Matthew 25:1-13
Proper 27 (32) - Year A
Being ready is a big part of this story. We also can't forget that it is about end times and so takes on a different cast. This is not about "as you have done it unto the least, you have done it unto me." Otherwise the wise ones would not make it in for they refused to share with those who were low on physical oil.
John Wesley suggests that the oil in their lamps can be understood as "Love in their hearts. And they daily sought a fresh supply of spiritual strength."
So when the wise responded that they could not give this love oil to others because "there may not be enough," John Wesley comments, "It is sure there is not; for no one has more than holiness enough for themself." This follows Ezekiel in that everyone's sin and love are theirs alone and cannot be blamed on or credited to ancestors or culture.
What is the opposite of "being ready"? I don't think it is "unready," but "complacency." So this day may you seek a fresh supply of spiritual strength. Be methodical in that seeking.
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Instead of writing a second note when a second thought came, I'll append it here. It is a question that needs to be addressed. Is there no hope for those who find themselves in a time of a dark night of their soul? those whose spiritual strength has been momentarily sapped?
When the announcement of the bridegroom's arrival comes - it is then the silly get confused and run off for oil instead of following the call to come out. This is indicative of folks who know they don't measure up and so opt out. While it is important to store up credit by visiting the sick, it is also important to simply follow the instructions to come out and be judged. None of us will get 100 on all our tests and papers. So let's lighten up and help one another to simply come out whether or not we think we have oil in our lamps. Running off to whomp up stars in our crown is not a better way than relying upon the mercy of GOD's expansive love. Let's walk boldly through life as though Elijah has given us each an inexhaustible supply of oil, of faith working by love - enough to last through any spiritual drought.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/november2002.html
Choices come all along the way. They continually need to be made and remade. Nothing is settled, once for all. We see this in our political and economic life. We see this in the advancement of science. We see this in our own habit patterns as we keep an old one going, or begin a new one.
As we move along it is important to recognize a dual choice is always being made at any single choice moment. And what a choice moment is a moment of choice!
We choose for ourselves and we choose for others. These are not equivalents. They do not constrain one another. We can make a choice without demanding all others make the same choice. We can appreciate the choice another has made and yet go another way. The gifts we have are simply different.
Suppose you were invited to a party. Are you the type who would drop what you are doing and live in the moment? Are you the type who would consider the provisions you would need to have at hand to cover the projected needs of the party? This might be a time to look at the Mary and Martha story again and see, on the one hand, five Marys and, one the other hand, five Marthas. Is this really a choice between hands where one is put on a pedestal and one is cast into the fire?
How does your praise life go? Do you jump in with both feet and dance up a storm as though praise will never run out? (are you a praise sprinter?) Do you quietly grin and meditate and grin again, savoring each bit(e) of praise? (are you a praise marathoner?)
Then, finding you have used up your energy as the life of the party do you "humbly ask for more"? finding you have energy left to help with cleanup after the party do you find that to be another opportunity to grin?
How dull heaven without those who leave chaos in their wake and extravagantly burn their candles for the brightest possible light for our present party. How short heaven without those who care for the details that keep the party going as long as possible.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html
Silly old Bridegroom. Late again. Late to wake up to knowledge being set loose ("Hey, where are y'all?). Late to wake up to the futility of genus-cide ("Oops, here's a rainbow to make up."). Late to wake up to laws and favorite kings being a basis for long-term community ("You, Prophet, its back to work for you.). Late to wake up to embodiment ("Rats, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this."). Late to come to the bridal party (make up your own reason).
Silly old me, waiting with all my alter egos conversing with one another. Part of me in a hurry to get there, not waiting for milking to be done or burials to be accomplished, just rushing to the party, oil-less. Part of me planning out the needed provisions and deciding on only enough for myself, no feeding of the 5,000, much less the oiling of 5, for me.
If we weren't led to the categories of wise and foolish we could see each operating out of good decision-making. This is the difficulty with this and all the apocalyptic writings, they lead us to divide ourselves from ourselves and from one another based on some particular value of the moment.
An ego divided against itself can't stay awake. Perhaps this is to say that a person divided into only their "wise" part, doing their best to reject and repress their "foolish" part, can't stay focused. Tucked safely into another section of Matthew, it could have been that since we know neither the day or the hour that the foolish ones hurrying along snuck in before the door closed while those weighed down with provisions were left behind.
