Matthew 25:1-13<\/p>\n\n\n\n
November 9, 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the silver linings of the current economic meltdown is that gas prices are cheap relatively speaking. When a barrel of crude was over $140, a gallon of gas was $4.00! Gas prices are down because we have reduced our driving, stop buying products that use plastics, eating out less and maybe even eating less altogether which means that farmers produced less. As the global economy slows down, we mothball our big SUVs and drive our hybrids. With less demand for oil, gas prices are lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that gas prices are more reasonable, I don\u2019t mind driving into a gas station and say, \u201cFill her up!\u201d Before I would check how much I had in my wallet and only buy as much as I needed so that I might have a little cash to live on. Now I am running most of the time on full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten Bridesmaids<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus tells a parable about a wedding that had ten bridesmaids. The common practice is that the groom goes to the house of the bride, who comes forth with her bridesmaids. The company then parades to the house of the groom where the rest of the ceremony takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ten bridesmaids were standing by to do their part. They had all joyfully accepted the invitation, they all had their wedding finery on, and they had their oil-lamps prepared to light the groom\u2019s way in case he arrived after dark. Remember, there were no streetlights then, and without light bearers, it would have been very difficult to find even a familiar house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it got later and later, and there was no sign of the groom. Since the bridesmaids had probably been up since dawn, getting their hair done and makeup on, helping each other with the wedding preparations, roasting the goat, pressing the olives, and arranging dishes of figs for the guests, they were tired! So, one by one, they sat down on the side of the road where they were waiting, and one by one, they drifted off to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until around midnight\u2014when they heard the echo bouncing off the walls of the houses along the street: \u201cthe bridegroom is coming, the bridegroom is coming\u201d from the messenger who was hired to run ahead and shout and let everyone know it was finally the time to get ready for the service!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bridesmaids all startled awake, probably rearranged their tousled dresses, grabbed their lamps, and excitedly started to \u201ctrim\u201d them. Now for those of you who haven\u2019t trimmed a lamp lately, it means that you check to see that the cotton wick was pulled up to the right length and cut to just the right angle to give good light, and that the lamp was fully filled with the oil that burned to make the light. That\u2019s when one group of the bridesmaids received a nasty shock. They had an oil crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While they were sleeping, their lamps had completely burned up the oil inside, and now they didn\u2019t have any. So, as unprepared people will often do, they turned to their friends, who had brought extra oil with them \u201cjust in case,\u201d and asked them to share. Here\u2019s where they got a second rude shock, the other women turned them down. \u201cSorry,\u201d they said, \u201cbut if we give you some, we\u2019ll run out. You\u2019ll just have to go find a Seven-Eleven convenience store and get more for yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unprepared bridesmaids whom Jesus called, \u201cfoolish,\u201d went off to find more oil while the \u201cwise\u201d bridesmaids who with their full lamps lit the street and the processional entry for the groom, followed him inside the house, and everyone partied! When the foolish bridesmaids returned, with or without oil (we don\u2019t really know), they found themselves locked out. The groom has already found the house and entered in. The story ends with an admonition, not to them, but to us, the hearers: \u201cKeep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the bridegroom will come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being Prepared<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This familiar but also difficult parable has been understood in a variety of ways. Some have said this is a symbolic story in which the marriage feast is the gathering of the Messiah and his people, the bridegroom most likely represents Christ and the bridesmaids represent the church. The bridegroom\u2019s delay and subsequent arrival is the second coming of Christ and the oil is that which matters which is our faithfulness of deeds of love and mercy when it\u2019s time to account for our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Others have emphasized the reading of this story as a warning, or even, as a threat. You\u2019d better shape up because you never know when the end is coming, and when that judgment day does come, if you aren\u2019t ready, you\u2019re going to be locked out of the Heavenly rejoice for sure. But I think there\u2019s another reading of the parable that is just as legitimate. This story is an invitation to us to have our spiritual oil running on full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joy always yells at me when I wait to fill up my car when the gasoline light goes on. She would say, \u201cWhat if you were stuck in traffic on the bridge and run out of gas?\u201d Now that we are in California, another warning she says, \u201cWhen the next earthquake comes, they say that all the gas stations will be closed so you better fill up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the story, what it means is that those bridesmaids with the extra oil were prepared to welcome the groom and accompany the wedding couple when the time comes. They were fully prepared to face the darkness\u2014to stand in its midst, its dangers, its fearfulness\u2014and equally prepared to then go into the lighted, warm joyful house and join the party in all of its fullness too. In the same way, Joy is telling me to be fully prepared in case I was stuck on the bridge or when the big one comes that I would still be able to drive and come home where it\u2019s warm and be reunited with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of us like the party part of this story\u2014it\u2019s the feel good part of our faith. But none of us like the part that we are left waiting, times spent outside, standing in the darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we live long enough, we know full well that the darkness is just as much a part of life as the light and the parties are. We know that it\u2019s in the darkness that we most need the spiritual oil Jesus is talking about in the parable. This spiritual oil, whether it\u2019s intellectual understanding, or emotional reassurance, or spiritual endurance, somehow sustains us through the darkness of disappointments and personal failures, divorces, job losses, broken health, loss of abilities, bereavements, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiritual Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We know where to fill up when we need gas. The invitation in this parable for us is how might we be more like the wise bridesmaids with the extra oil. How can we increase the spiritual oil in our lives? Where can we fill up with spiritual oil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every time you come to church is