Sermon for Sunday, 9 November 2014: Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon for Sunday, 9 November 2014

Matthew 25:1-13

22^nd Sunday after Pentecost

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie B. Smith

Matthew 25:1-13

25“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.8The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, the 9^th of November 2014, 8,000 lighted helium balloons will be released into the skies above Berlin. Since Friday, these balloons have been silently marking theboundary where, 25 years ago, the Berlin wall once divided East from West Berlin, East from West Germany, and East Germans from West Germans. 

For the past few weeks in this city (but especially this weekend) we have been painfully aware of the deep divisions among us: East and West Jerusalem. West Bank and Israel proper. Arab and Jew. Palestinian and Israeli. Refugee and citizen. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, secular. This side of the wall, and that side of the wall. 

And then we come to church this morning, and we have to hear a parable which once again divides people into categories. Just what we needed this week!

Five bridesmaids are wise, and five are foolish. Five have brought enough resources, and five are lacking. Five are welcomed into the wedding party, and five are left out in the dark. We, the listeners, are also left in the dark, wondering: Am I a wise or foolish bridesmaid? Will I be welcomed into the wedding party? How can I be sure I won’t be left on the wrong side of the door?

This is a tough parable, friends. It may be especially hard for us to hear the Good News from a story of division, in this place, and in these times.

But Jesus says, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Keep awake! Be ready, for I’m coming soon! This is not complicated. This message is clear, even if the parable is not. Jesus is coming soon, and even when the wait is long, we are to stay awake and watchful.

And yet, countless sermons have been preached in which “Keep awake” has somehow transformed into “Be on the right side.” Be sure you’re like those wise bridesmaids, not the foolish ones! Be sure to bring enough oil. Stockpile it if you have to! Except it might not be oil you need. It might be correct theology, or political affiliation, or church membership.

In this interpretation of the parable, the oil you need to ensure your entrance to the party might even be something you forget you possess most of the time.

My walk to work on Friday morning.
Approaching the second checkpoint.
Photo by Carrie Smith

On Friday morning, I entered the Old City through Damascus Gate. Barricades stood in front of more barricades, which reinforced checkpoints, which were monitored by gun-toting Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian men and women were lined up, several people deep, waiting to enter the city for prayer, for shopping, and for business. One young man was pulled to the side, questioned about his papers, with M-16s providing incentive for the right answer. News cameras lined the sidewalk, ready to capture anything newsworthy.

And then I walked up to the checkpoint, and it was as if a red carpet were rolled out for my entrance. The waters parted. Guns were lowered. I even received smiles and a “Have a nice day” in English.

And just like that, I’m in the Old City! Thanks be to God!

After all, no one wants to be left outside the gate! No one wants to miss the party! No one wants to be a foolish bridesmaid. Thanks be to God, I brought enough oil.

Thanks be to God for my white skin, my American accent, and the black shirt and white collar which put me solidly in the “wise bridesmaid” section. I had enough oil, and some to spare.

The others—the ones outside the gate—lacked the resources I had in abundance.

Is this really what Jesus intends for his parable to teach the faithful—that the kingdom of heaven is full of wise and privileged bridesmaids, just like me? That the goal is to be sure you’re in the group with enough resources to last the wait?

Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Charities and championed the cause of the poor in the 20^th Century, famously said, “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” I must say, I believe that our problems with this Gospel text stem from our acceptance of this parable’s filthy, rotten outcome.

“Now the kingdom of heaven is like this,” begins Jesus. And that makes perfect sense to us, because we’re used to the reality that when the gates are open, only some are allowed through. We’re accustomed to the idea that when the party starts, some will be left out in the dark. We know that the goal is to be sure we’re in the wise, prepared, favored, blessed, fully documented and officially recognized group of bridesmaids when the bridegroom opens that door.

The reality of our human condition makes it nearly impossible to hear this parable in any other way except as a warning to the foolish (the other guys) and a pat on the back to the wise (us and our friends). Starting from this vantage point, we then take this parable and allegorize it to death, assigning meaning to every conceivable detail: If Jesus is the bridegroom, and the wedding party is heaven, then the oil in the lamps must be faith, and the lamps themselves are our good works, but then who is the bride? And wait, why is it midnight? And maybe the foolish virgins aren’t foolish for not bringing the oil, but for going out to and buy some at midnight? Maybe Jesus is saying they should have been willing to hang out in the dark and wait for him?

And there we go again, blaming the ones with the fewest resources.

You see, no matter how we spin it, we always imagine that this parable describes the kingdom of heaven. The hardest thing of all to understand is that the kingdom ushered in by Jesus turns our current reality completely upside down.

Hear this parable again, brothers and sisters:

Ten bridesmaids were waiting for the bridegroom. All ten of them fell asleep. All ten of them fell asleep! But only five bridesmaids entered the party. The other five couldn’t get in, because they were out trying to find oil for their lamps. And now, the wedding party is divided. The party is incomplete.

And Jesus says: “Keep awake!” Pay attention, for I’m about to do something new!

We assume that the five who entered the party are blessed, or happy, or examples to follow.  

Yes, five bridesmaids got into the party. But now, because the other five are desperately seeking oil for their lamps, there are empty seats at the wedding banquet. There are voices absent from the choir. There are cousins missing from the family photo. The joy of the celebration is incomplete, because the wedding party is half missing.

Who among us can imagine planning a wedding, in which it would be just fine if half the wedding party couldn’t make it?

When I enter Jerusalem and walk safely to work, but young Palestinian men cannot, our joy is incomplete.

When Berlin was divided, and families were separated for 28 years, our joy was incomplete.   

When the wall separates the West Bank from Israel proper, our joy is incomplete.

Muslim men under 35, praying outside Damascus Gate on Friday,
because they were not allowed in the Old City.
Photo by Robert Smith

When our Jewish neighbors can enter to pray at the place they call the Temple Mount, but Muslims are barred from Al Aqsa—and I can walk anywhere I want—our joy is incomplete.

When our human divisions reign, our joy is incomplete, for we are still waiting for the coming of the kingdom of God.

Sisters and brothers, instead of hearing this parable as Jesus’ vision of a coming kingdom where the current reality persists, and where we are all still divided, I urge you to hear Jesus pronouncing his imminent arrival, over and against a rather blunt and accurate description of our life in the meantime.

Hear the parable of the divided bridesmaids as a familiar tale of life in Berlin, in Jerusalem, in our home countries—where some are in, some are out, but in the end, all lose out. “Now the kingdom of heaven will be like this” says Jesus. “I am coming soon, and all these divisions will be no more.”

After all, “Be on the right side” is no kind of Good News for us today.

The Good News for us is that Jesus is coming soon. This Good News is that a joyful marriage feast is being prepared for you, and me, and all our brothers and sisters. There is no longer Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free there. Thanks be to God, there will be no mourning, no more crying and no more pain, for the first things have passed away.

There is no wall there.

There is just the table; and all of the weddings attendants, both wise and foolish; and the love of God we have in Christ Jesus, that was the cause for the celebration in the first place.

Jesus says, I am coming soon, so keep awake! In the meantime, keep awake, take stock of your oil, share the light. In the meantime, keep awake to the needs of your neighbors. Keep awake to the call of God. Keep awake to the cause of justice. Keep awake to opportunities to make peace.

Keep awake, so that when the door opens, all will be in the light.

And then the table will be filled. All the wedding attendants will be present at the celebration. Justice will flow like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.