November 9th,
2014
“Journey of Generosity: Be
Prepared”
Rev. Heather Jepsen
Matthew 25:1-13
Last week we finished our stories of
Moses and this week we are changing gears a bit. As you know, the church is in the season of
stewardship, a time when we specifically consider how God might be calling us
to give of ourselves to the church community.
As we spend a few weeks praying “God, how would you work through me?” we
will be talking about Stewardship here in worship. Luckily, the lectionary, Matthew, and our
friend Jesus have three great lessons lined up for us this month.
In our first reading of this series
we find ourselves with Jesus on the Mount of Olives. Jesus has been teaching the disciples about
the end times. He has been warning them
to watch out for false Messiahs, he has been teaching them that no one can name
the day or hour of his return, and he has been urging them to keep awake. In the midst of this discourse, Jesus tells
several parables which allude to the nature of the end of things, and one of
these is the parable of the 10 bridesmaids.
This is an interesting parable and one
of the few sayings that is found only in Matthew’s gospel. It is a simple story that appears to clearly
lend itself to an allegorical understanding.
The kingdom of heaven is like 10 bridesmaids who go out to meet the
bridegroom. It seems clear that the
bridesmaids represent the church, and this is not the first time we have heard
of Jesus referred to as the bridegroom.
The maids have brought lamps which they will light for the
ceremony.
The tradition at the time was for the
wedding party to gather at the home of the bride. Here they would be entertained by her parents
until the arrival of the bridegroom. At
that point, he and the bridesmaids would lead a processional to the home of his
parents where the wedding ceremony would take place, as well as a party which
could last for several days.
In our story, the groom is delayed,
and all the wedding party falls asleep as they wait. When the groom arrives, the wise bridesmaids
that came prepared to wait with extra lamp oil, light their lamps and are off
to the party. The foolish bridesmaids
who were ill prepared have no oil left.
They ask the wise ones to share but the wise maidens refuse. And so off the foolish maidens rush to find a
place to buy oil in the middle of the night.
Of course there is no Walmart in ancient Jerusalem and the foolish
bridesmaids are out of luck and delayed for some time. Unfortunately when the foolish bridesmaids
finally arrive to the party, the great feast of heaven, the doors are shut and
they are shut out. Judgment has been
cast and they must now pay for their foolishness. Jesus then warns his listeners to keep awake
for they do not know when he may return.
In the earliest days of the church it
was believed that after Jesus died on the cross, he would return
immediately. That’s why we read all that
stuff about believers not falling asleep or dying before he comes again. Of course, as the years passed his time of
delay grew and grew which began to make some people anxious. The gospel of Matthew was written about 50
years after Jesus died and already people were beginning to wonder if he really
was coming back at all. That is why we
find all these discourses telling us to keep watch, and stay awake. Jesus is coming, it just might be awhile.
Of course some 2,000 years later we
have gotten pretty good at waiting.
While some Christians are convinced we are living in the end times, I
think that in their hearts, most Christians probably don’t think it will happen
in their lifetime. Sure we keep a small
flame of faith lit regarding the promised return of our Lord, but in general it
doesn’t consume much of our attention.
Like the bridesmaids, we have our lamps ready but we have fallen asleep
and there is nothing wrong with that. In
fact, this parable seems to encourage a certain comfort in waiting. The groom is coming but we don’t need to be
anxious about it, we just need to be prepared to wait for him.
I think that in our modern Christian
experience, we often have a much more direct experience of waiting for God in
the little things in our lives. While we
are waiting for the final glorious day of Christ’s return, we have a more
pressing sense of waiting for God to act in other spaces in our world and our
personal lives. On the big scale we are
waiting for God to intervene and heal the conflicts of our world. We are waiting for the end of war and
violence, for the just distribution of the earth’s resources, and for a sense
of peace and brotherhood for all humanity.
We are waiting for the kingdom to come on earth, even bit by bit.
In our personal lives the wait can be
much more trying. We are waiting for
healing from cancer for ourselves or someone we love. We are waiting for someone we love to finally
be touched by the Holy Spirit and to turn their life to Christ. We are waiting for the Spirit to move between
us and a family member to help heal a rift that threatens generations to
come. We are waiting for a word of
direction regarding our future. We are
waiting for God to finally call us home.
