12^th December 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 06 November 2011

Lessons -- Psalm 78:1-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

A joyful wedding banquet -- a wonderful 'earthly' celebration -- is the setting for Jesus' parable of the kingdom of 'heaven'. It shows us that God is a festive God who calls us to live in the midst of the world -- with all the challenges and disappointments that come from being part of the community of faith -- with a joyous sense of hope because of what God has in store for humanity.

The scene was familiar. The groom comes to the home of the bride's parents for the festivities where he is welcomed by the bride's friends. They light torches in anticipation of his arrival. The mood is happy, expectant, celebratory! Clearly, the Kingdom of Heaven is not dull, but the party cannot start without him!

While this is a familiar story, it is not predictable. As usual in his parables, Jesus grabs our attention by including a couple of unusual
details:

* The groom (not the bride!) is so late (midnight) that all the bridesmaids fall asleep.

* Only the bridesmaids who run out of oil for their torches are excluded from the banquet.

This is no ordinary wedding! The emphasis is on the suddenness of the bridegroom's arrival, after an unexpectedly long wait, and the readiness of the bridesmaids to welcome him.

As we have noted in our series on the parables, Jesus' parables must be understood in two slightly different settings: one in his ministry and one in the community to which the Gospel writer is speaking.

Originally the parable was a wake-up call to the crowds to see that 'heaven' had unexpectedly come 'to earth' in Jesus' ministry. They were alerted to God's presence and given a foretaste of the future goal of history in his words and deeds of hope. Do not go to sleep and miss what God is doing in him.

Matthew retells it to an early Christian community in which enthusiasm for the faith and willingness to suffer persecution for it was being sorely tested by the unexpected delay in the return of Christ to put things right. As the Thessalonians to whom Paul wrote also knew, spontaneous, joyful and whole- hearted commitment is much harder when there is 'no end in sight'.

In both settings, disciples are alerted to the unexpected presence of hope in their midst!

Some, like the wise girls, are 'alert but not alarmed'. Others, like the foolish girls, should be 'alarmed because they are not alert'. Stupidity and wisdom have nothing to do with intelligence or moral rectitude. They have to do with whether they are prepared to live faithfully in the present, no matter how dark it may be, in joyful hope that God will bring history to completion in Christ.

* The 'foolish girls' represent the 'now generation' that wants immediate satisfaction of all their desires and needs. They want instant happiness, excitement and success in every area of life, including religion. They get bored easily. They love a good party -- a good time -- but cannot wait for celebrations which are in the distant future -- in God's good time.

* In contrast, the 'wise girls' represent those who prepare themselves for the future which God has in store for the world. They are not perfect.
They too fall asleep in the darkness! But, unlike their friends, they count on God's promise. They are confident that God's mercy, goodness and healing is already being revealed -- in Christ's table-fellowship with the sinful and the vulnerable and with his disciples at the Last Supper -- and that it will be fully revealed in God's good time.

They are not fanatical or anxious or despondent in the face of 'darkness'.
They do not keep their lamps burning so that others will see what they are doing to 'bring in the Kingdom of Heaven'. They simply take steps to ensure that they are ready (future) to welcome the One who is already displaying God's power over evil and death in his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection.

This parable has an uncanny relevance for us! Today, even more than the early Church, we are painfully aware of the 'long march of history' since the resurrection of the crucified Jesus. His ministry of mercy, goodness and healing and his triumph over evil and death often seem like a distant memory rather than a present reality and a future hope! We have grown tired of waiting for a new world. Our lives, and history, seem to be 'one damn thing after another'. Hope is in short supply.

Reasons are not hard to find! The twentieth century was the most brutal, inhuman period in history; the twenty-first century does not promise better! Last week, on All Saints Day, we remembered Father Kolbe, a Polish martyr who died in 1941 at the dreaded Auschwitz concentration camp -- one of many who have kept the faith flickering in the darkest hours of history.

Despite foolish optimism in some quarters today that we that we can attain 'enlightenment' through self-knowledge, so many people are experiencing 'darkness over the face of the earth'. The global financial crisis, natural catastrophes in Japan and elsewhere, brutality in places like Egypt, Libya and Syria, and the certainty of death all contribute to a widespread feeling that God is absent. There is much cause for resignation and despair.

Indeed, Christians often take for granted the social and cultural benefits of the Christian heritage. It is easy to forget that the Church is called to be a community of hope -- to be 'alert' to the signs of God's presence.
Churches often want quick-fix solutions to declining numbers. Mega- churches thrive on meeting people's desire for instant religious gratification. Others clutch at the latest techniques to reinvigorate
worship and connect with the 'now generation'.

The Parable of the Bridesmaids warns us against the temptation to reinterpret the Christian faith to suit those who 'live for the moment'.
It also encourages us to be ready to play our part as torch-bearers of hope in situations that easily lead to resignation or despair.

The Rev Warren Clarnette puts it splendidly when he says that the parable:
'teaches the church today the necessity for alertness, enthusiasm and integrity during the long hours . . . of fading hope when it seems that (for the church above all) night has fallen and the morning (let alone
midnight) is unimaginably far off. (It) reminds us of the one essential
task: to be ready and faithful despite the postponement of the festivities. In an age so seriously devoted to immediate satisfactions; where the prospect of deferring pleasure (whether sensual or religious) is universally abhorred and judged to be contrary to human rights, this message is desperately needed. Our business in the church is neither to hurry the bridegroom to his destination nor to remain awake as if everything depended on our performance. It is to be there, equipped and ready, when we are most needed.' (Take and Read: The Year of Matthew,
p66.)

What is most needed today? It is necessary to keep the light of hope flickering today in a culture that has foolishly turned its back on the hope embodied in Christ and put its hope in our ability to achieve the immediate satisfaction of all our needs. In such a self-absorbed society, where public policies and community values trumpet the rights of individuals to decide what is right 'for them', hope that those who are vulnerable, abused or persecuted will be treated with dignity is often
extinguished.

In such dark times we should not fall asleep on the job! The parable is a wake-up call. We must wake up to what is happening around us and, in the midst of the darkness, be ready to celebrate the coming of the One who brings genuine hope to our broken world. This hope, unlike the foolish hopes that we put in ourselves, enables us to live fully and joyfully in the present -- with all its challenges and disappointments -- knowing that the future is God's future.

As we remember with gratitude God's righteousness and mercy displayed in Jesus' 'table-fellowship' with the unjust and the unloved (past) and anticipate the festivities of the Kingdom of Heaven (future), we may enjoy our life-together now (present). That is why we gladly participate in the 'Lord's Supper' as a sign of the 'holy communion' shared with Christ now as a pledge of the festive communion which awaits us (future).

In responding to the God of hope, it is our hope that our brothers and sisters may grow tired of 'living for the moment' and hear Christ's
invitation to take part in festivities of the Kingdom.

It may be that, like the foolish young women, the desire for instant satisfaction will exclude them from the banquet (v12). That is not ours to decide. Our task is simply to be ready to light the way of the One who brings hope in the midst of darkness. So may we be alert to Christ's presence, keep the light flickering and rejoice in the worship of God for what God (uniquely) has done, is doing and shall do in Christ who has
brought hope into our darkened world.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.