Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
Pentecost 26, 11/09/2008
Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13, by Jennifer Gold
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." 9But the wise replied, "No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us." 12But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I do not know you." 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. NRSV
LIVE TODAY AS IF CHRIST IS COMING TOMORROW
Purpose of This Parable
I must confess that I have had way too much fun with this parable this week.
First of all this Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids, also known as the Parable of the Ten Virgins, has put this song in my head all week long - now I'm not going to tell you the title of the song, but it's a song that was made popular by Madonna in the 1980s- yeah, not a good image for this text.
And then I also just came from our cousin's wedding last night and there were 8 bridesmaids, all of them lawyers, along with the bride, who found out, after months of waiting in eager anticipation for their results, found out just before the rehearsal dinner whether or not they had passed the Bar exam - and it made me wonder by the looks on their faces which ones were the wise bridesmaids and which ones were the foolish bridesmaids?
It is fun to play with this text, but immediately when I read the passage for today, I was reminded of something one my seminary professors once said that has stuck with me ever since.
He said, "Live today as if Christ is coming tomorrow."
That's really what today's parable is about -
Live today as if Christ is coming tomorrow!
This story was obviously very dear to the early church.
Think about it, it's been over 2,000 years since Christ walked this earth and then died and was resurrected, proclaiming the entire time that he would come again.
2,000 plus years is a bit long to wait don't you think?
He hasn't returned yet!
Do you ever wonder if Jesus is going to return as he promised?
Sure, I have.
Have you?
What you have to realize is that the people in the days shortly after Jesus left certainly too did wonder when and IF Jesus would return.
Now, granted, they hadn't been waiting as long as we have, but they thought for sure that Jesus was only going to be gone for just a short while and then would return within their very own lifetimes!
And when that wasn't happening, in their expectation of the second coming of Jesus in the flesh, the bridegroom (as Jesus is several times depicted in the Bible), the bridegroom, so it seemed was delayed.
And so this parable was recorded to give them comfort, to give them purpose in the meantime while they waited.
Our Purpose Revealed in This Parable
You see, none of us knows how long we're going to live on this earth.
Life is limited - whether it's the day of Christ's return or the day we return to Christ- life is limited.
So what is our purpose?
What are you going to do with your life?
What are you going to do now that you have been saved?
Our parable today describes five wise and five foolish bridesmaids to teach us what it means to live in the meantime.
Folks, the bridegroom is coming.
And we get the sense from the parable today that Jesus says, "Ready or not, here I come!"
And the bridesmaids keep watch and they wait, and they wait, and they wait.
As the bridegroom was delayed for reasons we are not told why, all they could do was wait.
And as they waited, they wondered, and grew tired, and fell asleep.
It's easy, like the bridesmaids, to grow complacent in our relationship with the bridegroom as we wait.
After all, we have heard of the bridegroom's coming for twenty centuries and still He has not come - still we are waiting and wondering - wondering if Jesus really will come again as He promised or wondering if we are simply victims of a misleading hope.
Honestly, I wonder that too myself at times.
But I know also that my hopeless wondering comes when I am most weary, when I grow complacent in my relationship with Jesus - when I lose that sense of anticipation, that sense of purpose, that sense of living today as if Christ is coming tomorrow!
What Happens While We Wait?
What happens while we wait is a significant part of this story.
There are two different kinds of waiting that are made apparent in the story by the wise bridesmaids and the foolish ones.
And we can't knock any of them because they ALL slept and they were ALL there waiting when the shout came at midnight,
"Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!"
And they ALL trimmed their lamps.
But to the dismay of the foolish bridesmaids, they didn't have oil to replenish their lamps when they had gone out while they waited.
And those who had extra oil were less than willing to share.
While the foolish bridesmaids went away to find oil, the bridegroom arrived and was greeted by the eager bridesmaids who had also waited but were found ready with lamps full of oil to light his way to the great wedding banquet hall.
What happens while we wait is a significant part of this story.
And the oil gives us a clue.
I SO wanted my parents to come down for my sermon today - not necessarily - not at all in fact to hear me preach - but to bring me an object to use for this sermon today and that is an oil lamp.
Yeah, I remember growing up with that oil lamp that still sits on a stand that hangs on our wall in the entryway to my parents' home.
It's one of those large glass oil lamps that has a wick in it and real oil in the base that came in different colors if I remember correctly.
