Choosing and Being Chosen; Christian Grieving; and Wisdom in the waiting.
(Free Version)- Year A, Proper 27, Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13
Icon: Ivanka Demchuk, “Parable about wise and unwise virgins”
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This week, we hear stories of preparation, stories of living in-between the promise and the fulfillment. These stories of preparation ought to spark alertness—perhaps even, at times, grave concern—but not terror. God is good, full stop. The stories allow us recalibration, an opportunity for confession, awareness of the disorder in our lives and in the world. As part of that, they offer the opportunity for true repentance, the turn towards the only one in whom we find true healing.
In our Old Testament reading (Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25), Joshua gives his famous “Choose this day whom you will serve,” speech which includes a line which adorns many Christian’s homes today: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Yet, Joshua makes it clear that the choice is obvious. After all, the one true God has been faithful to them. They did not choose God, God chose them, when he plucked Abraham from his land and his false Gods and made him their father. Yes, they are certainly to choose! But, by his grace, the choice has been made clear.
Still, Joshua is skeptical that the people can be faithful. God is passionate, he wants them to be completely oriented towards him. In spite of Joshua’s skepticism, God renews his covenant with his people. God desires our faithfulness because of his goodness. The idols we construct (fill in the blank here: success, money, approval, nationalism, violence, etc.) lead to emptiness at best, but most commonly to devastation. God’s passion for us is stirred when we turn from him, not because he has a hot temper, but because he truly loves us.
In Christ, we see the passion of God displayed, as well as his faithfulness. In our epistle reading (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), Paul comforts a mourning congregation. Some in their midst have died. Paul affirms their grief while also saying that Christians grieve differently from their pagan neighbors. Why? Because Christians have hope. Just as God has fully stepped into the darkness of our grief in the death of Jesus, he has also given us hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul then describes, in vivid images, the hope of resurrection. To be “caught up in the clouds” pulls on several cultural references which refer to vindication (Daniel 7) and a welcome party greeting an important figure. The image is not of a “rapture” but of the greeting of a new king who has arrived to inaugurate his reign. Paul is reassuring the church that God will be faithful to see things through. Those who have died are not alone. They are not forgotten. God carries them. This will be hope to our congregations who all have likely faced some loss in their lives and miss their loved ones.
Our gospel reading (Matthew 25:1-13) is Jesus’ parable of young women waiting for the return of a bridegroom. The five foolish ones have no oil for their lamps. The five wise ones take flasks of oil with them. What is this oil? The answer is a source of speculation. Is it good works? Wisdom? Mercy? Or, as Barth said, the witness of the Spirit in the waiting church?
Perhaps the “oil,” like other kingdom parables, is not as much a thing, but an orientation, a way of being pointed, which includes all the things above, but is never ultimately dependent on our ability to “get” enough. It always begins with God’s initiative. At the end, we are told simply that those who were prepared “went with him to the wedding banquet.” We are not told the final destiny of those who were not prepared, and I think we are always to hold out hope. Remember, a wedding is a joyous occasion and we approach the second coming of Jesus with great anticipation. Christians are a people of anticipation! It is ultimately, not about the substance of what we “store up,” but about our longing for Jesus.
May we know the God who first plucked Abraham from a far away land and from pagan idols, and who does the same with us. May we know that we are part of a family, and a story of God’s faithfulness even in the midst of our unfaithfulness. May we know the hope of resurrection, the God who sits with us in the heartache of loss, and brings about a new world, and the honor of being among those who greet him when he comes again. May we await his coming with anticipation of his joyous return. May we know that the Spirit will prepare us, even as we inevitably fall asleep. May we be assured of the good news: we get to be with Him.