Wake up! Be Ready
A sermon by Rev. Rod Sprange on Matthew 25:1-13
I have a small confession to share. Sometimes I let little things that people do irritate me. I have the personality of a planner, I like to be prepared.
I can get irritated when other people don’t seem to have thought ahead and been prepared. One example is when I’m in line at the grocery checkout. It’s when the person being served seems surprised to learn that they have to pay for what’s in their bags. They start fumbling around looking for their wallet, or scrabbling through their purse for their credit card or money. I stand in the line muttering to myself, “Why didn’t they get it out while they were waiting in line.” I think “Come on people, get in the game!” (Big breath) Well, I feel much better now.
The reading from Matthew is all about being prepared, it’s about thinking about our responsibilities and being ready. This parable comes amongst a group of instructions from Jesus to his disciples about being prepared and staying awake or focused - because he said no one knows when Christ will come and complete HIs mission of bringing about God’s Kingdom on earth.
In the parable Jesus makes use of the wisdom tradition that would have been familiar to his disciples. Wisdom literature in the Old Testament often compared wisdom and folly. In Proverbs the writer personifies Wisdom and Folly as two women in the marketplace each competing to convince young men to follow their way of life.
In the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Wisdom becomes the five who were wise and prepared. Folly becomes the five who were foolish and didn’t think ahead. Wisdom is being prepared, ready. Folly is being unprepared and it can lead to disastrous consequences.
All ten bridesmaids knew the wedding procession could go on well into the night, that’s why they brought their lamps to light the wedding procession. The wise girls thought ahead realizing the oil in their lamps might not last long enough and brought extra with them. But the foolish came unprepared. When their lamps had burned out the foolish ones had to go shopping for oil. Because they were out they missed the coming of the bridegroom and the whole precession heading into into the wedding feast. When they finally arrived back with their lamps and oil, they found they were shut out of the banquet.
Jesus often described the coming of the Kingdom as being like a banquet. When the bridegroom comes, we had better be ready, we don’t want to be left out.
Matthew’s Gospel was written sometime after the destruction of the temple around 70 ce - but at least 30 years after Christ had died, risen and ascended. Matthew’s community was under attack from the mainline Jewish leadership. Many Jewish Christian groups had been excommunicated. They had witnessed the Jewish uprising which had been brutally put down by the occupying Romans. Earlier, In the early days after Pentecost most believed Christ would soon return triumphant. Some became complacent. If Jesus will be back soon to sort everything out why not just wait for him. As time went by some began to doubt, thinking maybe I’ll just wait and see. Matthew is clearly using Jesus’s teaching to get this community to avoid following the way of folly, and being like the girls who decided to sleep instead of going and getting more oil. Matthew I am sure was urging them to follow the way of wisdom and take up Jesus’s great commission to go and make disciples in preparation for that final day when he would return. They had been given the gift of faith, the treasure of the Good News, the Gospel, and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. Jesus would come and expect an accounting of what they had done with these precious gifts he had entrusted to them.
So, what does Jesus message of being awake and ready mean for us today. We’ve been anticipating the return of Christ for over 2,000 years. That’s a long time to stay focused. It’s hard for us, after all this time, to believe that the parousia, the return of Christ, may happen this very night, or tomorrow. Do we even expect his return in our lifetime. Many Christians have understandably lost any sense of urgency and expectation. But the work of Christ’s mission continues to be as urgent today as it was in Matthew’s time. Our gifts and ministries are needed now!
I believe that through this parable Jesus is telling us not to be concerned about when he will return, the time is not the issue, what is important is that we be ready now, not when the time feels right or when it’s convenient, but now. Look around the community, the need for hope and love is great.
As disciples we each need to do our own discernment of what being ready means for us. We are each different and each have been entrusted by God with specific gifts and personalities. Jesus didn’t choose 12 identical or perfect disciples, he chose them, with all their flaws, because each had something he saw in them that would help him advance the Kingdom.
Similarly each of you is unique and has been by called by Christ into discipleship, to use your unique gifts for His mission.
An important step for all disciples is to discern our unique set of spiritual gifts. I mean, those special gifts that God can use. There are some excellent resources available to help you discover gifts you may not recognize you have, and to affirm those gifts you have already discovered. But, this has to be about the authentic you, not the you the world tells you you should be, or the you you wish you could be, but the real you. Warts and all.
One exercise you can do to expand your thinking about your own gifts is to make a list of up to ten men and women who you consider to be heroes. People for whom you have great admiration. They can be real, they can biblical or historical characters. They could be fictional characters from books or films. Once you have your list, try and identify what it is that you particularly admire about each one. Then look for themes. Where you see a pattern or repeated gifts you will probably see gifts that are latent in you. If you test out your results with others who know you well and who you trust, I think you will find they will affirm those qualities in you.
If we know our gifts and can identify what we feel passionately about we then need to take action.
As Anglicans we have two sets of guides to direct our actions and if followed diligently will keep us awake, focused and prepared.
The first set of guides are the promises we make in the baptismal covenant (BAS pp 158-159) I expect this community rehearses these at times during the liturgical year, as well at baptisms. And I hope you encourage one another in keeping those promises. One of them we make earlier in the baptismal service is that we will do everything in our power to support one another in our lives in Christ (BAS p155). We need always to be asking, am I doing all I can to support others in living out their lives Christ?
The other set of guidelines is called the Five Marks of Mission , which was approved right across the Anglican Communion. I’d love it if our Anglican congregations would regularly include rehearsing the five marks of mission as part of our liturgies.
In case you are not familiar with them or have forgotten them they are:
1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
That’s our primary calling
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
we are called to share what we have been given
3. To respond to human need by loving service
living out the Good News
4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
There is so much to be done, but you can make a difference
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
That requires our sacrifice, but all life on this planet is dependant on our action.
Perhaps being prepared for us, means to look at the gifts that God has entrusted to us and consider how, with God’s help, we can use them to fulfil our baptismal promises and respond to the challenges of the 5 marks of mission.
Let’s pray: May we be so inspired by the Holy Spirit to action, that when we meet Christ he will say, well done thou good and faithful servant, come join the banquet. Amen
