Bridesmaids

Today is The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. (Two weeks to go in this long season of ordinary time and then we begin again, with Advent.) The gospel reading for today comes from the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and can be found here. I am live-streaming today from St. Paul's in Holyoke, a congregation that recently was added to the list of congregations in transition. They will welcome a wonderful interim priest next weekend. 

Christian discipleship is about learning to live our lives in gratitude, as a response to God’s love made known to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is true regardless of what century we live in, or what country we live in. Or who is president. Or who is the priest of our congregation. Last Sunday, on All Saints Day, we remembered that we are part of the communion of saints that extends through time and is not limited by national borders. Here, we proclaim that Jesus is Lord. Here, now, we remember that Jesus Christ is the Church’s one foundation.

At the core of Jesus’ teaching ministry was what he called “the Kingdom of God.” He taught his disciples to pray for that kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. He said that those with eyes to see and ears to hear would be able to discern signs of God’s reign if we had enough imagination to know how and where to look for it. He said at one point that it is like a mustard seed that starts small and then grows into something much larger. Or like the yeast that a woman kneads into the bread to make the whole loaf rise. Or like a father who welcomes his lost son back home and serves up veal piccata for everyone.

Similarly…

There were ten bridesmaids: five of them were “wicked smart” and five of them “not so much.” They were all waiting for the groom to arrive for the wedding. This is code language in early Christian-speak to refer to the return of Christ.  But he was delayed, and they were all getting exhausted and they all fell asleep (because it doesn’t matter much whether you are smart or not, we all need to sleep sometimes.) But then in the middle of the night there is a shout: it’s time! The bridegroom has returned! But only five of them are ready when that shout goes out to go out to light their lanterns and meet him. (This is in the days before Duracell batteries so you had to make sure you had enough oil to light your lantern; but the dumb ones forgot to bring oil.) They want to borrow some from the others, but the smart ones said, “no way! We came prepared and you didn’t. Go get your own oil!” So the five wise bridesmaids go into the wedding banquet (early Christian code-language for the ultimate banquet and celebration at the end of days) while the others go out to Walmart to get their oil. But by the time they get back it’s too late: the door is shut and locked. There is no room for them. The end!

“So keep awake,” Jesus says to his disciples.

It’s an interesting ending since they were all asleep when the shout went out. We may expect Jesus to offer up the Boy Scout’s motto of “be prepared” but maybe that’s part of what being awake is all about. In any case, the crux of this allegory revolves around that oil. In all other ways, by outward appearances, the ten bridesmaids are the same. They are all dressed up for the party, all part of the community of the Church. All proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. In fact, this parable is a lot like the story of the wheat and the tares. It’s not about Christians over and against the world: it’s about how within the Christian community there are those who are wise followers of Christ and others who simply claim to be followers of Jesus but are really just along for the ride.

Now I’ll be honest: I’m not too crazy about this kind of parable. I get it and I believe it: we will all be judged. I take great comfort, however, in knowing our judge is full of compassion and mercy. So I think that the Church (and especially clergy) needs to be clear that the final judgment is in God’s hands, not ours. Moreover, my experience of people is almost never that they are either wise or foolish. The wisest among us sometimes do dumb things. And even a broken clock is right twice a day!

The thing is, for an allegory to work it has to paint the extremes: foolish and wise. It’s like that old Highlights Magazine duo some of you may remember, Goofus and Gallant. But most of us, I would submit to you, fall somewhere in between those two poles: we are far from wise but smarter than fools. We have good days and bad days.

Perhaps an allegory is intended to give us all a bit of a swift kick, a “wake up call”—and if that is correct then Jesus’ last words make perfect sense. Wake up! In any event, I think that the work of the Church is to invite everyone to the banquet and to proclaim boldly that “all are welcome.” I am pretty sure that Matthew’s community would have agreed with that as well, and quite confident that Jesus himself would do so. All are welcome here.