like driving into the gas station to fill up. The traditional church disciplines are not a bad place to start. Practices like prayer, and not just conventional prayers, but engaging in daily conversations with God like he was your good friend. Reading the Bible, and not just trying to get through a chapter like it was a chore to do, but joining a Bible study group like what we\u2019ll be offering this Advent season will help make the Scriptures come alive for you. Attending worship on a regular basis, and not just staying for the one hour, but stopping to talk with others and begin deepening your relationship with others will eventually lead you to become a member of the worshipful family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding or making spiritual friends, who you can sit down and talk with about the important questions of your lives, who you can reflect with together on where and how God\u2019s spirit is moving in your lives is a way to fill up with spiritual oil. Finding ways to help other people can give us perspective on our own lives, and also renew our joy in being part of the human community is another way to fill up with spiritual oil. After all, men and women have been doing these things for thousands of years, and have found growth, and challenge, and nurture, and strength, and spiritual oil in each of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While gas at the pumps is cheaper now, it still costs. Spiritual oil doesn\u2019t come free either; it costs. It doesn\u2019t come without effort and commitment\u2014it doesn\u2019t come without a lot of work\u2014and no one else can put in the effort or commitment or work for us\u2014we have to do it ourselves. I can\u2019t fill up your spiritual oil\u2014you have to do it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember when the foolish bridesmaids discovered they didn\u2019t have any oil and turned to their friends to ask for some. They got turned down flat. Now that sounds pretty harsh, stingy and unloving. But it\u2019s also accurate, because the truth is\u2014no one can give someone else the spiritual oil that they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Storing Up Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In my over 30 years as a minister, there have been countless times when I\u2019ve sat with a person who was struggling, someone who was terrified about losing a loved one, someone devastated by a medical diagnosis, someone whose world had been rocked by the betrayal of a spouse\u2014or of a child\u2014or of a parent, someone who\u2019s been tired, hungry, homeless, and frustrated about our heartless society with no one to turn to. As I sat with them, and listened to their pain, and hurt with them and for them\u2014I would have loved to be able to give them part of my own small store of faith\u2014to give them some of my small tank of spiritual oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it can\u2019t really be done. You know that from your own experiences in attempting to comfort or sustain people you care about. While we can encourage others, while we can share stories about how and where we\u2019ve found the strength or the courage or the sheer gumption to keep going when we don\u2019t even want to keep going, the actual spiritual oil that makes the journey possible isn\u2019t something we can give to another person. It isn\u2019t something that one of today\u2019s spiritual gurus or televangelists can sell us\u2026it isn\u2019t something that even God can give us\u2026it\u2019s something that we have to do the work to gather, deepen, and accrue, mostly by ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Filling your lamp with spiritual oil is only possible by yourself. You have to do it. You can borrow your friend\u2019s homework, but not the hours she put in studying for the test. You can borrow your neighbor\u2019s lawnmower, but not the hours and effort your neighbor put in for a nice lawn. There are some kinds of preparation we can only do for ourselves, reserves that no one else can build up for us. We have to figure out what fills us up, spiritually, and then make sure we have some to carry with us, every minute of the day, because that\u2019s how often you\u2019ll need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raising Children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We marvel at how quickly it seems that the babies are growing up at our church. In the church nursery, we see the children at their best. But we all know that after the initial oo-ing and ah-ing and \u201chow cute\u201d they are, these parents are raising these children 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There is darkness times every day when you\u2019re raising up children. Keeping enough spiritual oil every day as parents to teach your children about your forgiving love, and about sharing and caring for each other, and God\u2019s constant presence is something you begin to do now. It\u2019s a long and slow process to raise up good and decent children so we practice doing this day after day, year after year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the reasons why we have baby dedications is to remind the new parents to fill up with spiritual oil so that when darkness comes, you\u2019ll have oil to light up the darkness. You will be raising your children for the rest of your lives so start now to fill up your spiritual oil because you never know when you\u2019re going to be in an oil crisis, and really need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trimming Your Lamps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the service, I\u2019ll need to trim my lamp. I\u2019ll need to check to see that the cotton wick is pulled up to the right length and cut to just the right angle to give good light, and that my lamp is fully filled with the oil that burned to make the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A man once reflected, \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been preparing for this all my life.\u201d His beloved father had just died of a massive coronary. What did he mean that he had been preparing for this all his life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll that sitting in church, listening to sermons, reading the Bible,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of that was getting me ready for the worst day of my life. That was like disaster training. Now, the disaster has come. And I\u2019m reaching down, and I am praying that I paid attention, that I will be fully prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s not a bad way of thinking about the church. Perhaps some people are blown away by the disasters of life in a great part because they are unprepared. They have neglected their training. They have not brought enough spiritual oil to fill their lamps of life to run on full. We come today to get a fill up of Jesus Christ so that we can keep running on a full tank!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forgive us, O God when we are foolishly unprepared to face life\u2019s challenges only because we have not taken the time to be strong Christian followers. Redirect our lives so that we may set new priorities to fill up with spiritual oil when we come to worship, attend Bible studies, pray everyday, show hospitality, and give generously. We pray that we may continue to run the good race so filled with the Holy Spirit that our words and deeds proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 25:1-13 November 9, 2008 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. One of the silver linings of the current economic meltdown