Tending the way forward

 

Matthew 25: 1-13
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 12, 2023

Photo of a terra cotta oil lamp with a single flame. Photo is hues of yellow, gold, and brown.

I have a bone to pick with these bridesmaids, both the foolish and the wise. This story has always gotten under my skin. It flies in the face of “if you’ve got two coats, give one away”, “to those whom much is given, more will be required”, and “where your treasure is, there will be your heart also”. It smacks of entitlement and the fear of enabling. It’s more like selfish care rather than self-care: “Hey I earned this, I bought what was necessary and you didn’t; don’t expect me to carry you, be responsible for once, will you?” This is supposed to be about the kingdom of heaven, where someone finds treasure buried in a field and sells all they have so they can buy the field, or a merchant who sells all they have for that pearl of great price. And that ending is harsh: “I don’t know you”? What about the One who sent Jesus, who said, “I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine”?



Those who originally heard this story wouldn’t have thought it was about sharing resources. Oil is used here as a metaphor for righteousness and good deeds, in that, like the wisdom of God’s Word, the light from the lamp leads people to do justice and love mercy. The theme on the bulletin cover is “Tending God’s Light” but God is also present in the darkness and guides us when we can’t find our way. And so I prefer to use language that charges us with tending the way forward, with righteousness and good deeds, as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s purpose and justice.



But then I think, “Wait?? Wait for what??” Palestinians have been told to wait for humanitarian pauses, to wait for a ceasefire. Over two hundred hostages are still waiting to be released. Palestinian scientist and author Mazin Qumsiyeh declared, “Countries would be sending their armies to stop such genocide in any other situation. How much more slaughter will it take for them and all people to say enough is enough?” Who are the foolish bridesmaids now with no oil of righteousness?



Disabled people are told to wait for businesses to grant accessibility and reasonable accommodations. Workers are waiting for wages that will allow them to live and housing they can afford. Delaware residents are waiting for over 21,000 housing units. People experiencing community instability—those who have no community to help them—are waiting for financial assistance and someone to listen. The vulnerable are waiting for the powerful to care. The earth is waiting for human beings to repair what we have done for profit.



If the bridegroom is Jesus, and we’re waiting for Jesus to show up, how else does Jesus show up if not in human suffering, human needs, but also through human hands, human will, human hearts? Author and activist Sonya Renee Taylor wrote, “Outrage without action is just privilege comforting itself.” The spiritual challenge of our time is that we want the world to change but we want to keep what we have.



Are our lamps trimmed and burning? Are we ready to meet injustice with justice? Are we ready to meet hunger with food security? Are we ready to meet despair with hope? Are we ready to meet hate with love? Are we ready to meet gender with appropriate pronouns? Are we ready to meet brute force with soul force? Are we ready to meet fear with courage? Need with generosity? Loneliness with companionship? Pain with compassion? As the Rule of the Order of the Holy Cross states, “Love must act as light must shine and fire must burn.”

Photo of an illuminated calligraphy print of the Rule of the Order of the Holy Cross. The letter L is golden yellow with a cross shining in the empty space with green and yellow rays. Below the L is an oval encircling a heart aflame as though it is an oil lamp.

And yet at the same time we must also learn to know and accept our limits. As we tend the way forward, we remember that we do not do any of this alone. We are also stewards of that oil of righteousness that resides in our life together. Sorry, Jesus, but we do pour our oil into each other’s lamps in our care for each other. Ready or not the future is coming. Ready or not we need to take care of each other so we can move forward as one human race. In truth, there is only one side: God’s side, Love’s side, the love your neighbor side, and we are all selfish and foolish and wise and woefully late and just in time.



Hear these words that were on the back of a bulletin from the United Church of Christ:



If the Gospel is about nothing else, it is about hope.
Hope in a better world.
Hope in the compassion of human beings.
Hope is a gift from us to the future.
What do we need to do,
What do we need to give
So the future will receive its gift from us?
Who will benefit from the gift or pledge we will make?
It’s not what we give up,
It’s what we give to.
What will this church mean to the future
What do we imagine that future to be?
The future is asking.

Amen.

Benediction – enfleshed.com (adapted)


May your grief, your pain be honored
and your anger have a safe place to land,
that your compassion may rise
and gentleness, too, may reside in your heart.
For the way of the Living God moves
like the sunrise glowing pink on the horizon,
like a hand reaching for another hand.