Even so, it doesn’t take long when you are part of a community to begin to learn that some really are along for the ride. Some like the bridesmaids’ dresses or the liturgical garb or the dignity of the liturgy or a certain style of music. But they have very little interest in actually taking up their crosses to follow Jesus. They want the outward signs without any inward transformation. They want discipleship without the costs. They want Easter Sunday without Good Friday.

So I’ll say it once more: judgment belongs to God—not the Church. But elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel it is clear what the criteria are that God will use: it’s not about who says, “Lord, Lord” (that phrase comes up here as it does in the parable of the sheep and the goats.)  It’s not about confessional statements or creeds. It’s about action and deeds. It’s about how we walk the talk. It’s particularly about how we care for “the least of these” among us: the hungry, the naked, the homeless, those in prison.

In the Old Testament, the rabbis saw oil as a reference to deeds of love and mercy, as a metaphor for obedience to Torah and specifically the two great commandments to love God and neighbor. So that’s probably important to Jesus, the rabbi.

We are so used to thinking about oil as a commodity: as that which we need to put in the tank to heat our homes this winter. And with commodities there is always a limited supply: if I have more that means you have less. The price can go up, or down.

But notice that this story is not about there being, let’s say, one gallon of lamp oil and the five wise ones keeping it all for themselves and not letting the foolish ones have any. The truth is that there is plenty of oil in this story. It’s just that the wise ones are ready and have it with them. The foolish ones left theirs at home or forgot to buy it.

Maybe one way into this story is to think about batteries, especially if you find yourself wondering why the wise ones don’t just share. Many of us have flashlights with batteries for when the power goes out. But they don’t do you any good if you are foolish enough to have dead batteries in your flashlights!

And if you’ve got two batteries in your flashlight that work, but the person next to you does not, then it does no good to try to take one battery out to share it with somebody else. You will both end up in the dark.

Whether or not that works for you, let me say again: the rabbis saw “oil” as a metaphor for being obedient to Torah which comes down to two things: loving God and loving neighbor. That oil is really about how you choose to live your one, wild and precious life and that is one thing that can’t be done for someone else. Not even those we love the most. The foolish bridesmaids have forgotten who they are: they’ve forgotten their calling to illumine the darkness. That is what it means to be awake and wait for Christ: not to sit around but to do justice and love mercy. They miss the ultimate opportunity and purpose of their lives. It is futile to go out and try to “get your oil” after the bridegroom’s arrival simply because it is simply too late then. You don’t get a do-over on life.

Each of us must decide what we will do with that which God has entrusted to us because God has given all of us “oil” that is meant to be used for the sake of God’s kingdom. That oil is intended as a gift that we are meant to use to lighten up the world around us. Some days we get that and are wise enough to let our light shine, and other days we are pretty foolish and forget what the point of discipleship is. But when we do let our light shine, then the world knows that we are Christians by our love.

So these words are addressed to you, St. Paul’s, at a particular moment in your life together. You’ve said goodbye to a priest-in-charge who was here for just three years. That may kick up a lot of emotional energy and some regrets, and some hurt. You now embark on a season of transition, an interim time for learning and reflecting and spiritual growth before the work of calling a new rector begins again. The temptation is to check out – to fall asleep – to wait and see. To “sit back.” But it is in moments like this where we are again invited to wake up, to light our lamps, to step up to the plate. Pick your preferred metaphor! You are blessed to have a fine, trained, intentional interim who will walk this next chapter with you. You are blessed to have a strong, capable leadership team. Together, with God’s help, it’s time to light up the lamps and enlighten this neighborhood. This city and this commonwealth and this nation needs for you and for all of us to be the Church, as light that shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not and will not overcome it.

The “oil” given to each of you and to this parish not as an end in itself. It is a means to an end. Our “oil”—which is simply to say all that we are and all that we have—is not for hoarding or leaving at home or saving for a rainy day. It is meant to be used in ways that make the Reign of God manifest in our world. That time is NOW. If you keep that in mind over the course of this time of transition, all will be well. So keep awake! Stay alert! And pray that this might be a congregation filled with lots of wise bridesmaids, with God’s help.