It would be a great visual aid for today because you see when I was growing up that oil lamp was a real "light saver."
In other words, when the electricity would go out in our house at night, we'd light the oil lamp that was always filled with oil, trimmed and ready to burn and it would give amazing light to the house that there was no need to light any other candles except in the separate rooms.
But what if on one of those nights when the electricity went out, we didn't have that oil lamp filled with oil, trimmed and ready to burn?
Well, then the lamp light would go out and it would have nothing to give leaving us completely in the dark.
Light in the Darkness
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world."
At baptism, you were handed a candle to remind you to "Let your light so shine that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
The calling of a Christian is to be a light for others - to be that light in this world for those who are living in darkness.
But what happens when the oil in your lamp runs out, the lamp light goes out and you have nothing left to give?
A pastor with no oil, a Christian with no oil can't be the light of the world for anybody, no matter how much they try.
You can't give away what you don't have.
So then I ask you, what is the "oil" that keeps your "lamp" lit?
What fills you up spiritually when you run dry or shallow?
Where do you find God or experience God at work in your daily life so that you get enough of that oil for your lamp, and God can fill you up again?
What Fills You Up?
We all run dry and what we learn from our parable today is that spiritual preparedness cannot instantly be shared.
For example, can a person who has gathered insight from long years of prayer give that insight on request to someone who has rarely, if ever, turned to God in prayer?
There is just some "oil" in life that you just can't borrow from anyone else.
There are some kinds of preparations we just have to do for ourselves.
There are some reserves that no one else can build up for us.
We can't borrow someone else's peace of mind or passion for God or experiences in life.
It doesn't work.
You have to find out for yourself what it is that fills you up spiritually and keeps you going - carries you - throughout the day.
I know that I discovered this when Pastor Dave was out on sabbatical.
I recognized my own need to be re-oiled spiritually if I was going to continue to be a light for others in this world, and for now I have found three things, in addition to the ministry that I do here at Zion, that fill me up.
The first thing I did was to volunteer at CAM (Christian Assistance Ministries) just on a once a month basis.
I needed to be able to step outside of my comfort zone - to step outside of the pulpit so to speak, outside of my role as "pastor" and just be a servant to those whom the world unfortunately labels as "the least of these," and let me tell you, there I see God.
That's one place that I find God.
That's one place where I get filled up.
I also began meeting with a Christian Spiritual Director, a person who is trained to pray with and for me and to help me be aware and to recognize how God is working in my life through all the people that I encounter and all the situations that I face.
And every time I leave from there, I stand humbly amazed and in awe of God's awesome presence in my life - it's another place where I get filled up.
And then more recently after our Women's Retreat last month, some of the women from that retreat wanted to continue where we left off and so they started a Bible study in someone's home and the daily Bible studies that I have disciplined myself to do as part of that for the first time ever and the weekly gatherings I've attended (though I haven't been able to attend them all) with my fellow sisters in Christ have been absolutely invaluable for challenging and for filling my oil reserves right now.
I share these things with you not to "flaunt my oil flask" so to speak - not at all, but I share them with you because they are transforming my life and I want that so badly for those of you for whom the oil has run dry.
But I also realize from today's parable that there is just some "oil" in life that we just can't borrow from anyone else.
There are some kinds of preparations we just have to do for ourselves and I pray that you will find what it is that will fill you up if you have run dry or you're bordering on shallow.
Live Today as if Christ is Coming Tomorrow!
But here's the thing.
Time will run out.
As I said earlier, none of us knows how long we're going to live on this earth.
Life is limited - whether it's the day of Christ's return or the day we return to Christ- life is limited.
And we all are good at complacency, putting things off until "one of these days!"
We all put it off, and then the cry comes when we least expect it "Ready or not, here I come!"
It's time.
And "one of these days" is today!
Live today as if Christ is coming tomorrow.
You know this parable was not told to scare us into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We don't fill our lamps because we're afraid we're going to get locked out of the Kingdom of Heaven.
No, we fill our lamps because we can't wait to see the Bridegroom in this life and in the life to come.
The bridegroom is here to meet us wherever we are spiritually.
Jesus is here to meet with you.
Can you see him?
Amen.
Rev. Jennifer Gold
Pastor, Zion Lutheran Church of Helotes
San Antonio, Texas
E-Mail: jgold@zionhelotes.org