Help From the Home Office

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew the 25^th Chapter

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But 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.’ And 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. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

What makes some “wise” and others “foolish”?  The answer is clear… the wise filled out their pledge cards generously, the foolish did not and because of that they were locked in the outer darkness.  Obvious!  (holding fingers to ear)  Hold on, I’ve got a message coming in from the home office.  Alright.  Apparently that is absolutely NOT the reason.  Okay.  And I am to stop being a bad pastor and do this sermon right.  

Alright then, so what DOES make those “wise” bridesmaids “wise”?  Biblically, being greedy, fearful and uncaring of others is not “wise” behavior so it’s not the oil hoarding and terrible sharing skills that made them “wise”.  That means there must be something ELSE that makes them “wise.”  And what about the “foolish” Bridesmaids?  Before the home office called I would’ve said they were foolish because they didn’t pack enough oil.  But now that I have to be honest, Jesus is FOREVER forgiving of people who fall short of the glory of having enough lamp oil, and every other sort of sin as well.  We all fall short of the Glory of God and if it’s not the sin of running out of lamp oil it’s something else, so THAT’s clearly not what makes them foolish.  That means there must be something ELSE that makes them “foolish.”

These judgement parables are hard!  My dad always said when a question was hard, go back and RTFQ which I believe means, “Read The Full Question.”  Hold on, I’m getting another message from the home office.  Right.  Apparently that is NOT what that means… It means THAT?  I can’t say that in church!  Okay, forget that, dad also told me it wasn’t a good idea to ASSUME we know what the text says.  That we have to really read it like we’re reading it for the first time because when we ASSUME we make… Hold on.  It’s another message from the home office.  Apparently I can’t tell you that in church either.  MAN the home office is "extra helpful" today… Hold on… apparently the home office does not think it’s being “extra helpful” … The home office thinks I’m having “extra trouble” today. 

Well, these judgement parables are hard!  But, when you go back and really read it, it turns out the reason the “foolish” are locked out is right there in the text itself!   The Bridegroom never says they are locked out because they ran out of oil, or didn’t plan well or failed to find the 24 hour Exxon lamp oil station. The text says they are locked out because, the Bridegroom didn’t know them.  “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”   

Here’s what I think is going on and I think the home office will back me on this:  The groom in the story is Jesus and the wedding party is THE wedding party, the Kingdom of God, the Feast of food rich and well aged wines, Heaven, the Sweet By and By, or whatever else you want to call it.  ALSO in first-century Jewish weddings… EVERYONE in town was ALWAYS included in a wedding party… So at Jesus’ eternal wedding party, EVERYONE is invited… all of creation... EVERYONE gets in the door through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.  The Groom (Jesus) has asked you and me to help light the way for the guests who haven’t arrived yet, which makes us the bridesmaids!  BUT here’s the KEY to this whole story... Jesus asks you and me to be his bridesmaids and to shine a light into the darkness of this world, NOT because we’ll do it perfectly or flawlessly but simply and ONLY because he LOVES US!  

If you think about it, we do the same thing with our weddings!  We don’t ask people to be in our wedding because they are pros at being in weddings!  In fact we usually ask people like Andy Ericson, who as expected, forgot the shoes that went with his tux!  And we ask people like Andy Ericson because we LOVE THEM and that’s exactly what Jesus has done.  He’s asked US to be in his wedding party!  He didn’t ask the pros.  He asked US!  And Jesus, of ALL people, knows exactly who he’s getting in his wedding party!  Sometimes we plan well and sometimes we don’t.  Sometimes fear makes us selfish, and other times we’re the most generous people in the world.  The Groom just loves us, with or without enough oil, with or without our shoes, and that’s the ONLY reason he wants us in the party.  Would he like us to be helpful and light the path?  Sure!  But that’s completely bonus!  The MOST important thing is that we are with him at the wedding! 

THAT’s what made the other bridesmaids truly “foolish.”  They DID NOT BELIEVE the Groom’s love was really unconditional.  They somehow, got the FOOLISH notion that the Groom would love them ONLY if their lamps were full of oil and burning brightly.  So, they FOOLISHLY abandoned the groom to run off and find some oil, which they FOOLISHLY thought was what the Groom cared about and because they did that, it was clear that they really DID NOT KNOW HIM.  They were “foolish” and we are “foolish” when we stop believing that God’s love for us is absolutely unconditional and we run around in the dark, trying to do the impossible, like find more oil in the middle of the night, or live perfect lives, all in a completely FOOLISH attempt to MAKE God love us.  

So, my fellow beautiful, blushing, Bridesmaids… Be Wise!  Stick close to the Groom!  Don't leave the party!  Be confident in God’s love unconditional, unlimited love for you!  Shine your light while you have oil.  Share your oil when others around you run low and smile in the darkness when your oil inevitably runs out because God loves you no matter what!  And remember, no matter how much oil you have, or how dry your tank runs, the light of Christ is more than bright enough to light the path for all of creation.  It shines in the darkness when we have oil AND shines when we’ve run out too.  There simply is no darkness out there that can overcome it.   Amen.