This Gospel reading tells us about ten girls. Now, that is probably not the most ideal topic for a sermon, and nor is there any particular relevance in the fact that these were girls, so I think we can comfortably put that aspect aside for the moment.
It is all too easy to get distracted by peripheral detail and forget the real point. This can happen particularly when we focus on the things of this world and become so absorbed in them to the exclusion of our calling as people of God. We then forget WHO we are and WHOSE we are and WHERE we are going. So that is what I see as the real issue in these verses.
First, a little context for this parable. The custom of the day was that for a marriage there was a celebration to welcome the bridegroom. It involved a procession and that called for some lighting. As there was no clear indication of exact time of arrival, appropriate preparation was necessary in order to be ready at right time. What occurred here may not even have been matter of forgetting, rather a matter of ignoring what needed to be done, or of simply not being ready.
It is this which may be as much a problem for us as any. This life offers so much. The result is that the more I think about what this life offers and the more I read about it and the more I hear of the benefits – the more I begin to think that this is where the answers lie and that I can do this or that in pursuit of them on my own terms.
As I pursue this kind of course, I easily find myself in such a bind as far as time goes that I really don’t make a good job of it in the long run. Even though I may not like to admit it, the important things that have to do with my life as one of God’s people, are among the first to suffer and the end result is that I will not be ready when the call comes to leave this life.
The problem is I am busy doing this or that – and of course all these things are important: for me or my children and those around me – and so I may well have insufficient time to consider those things to do with my life as Christian in world.
There is much in life that requires a great deal of planning and readiness. If planning is not done well, it becomes a difficult task and therefore it that is easily put aside when it comes to the crunch. The result? Not ready.
I believe my life as a Christian falls squarely into this picture. If I do not plan for it to be part of life, it will, by natural attrition, be easily eliminated. At the very least, readiness will be the obvious casualty which may well ensure such elimination. That natural attrition is the sinful condition that afflicts us all. It has its impact on everything we do in this life. Not one of us is immune to this – the sinful condition affects us and we must constantly be aware of what this means in our relationship to God.
So, our natural thinking says: there is no time and it does not fit the picture of reward for effort. This life is a serious business where I need to not only make a dollar, but I also need to try to find a way to achieve an extra edge beyond the normal and it has become so intense that anything which does not appear to support this outlook in the immediate sense does not get a place.
You can imagine these ten young people: waiting for this wedding procession to get going, and then, five of them realising that they need extra oil for their lamps. Those who had planned well, had made extra provision – they were ready. The rest decided that it was too much bother initially, or that it wouldn’t be needed, or that if it was needed, then they would attend to it. In other words, only when it comes to the pinch, then adjustment is attempted in order to fit the situation. But, at the last pinch, it may no longer be possible, as these people found out.
Does all of this say something to you about your life, about our lives, generally? All too often, we are really in the same boat: too busy, too distracted and expecting that last minute quick fix solutions will be the answer.
The news for you this morning is that last minute solutions cannot be relied upon – and inevitably, if we think that will, we will risk being ready when the Lord calls us out of this life. There are times when we need to make a conscious effort and say: There needs to be a change of direction here in my life and some of my outlooks need to be put aside and made to take second place to the life that I should be leading as one of God’s people. It means facing up to the sinful condition that afflicts us all and for which there is but one solution: a readiness to submit to the one who makes all things new. It means a redirection of life, so that it moves in a way that will spell out the faith to which we hold so that it will stand us in good stead and alow other people will see it too. In that way, not only will I be ready at appropriate time, but it will mean that relationships I build will stand a better chance of being reached with same faith.
There is a great deal in this parable that does not sit too well with us from our human perspective of fairness and justice. Why was it that a small matter of insufficient supply became so critical? Why could not have the others helped out with a little of their oil? Why was the penalty so harsh? and so on!
We can speculate endlessly about this detail or that, but these details really only detract from the point of the parable. The bottom line is this: we had better take serious stock of our own situation. Readiness is critical issue: it demands all the attention. We cannot hope to flow along in life and make adjustments along the way only when it becomes necessary, or when situation gets a bit tight. We need to think ahead, with many things. For this reason, this Gospel reading is given for one of the closing Sundays of Church year.
Faith in God and in his love shown through Jesus is one of those “think ahead” issues, which, if we neglect it, will more than likely catch us out. Satan will ensure that in some way it will be enabled to fade into the background, in the hope of eventually being forgotten. If we are caught out, it will be no use crying “foul” because of small detail.
Faith is a serious, life-critical business. Treat it with poor consideration and there will be a bad result. Having had lamps in hand which burned well once upon a time in life is no guarantee that they will burn in the future when they are given no attention. In the same way, having the status of being Christian, even being a light bearer, will mean nothing if it is not a continuing part of our being.
Our Lord Jesus warned in Matthew 20: many who were first will be last. Matthew is interested in enabling people to live in a relationship with God which has a continuing significance and a continuing life – it is not temporary or occasional. It is a life of walking in the Spirit, not in forms of religion which are full of effervescence but have little to do with the Gospel. It is not in choosing the easy path that demands little from us. Rather it is walking in the pathway of lowliness and suffering. It is easy to look for pathways of wonder, enjoyment and success or ease, but while they may also be a part of life at times, they are not the real focus.
Jesus emphasised the need to be born again to be able to see what he is really about: a Messiah who comes to meet his bride, the Church, those who believe in him as the Saviour from sin and the giver of new life. In our baptism, he has ensured that this will be so.
We lament and criticise those who knock on our doors with a desire to convert us to their way of religious understanding or practise, but, while they sadly have the wrong message, there is no doubt that they have the method: go out and speak, give witness! To do that, I must first be sure and clear in my own heart, convinced of my salvation, always in state of readiness to meet the Bridegroom, for when he returns at a time that I do not know, I cannot be off somewhere doing other things, or looking for last minutes preparation options.
Of these ten, five were ready and five were not – it is as simple as that!
The question is: Will you be ready? God grant us his Spirit in daily living so that readiness is always at the forefront in all that we pursue.
Amen.
