Matthew 25: 1-13
The word “preparedness” usually does not cause smiles.
- It is commonly understood to mean “being ready for the worst”.
- And is often coupled with the word “disaster” …as in “disaster preparedness.”
If you Google “preparedness” the first things that come up are places that sell assorted emergency kits:
- The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) website and blogs about how to stockpile supplies to survive a disaster.
But preparedness can also refer to being ready for something good to happen.
- Like if you are out of work and you learn that a certain company will be hiring in a couple of weeks.
- And buffing up your resume.
- Learning more about the company so you can explain to the interviewer how your skills can be an asset.
- And…of course…taking down unflattering pictures of yourself on Facebook.
The parable in our reading today is about preparedness.
- It concerns a wedding…but its point is obscured for we moderns because it refers to marriage practices different from our own.
The Jewish marriage of the first century was a two-step affair.
- The first was a marriage contract… called a betrothal.
- Arranged by the parents of the bride and groom.
- Once that contract was settled…the couple was legally married.
- They did not live together yet…but the contract could only be ended by a divorce.
- This step often lasted as long as a year.
- Mary and Joseph were in this stage when the angel announced to Mary that she was to have a child.
- That is why Joseph considered a divorce when he learned Mary was pregnant.
The second step was the celebration of the marriage itself.
- The marriage feast could last several days.
- And that’s why Jesus had to turn 150 gallons of water into wine.
- That is…to keep the party going.
The wedding ceremony involved separate processions by both the bride and the groom.
- Heading to the groom’s parents’ house for the wedding and celebration.
- And on the way they would stop at friends and family’s homes to toast…with wine…the bride and groom’s wedding.
In the parable…ten bridesmaids are waiting to meet the groom’s procession.
- Escort him to his parents’ house.
- And go with him to the feast.
- The bridesmaids…expecting the procession to take place after dark… have brought lamps with them.
- But the groom’s procession does not arrive until midnight.
- Because of so many stops and toasts along the way.
- OK…a bachelor party!!
When they hear the procession is near…
- Five bridesmaids realize they do not have enough oil for their lamps.
- The others have brought extra flasks of oil.
- But when the first five ask for some of it…
- The second five tell them…no…fearing that they would run out before the procession was over.
- So…the first five must run to oil dealers to purchase oil.
Now…the problem is…while they are out buying oil…the groom’s procession arrives.
- The bridesmaids who have brought extra oil meet the procession and escort it into the place of the banquet.
- The other five show up too late.
- And when they arrive at the banquet…the gatekeeper will not let them in.
- Because they were not part of the procession.
- As far as the groom knows…they are party crashers.
- He says: “I do not know you” and turns them away.
Well…we now know what happened to the other five bridesmaids in the parable.
- They ran out of oil.
- But…what happens to us when we run out of oil.
- What fills us up spiritually when we run dry? We all run out of oil.
- And when we do run dry…we cannot be a light to anybody.
- We all know the airplane safety speech.
- Put your oxygen mask on first.
- We must refill our own lamps if we want to have light for anyone else.
I am a husband and a father and a grandfather and a pastor and I know what it is to run out of oil.
- And so do you.
Your spouse or child walks into the kitchen at 6 pm and says:
- “What’s for dinner?”
- And you say “meatloaf.”
- And your spouse or child says: “What…that again?”
- And you morph into the Tasmanian devil…right there…in the kitchen.
- And when you have finished ranting…those near you say:
- “What…are you out of oil?”
When the arrow on the gas tank points to empty…we are going to have to stop the car.
- If a two-year-old doesn’t get a nap she is going to crash.
- If we have not had a conversation with our significant other in our life for three or four weeks our relationship is running dry.
There are some kinds of oil that we just cannot borrow from anyone else.
- We can borrow someone else’s homework.
- But we cannot borrow the hours that the other student put in preparation for the test or for the writing of the paper.
- We cannot borrow someone else’s peace of mind.
- Or their passion for God.
- Or someone else’s good marriage.
- Or someone else’s friendship.
- It doesn’t work.
- We must find it for ourselves.
We have to figure out what fills us up spiritually.
- And then make sure we have some to carry with us every single minute of the day.
- Because here’s the thing.
- We do run out.
The hour gets late…and one gets sleepy.
- And we doze and put it off and say:
- “One of these days I am going to quit working so hard…
- And I will begin to live with healthier boundaries.”
One of these days I am going to start painting again like I did in high school…I always loved it.
- And then the shout comes:
- “He’s coming…it’s time!”
- And one of these days is over.
That’s the hardest thing about this parable…
- The time will come…
- When we must draw upon the oil we have right there in our flask.
And it is not going to come from our pension or savings or 401K.
- It is not going to come from our good intensions.
- It is not going to come from our long-range plans.
- It is going to come from what fuels us spiritually right now.
- It is going to come from our relationship with Jesus.
That is where we get filled up.
- Nurturing our relationship with Jesus’ spiritual fruits.
- Love…joy…peace…patients…
kindness…generosity…faithfulness…gentleness…self-control.
- All those things we cannot check out of the library.
- And you cannot go to the person next door and borrow it like a cup of sugar.
- It is just there for us…to gather…anytime we want.
We don’t fill up our lamp because we are afraid we will get locked out of the kingdom.
- We fill our flask out of joy.
- We fill it so that we are ready to meet Jesus.
- In our spouse…in our children…in our grandchildren.
- In the hungry…in the thirsty…in the stranger…in the sick…in the imprisoned…
- Just the desire to meet him…when he comes…Oh…the joy!
- And he is coming…soon.