves us as we are right NOW

Precisely because of that

God has high hopes for who we will become tomorrow or the next day/month/year

 

The Word of God…that is the life of Christ 

Is, in fact, embodied in us…individually and as a community.

 

Knowing and believing that there is enough and that I am enough
I am being teased into praying and acting myself into the person God made me to be.

 

For me…I can only speak for myself here

For me…I am being teased into

Standing more boldly against fear and scarcity

And all that feeds prejudice, racism, greed, and violence
My commitment is to make that concrete in my life

 

Let anyone with ears listen:
God, who loves us RIGHT NOW, as we are

Is lavishly loving us into something new!