Waiting and Waiting and Waiting
This is the sermon I preached last Sunday, Nov. 12 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The gospel text was Mathew 25:1-13.
This wedding doesn’t sound like any we’ve ever been to in
this country, does it? While we wait together in the sanctuary for the bride to
come down the aisle, we have an idea of how long we will have to wait. We don’t
sit there for hours.
While living in the Holy Land, I was with a group of women
who had the opportunity to wait together, not knowing exactly when the
bridegroom and his men would arrive. We’d hear a sound. Excitement would fill
the room. Maybe it’s him. Is it him? Someone would look to see. No, it’s not
him. We’d wait longer and longer and longer. It seemed the groom would never
arrive. Then there was a shout. There he was! Finally! Much like the
bridesmaids in today’s gospel, we did not know exactly when the groom would
arrive, only that he would.
In biblical times, a wedding was about the communal
celebration of the promise of new life and commitment. Typical of Jesus’ parables,
Jesus is not talking about actual people, but instead is making a spiritual
point. In this case, it’s about the kingdom of heaven, God’s reign. The use of
the wedding imagery suggests joy and fulfillment, not sorrow or dread. We see
so many scary movies about the end of time that stir up fear within the
watchers. Jesus is talking about the end, but his return is meant to engender
joy and not fear for believers.
Both chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew’s gospel are about the
final judgment and the return of the Son of Man, or, the establishing of God’s
reign on earth; and teachings about delays.
Right from the beginning, we’re told that five of the
bridesmaids were foolish and five were wise. All ten look and act the same, but
only the wise ones were prepared.
Was the issue really about having enough oil? I think the
heart of the matter is what the ill-preparedness of the foolish bridesmaids
demonstrates. They had their own time schedule of when they thought the
bridegroom should and would arrive. Everything should go according to plan,
according to their schedule. No delays. They did not anticipate a sudden change
of plan. It’s not like someone could phone ahead and let the women know they
were running behind.
Another way to translate “delayed,” is “a long time coming.”
Delayed presumes a pre-arranged, expected, set time when the bridegroom would
arrive. At Jesus’ time, there was no such custom. The unprepared bridesmaids
were determining the timeframe in which the bridegroom could be honorably
welcomed with lamps fully blazing.
The foolish bridesmaids’ lack of preparation was
disrespectful and insulting to the bridegroom.
They had not prepared for every possible eventuality to be
sure of their presence at the wedding feast. Their concern was more for
themselves and their convenience than for the bridegroom. They had not factored
delay into their equation of waiting. “The feast was everything. This
bridegroom was worth feasting with” (Mark P. Bangert).
What shall we do while we wait for Jesus to return? We are
to wait faithfully. For the bridesmaids, it was a case of having enough oil for
their lamps. For us, it may be the good works that our relationship with Jesus
encourages in us. This is faithful and obedient discipleship.
The oil could represent the power that produces good works.
Throughout scripture, anointing with oil was symbolic of God’s Spirit being
upon the person. When we baptize someone, we also anoint them with oil, saying “…child
of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of
Christ forever.” We wait faithfully when we walk faithfully with God, allowing
God’s Spirit to work through us.
That kind of faith-life indicates intimacy with God, the
power behind our lives. In baptism, God entered into relationship with us,
making us his own. But have we nurtured that relationship? Are we as invested
in it as God is? God feeds us and gives us drink in holy communion. It is the
body and blood given “for you,” for us. I love how personal and intimate that
is.
The bridesmaids were all tired of waiting. It was not only
the foolish, but the wise as well that fell asleep. We get sleepy while we wait
a long time. This was certainly not what distinguished the wise from the
foolish.
In the final verse of today’s gospel reading, we hear, “Keep
awake…” Another way to translate this is “watch out.” The verb is present
tense, meaning it’s to be an ongoing activity. It means “seizing the day,
loving God and loving neighbors in each moment, not a passive or speculative
stance that soon despairs of a delayed return” (Cousar).
Prepared? Me? Sometimes it’s hard to be prepared. We
procrastinate or we just miscalculate the amount of time a task will actually
take. It’s not such a big deal if we’re not ready on time for some things, like
a few minutes late for a social engagement. But if we’re late for work every
day, we may lose our jobs. What about if our lives depend on our readiness?
They do.
We can participate in and celebrate the many comings of
Jesus—his presence in the Word, in the Sacraments, in gathering together, in
our sharing the good news with others, his presence when we minister to those
in need. These connections keep our lights bright for witness and service.
What if while waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom,
the women I was waiting with had given up? What if the bride said, “It’s really
been too long. I can’t expect you to wait with me any more. It wouldn’t be
right. Go home.” And what if we did? We would have missed out on a wonderful
wedding celebration.
It sometimes seems as if God is delayed in his actions or
hiding from us. Martin Luther described this as deus absconditus, the
hidden God. God is at work, but we cannot see him. We would love just one
little sign that he cares. We let down our guard because of this. Whether we
are like the wise or foolish bridesmaids, we still must wait.
Especially in our violent day, when it seems like week
after week there is a new tragedy. This week’s victims were people at church.
We wonder why God waits so long to show up on the scene—and yet, God already
has, in the cross of Christ. In the midst of the questions, suffering and pain
of our lives, God is there with us and with all those who suffer.
But do our neighbors know that God is with them? We wonder
what we can do differently as a church to be more attractive to a culture
increasingly disinterested in organized religion (Lose). What if we offer
ourselves as a community that will wait with those who are waiting? “Can we
offer ourselves as a genuine community in a world where more and more people
feel isolated? A community that celebrates together. That slows down to prepare
together. And that waits together, making sure when the waiting is the hardest
part that no one—not one person—has to wait alone?” (Lose)
I have experienced such faithful waiting from each of you.
You know how long I had to wait for approval for surgery. You know how long I
had to wait to come back to this pulpit and regular worship with you. You
prayed for, encouraged and comforted me and my family. Now let’s kick it up a
notch and keep on doing that with friends, neighbors and strangers, that all
may be welcome into the wedding banquet of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Resources
Mark P. Bangert, Homilies for the Christian People
Charles B. Cousar, Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary
Commentary Based on the NRSV- Year A.
David Ewart, holytextures.com
David Lose, davidlose.net
Rob McCoy & Eric Fistler, pulpitfiction.com
Rob Myallis, lectionarygreek.blogspot.com
Brian Stoffregen, crossmarks.com
sundaysandseasons.org
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