Foolish and Wise

I must admit our gospel lesson today bothers me on several points as it warns us to be prepared for the wedding feast lest we might not get in. First of all this sounds like works righteousness by implying that we have to do something to enter the kingdom of heaven. Did every maiden need a lit lamp? Couldn’t they have shared?  This gets me to my second reason for disliking this parable. It seems to be encouraging selfishness. Did not Jesus encourage the sharing of God’s gifts? In this parable it seems that we do not share – at least the gift of the kingdom of heaven. Lastly, I know that I cannot always be prepared. I cannot tell you how often I leave the house to travel for some task and realize I have left something I need behind that for the task. This is not because I am getting more forgetful. It is because the task itself it not exactly as I envisaged. Just this past week I found myself in Greenville at Thiel College realizing that I had forgotten one tool that was essential to the task – putting a pipe organ back together. I was able to do a full days worth of work but had to return to Pittsburgh to get the tool for the next day. (Sometimes, I am so far away from home I have to buy the tool.) So, if Jesus requires me to be prepared, I am not sure I will be. 

We note that this parable is one in a collection of parables (and descriptions) about Jesus’ second coming grouped together by Matthew. In our parable for today Jesus, after describing signs of the end times and warns of the persecution that will ensue, tells us the necessity of being watchful. The parable that precedes this one is about those who believed, since the Messiah had not come, they could mistreat others and misuse God’s gifts. (Probably directed at the leaders of the people – the Sadducees and Pharisees.) Understanding that the marriage banquet as an Old Testament reference to the covenant, Jesus was warning the Jews who rejected him as the Messiah. The Jews were the bride and God the groom and they were too preoccupied by the world to welcome the Messiah.  When Matthew wrote his gospel he was not concerned with the Jews but with his community of Christians. It seems that Matthew was worried that many Christians were wandering off and not attending to the community, to worship, and answering the call of God. Matthew wanted his readers to see that being a Christian was not a one time once-a-week thing but entailed their whole life. We have seen that in our midst also. How many do you know who, having been baptized, do not return to church until a need or crises arises? And then, you see they are completely unprepared for it and blame the trouble on God. Yes, we often times are unprepared for the kingdom. Fortunately Jesus has prepared us for the kingdom. Yet we are still called to conform our lives to his. Recognizing this to be true we try to prepare our lives for him. That is through our prayers, bible reading, and acts of love toward others. 

Our salvation is not like a turkey dinner which we put together for a one time gathering, it is a life-time practice of being gathered into God’s heavenly kingdom where we sometimes have what we need for the task at hand and other times fall far short of God’s expectation. In all those times our lives are made whole by Jesus and through our faith we are given the gifts that we need to answer the call when the bridegroom appears.