We are waiting, waiting, waiting, for God to move in our world and in
our lives.
This is where that extra oil comes
in. We need to be prepared to wait. If the bridesmaids represent the church than
some of us have the oil we need to wait for God, and some of us don’t. The oil is good works, faith, prayer,
patience, love. The oil is the stuff
that keeps us running while we wait.
It’s your own faith practice, which is why the wise maids couldn’t share
their oil with the foolish ones any more than I can give you some of my
faith.
The oil is all about going through
the motions even though you don’t know the direction you are heading. You are waiting for healing, so you keep
praying for healing until it happens, that’s the oil. You are waiting for someone to know Christ,
so you keep modeling Christ like behavior daily, that’s the oil. You are waiting for direction, and so you
keep studying the word of God searching for guidance, that’s the oil. It’s all about keeping on as you wait,
instead of sitting on your haunches. The
foolish maidens thought God would show up on their terms, the wise ones knew
that God arrives on God’s terms alone.
In this season of stewardship, I can’t
help but think of the important role the church plays for us as we wait. Part of having the oil, part of being
prepared to wait, is giving of our time and energies to the church. None of us that are here this morning were
here when this church first started. We
don’t know the toil and sweat of those first members, we don’t know their hopes
and fears, we don’t know how they made the commitment to start this church
family, but we do know their dream. They
dreamed of a Presbyterian church in Warrensburg and we are the ones who are
living their dream today.
So too, we are called to make a
commitment of our resources for the church of the future. How often do we just assume this church will
be here in the future, even in our own future when we need it? How much are we like the foolish bridesmaids
who just assumed they had enough oil, or assumed someone else would take care
of their problem? Sometimes I think we
say to ourselves “Sustaining the church is not my responsibility, it will just
be there.”
But, like the foolish bridesmaids, if
we don’t plan ahead for the future, we will be shut out. If we don’t take the initiative to care for
the church today, we could come here in a moment of need and find the doors closed
to us. It sounds harsh, and is not
something we want to think about, but it’s true. We plan a deficit budget every year, and
every year we end up spending more money than we bring in.
Right now, in 2014 the church has
spent over $20,000 more than it brought in.
And don’t think it’s from frivolous spending, you’ve seen our narrative
budget, you know all of our money goes to the ministries that we need. We just aren’t bringing in enough money to
cover the costs of running our church and that’s not sustainable. We have that $20,000 here today but it’s in
your pockets and not in the offering plate.
Only a foolish bridesmaid thinks that’s not their problem.
The oil of our faith is what sustains
us; it is what keeps us going through the difficult times of our lives. The church is the place where we get the oil
for our lamps. Today as we gather around
the communion table as a family we will be fed and nourished by the church and
by our faith. Today we will have the
opportunity to refill our lamps with oil.
If we were without the church, we would be out of luck. Sustaining the church family, helping this
community of faith is an integral part of our own individual faith lives. Jesus tells us to be prepared to wait. And maintaining this church is an important
part of that preparation.
The reality of our faith life is that
sometimes we are really on fire and sometimes we are not, but always the church
is here. Sometimes we come here and we
feel God’s presence in our lives, and sometimes we come here and we feel like
we are simply waiting and searching for God.
What keeps us going through that broken relationship, that cancer
diagnosis, and that uncertain future are the motions of our faith. Even when we don’t feel like praying, we
pray. Even when the Bible seems boring
and irrelevant, we read it. Even when
our good works seem in vain, we do them.
Even when we don’t feel like going to church, we go. That is the oil. It’s about keeping that lamp lit, and keeping
up the faith walk whether we feel like it that day or not. What makes a wise bridesmaid is patience,
diligence, and being prepared to wait. And
you cannot be prepared, without the church to nourish you.
Today as any day, we are waiting. We are waiting for God to move in our lives. And as we wait, we don’t just sit watching;
rather we keep busy with the oil of faith.
We keep praying and keep singing and keep studying and keep giving of
our lives to our Lord and each other. We
keep doing what we can, giving what we are able to sustain this church
community for our own times of need and for the people of the future. That is how we keep awake and keep watch for
the coming of God in our world. My
prayer today is that God would continue to sustain our efforts, and continue to
sustain this church, now and always, as we continue to wait for God. Amen.
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