We need both the wise and the foolish at different times for different settings. May you be wise as a serpent and foolish as a dove. May you think things through and may you let your heart lead. May you keep awake to the foolishness of judging another since you can't even judge which day or hour is the most important.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html
Wisdom requires decisions made in the moment, in this day. To wait for more information is not as wise as acting on what is now known and adding to what is known as we go along and making appropriate corrections, including recantations, to and of prior decisions.
What do you know of "bridegroom" behavior? How do you then plan and decide about their inconstancy?
What do you know of "bridegroom" forgiveness? How does this change your plans and decisions?
What do you know of "bridegroom" justice and righteous? Does this confirm or change your plans based on what you know about the forgiveness of same?
- - -
alas for you
who desire the day to come
without having made
the needed decisions of this dayto desire without planning
is driving without
seatbelt or helmet
damn sillyto desire without deciding
is counting chickens
before they are hatched
worthlessno amount of ritual
incantation or sacrifice
will atone for innocent desire
noneplan for extravagant justice
decide for expansive righteousness
for this is saving music to the ear
beautiful
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
As we draw nigh to the end of another church year we sense a frustration of not having been perfected - as we had so hoped at the beginning of the year. Our frustration shows up in hellish threats to shape-us-up on our deathbed, to get our acquiescence for, if not our commitment to and participation in, living tomorrow (heaven) today (earth).
Where division can be a great motivator, note the flurry of negative ads as we draw near to the close of yet another election cycle, it has limited long-term effect. There is a negativity fatigue, as well as a compassion fatigue, and we just don't respond like we once did.
All that to the side, how are you doing with your awareness of the situation around you and your continued ability to share beyond what is "fair" to you? Have you been wise during these days of housing bubbles (what a lovely word to use for such nasty activity – a housing volcano that finally erupted may come closer)? What does that mean about how you will deal with those who foolishly took the word of experts that all was in good order and the market has a benevolent desire for your specialness? Is it time to cut them off, punish them, send them away? If so, what does that have to do with the expectant waiting we did just under a year ago?
We do need to learn from our cycles through the year. If we don't do a better job of connecting beginnings with endings, we may be doomed to repeat them. If you were to write a history of this past year that we might be edified, what would you include and what would you leave out?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Would that politicians had lamps indicating their basic wisdom or foolishness that would either remain lit or go out before an election. Obviously life and decision-making isn’t that easy.
Bottomline it seems that there is plenty of oil, it is available at the dealers. The foolish folk had resources to have sufficient oil, they just didn’t bother to take it along. Whether from a misjudgment in time management or simply being cheap is unknown.
I’m curious why lamps were needed in the first place, is that part of the wedding regalia of the time?
I’m even more curious why everyone didn’t simply go out to meet the bridegroom, as instructed. Somehow there was this wandering away to get oil when there was sufficient illumination to follow the lamps of the wise.
So is this a parable of a new heaven based on some litmus test of packing sufficient light? Is it a reflection of a current way of doing business, “I don’t know you.”? Is this light business similar to being wise as a serpent while remaining innocent as a dove?
Questions for today: What/Who are you expecting to yet meet today? Have the resources you need? Presumably there is time to boldly go ahead or to call for delivery.
Remember, in this story there is enough oil at the dealer. If you give some away, it will be just fine.
Anticipate abundance and see what it does to your decision-making.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/10/matthew-251-13.html
keep awake
keep awakeyou know not
day nor hour
of seeing heaven
keep awake
and you may see
story upon story
of seeing heaven
keep awake
lest you be uninformed
or get confused
about heaven
keep awake
and after awhile
it will clear
heaven is not so clear
keep awake
and it won’t be long
before it is here
that reveals heaven
keep awake
talk with others
tomorrow’s heaven
is today’s paradise
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/keep-awake.html
Imagine if this passage was only 1 verse long: “Then the presence of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.”
Does this cover what “heaven” is like—An expectation of joy?
After this verse we are back on “earth” with judgments about good and evil, wise and foolish. This mixing confuses us. By the time we have had 12 verses of division, we have forgotten the basic nature of “heaven”, creative expectation.
May your vision of “heaven” be far greater than the limitations of our ambition to win, particularly when it is dependent upon not sharing the abundance we have.