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Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:
1-13
Audio: Be Well Oiled
Sermon:
I have preached on various parables many times, and one thing that I
routinely say about parables, is that they can be both clarifying and
confusing. This parable of the ten bridesmaids fits that description,
but I will also say that this is a difficult parable; it leads us where
we do not want to go.
This parable challenges many
of the things we believe about God. It challenges the biblical
imperative of caring for the other as we care for ourselves. If
taking care of the individual was the main message of the gospels, then
the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand would never have happened.
Jesus wouldn't have shared either the bread or the fish with the crowd.
Instead, he would have scolded them for not bringing their own food.
The parable of the ten bridesmaids sounds a lot like us and how we act
towards one another, but not how Jesus wants us to act towards one another.
It sounds more like a parable about the kingdom of the world and not
the kingdom of God.
Of course, even with its difficulty,
the parable makes some good points. It makes a good point about
preparedness. I like to be prepared. I prepare to lead worship
each week. I prepare menus when I have people over for dinner.
If I have a big day coming up, I prepare by making sure I am rested.
I have retirement accounts and insurance policies. I believe in
being prepared, and I suspect that most of you do as well. Preparedness
is healthy, necessary and even respectful in our culture. And
if I had to choose either the bridesmaids that came prepared with extra
oil or the ones that did not, I would probably choose the ones that
came prepared with extra oil.
But the thing is, I think that
the kingdom of God is more than each person hoarding their own bit of
oil and not sharing.
As I think about this parable,
I wonder, maybe this parable is not about how much oil you have. Maybe
this is a story about the oil you have on you, the oil you carry with
you. We are told, all ten bridesmaids had lamps with oil in them, but
five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. The wise ones
brought additional flasks of oil with their lamps so that they could
refill when needed. The foolish ones brought their lamps and had
no spare oil so that they ran dry. Jesus describes for us a situation
where if you don’t have the oil with you when you need it, you may
as well not have it at all.
So what does it look like,
to have oil with you?
If we think of ourselves as
lamps, we can think that as long as there is oil and we are lit, then
we can be a light to the world. But this story is all about
the oil we have with us; so once the oil runs out, what happens?
Well, with no oil, then the lamp light goes out, we run dry, we are
no longer a light to others. We can’t be a light to the world.
So then we should ask: what
fills us up. How can we prepare so that we do not run dry?
What replenishes your oil? We need to prepare so that it does not happen.
Remember the safety speech we hear on airplanes? "In the event
of an emergency, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling; please be
sure to secure your own oxygen mask first before assisting others."
Maybe some of us have a sense
of what it is like to run dry, to be out of oil. You are working
eighty hour weeks, you feel like you are losing control of your life,
or you feel that your marriage is getting stale, or your kids are making
you crazy. These may be signs that you are running out of oil.
Let’s follow the wisdom of
the ten wise bridesmaids and learn to prepare ourselves. Remember
this story is about the oil that we have on us; because if we don’t
have it on us, we can’t beg, borrow or even steal it. We can't
beg for someone else's peace of mind. We can’t borrow their
passion for God. You can't say to your friend, "You have such a
happy marriage, don't you? Could you give me some of that?" It
doesn't work. You have to find it yourself. You have to figure out what
fills you up, spiritually, and then make sure you carry it with you.
The parable tells us that time
will run out. The hour gets late, everyone gets sleepy. We all doze;
we procrastinate about filling our flask of oil. We say, “one
of these days, I'm going to quit working so hard and I'll put in that
quality time with my family." Or, one of these days, I'm going
to travel, or, one of these days, I'm going to do some volunteer work
at the shelter. But time will get late, we get sleepy and we doze.
But we are told, the day is coming. And before we get to that
time, we need to manage our oil.
I think that's one of the hardest
things about this parable. The time will come when you have to draw
on the oil you have, right there, on your body, in your flask. And it
isn't going to come from your pension savings, and it isn't going to
come from your good intentions and your long range plans; it will not
come from your retirement; it's going to come from what fuels you spiritually
right now. It's going to come from where you see God, today. And where
is that?
Well, Jesus tells us. I was
hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink.
I was naked, and you clothed me. I was a stranger, and you welcomed
me. I was in prison, and you visited me. I was sick, and you comforted
me. That's where we find the Lord. That's where we get filled up. We
fill ourselves helping others. We fill ourselves with the fruits
of the spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. All of those things about giving and sharing
that we can't check out of the library, and we can't borrow from our
friends or our neighbor next door. These are actions that extend from
our love of God. This is what fills us.
Jesus tells us, do for others
as you would have them do for you. You don't fill your lamp because
you're afraid you're going to get locked out of the Kingdom of Heaven.
You don't stockpile oil so that you can turn away others in need.
The lesson from this parable is that we must fill ourselves with the
fruits of the spirit. This is how we prepare for the hour that
is coming. This is how we make ourselves ready. Take time
to fill your flask and keep it with you.
May it be so. Amen.
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Queen Anne 
