Mrs. Gay, my first boss taught me several valuable lessons. The one that I will never forget is to always be busy. At first I thought if I looked busy that would be enough. I was wrong. I learned I had to actually be busy and not according to my standards, but according to hers.
The lesson was actually an easy one to learn. She would find me somewhere back in the shop, it was a Pontiac dealership, and ask, “What are you doing”? If what I was doing wasn’t, in her opinion, of extreme value, she would find something else for me to do. And usually what she found for me to do was difficult and wasn’t nearly as much fun as what I was doing. So, I learned, be busy and be busy at something worthwhile according to Mrs. Gay’s standards.
Now this management style, while it did produce results, was pretty intimidating and clearly charged with fear. It kept me ever vigilant and on task.
It is not too difficult to recognize a similar element of fear in this morning’s gospel. It is as if Jesus is asking, “What are you doing?”
Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The foolish ones did not plan ahead in case something went wrong – they did not bring extra oil for their lamps, just in case. The wise ones, on the other hand, were ready. They had plenty of oil, just in case.
So, when the bridegroom comes late who know what the ladies are doing. The five wise ones are ready with extra oil to stay alert to the coming of the bridegroom whatever the hour. The five foolish ones are not ready. What were they doing? Standing around in the dark, fearful, knowing they will have to try and recover for their lack of preparedness, these ones miss being with the bridegroom at the wedding banquet.
When asked, “What are you doing,” they had only looked busy. With empty lamps in hand fear gripped them as they realized they were losing their hope. Perhaps forever.
There may be a tendency here to harshly judge these five poorly prepared ladies for not being mature in their faith, for not watching intently enough for the bridegroom, who we know to be our savior Jesus Christ.
It may also be that we begin to feel guilty that in our own life we have become so attentive to living, working, tending to our most immediate needs, that we too are woefully ill prepared and are not watching intently enough for the coming again of our savior, that same bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
But this story isn’t directed just to those of us who feel afraid that we are ill prepared for faithful living and duty. No, let us not forget, all ten of the bridesmaids fell asleep. Those prepared and those not. The primary difference is that one group anticipated the bridegrooms delay and made contingency plans. One group stayed ready for any possibility, rainy day or worse. The other group? Well, they were thinking only about the honeymoon and not about the days and years to come.
There’s a Quaker word that’s been used to describe the bridesmaids with the extra oil for their lamps – the word is “all-there-ness”. “What it means is that in the Christian life, it is important for us to be truly present to what’s going on – so we’ll be “all there”.
I recently read, “. . . living the Christian faith isn’t so much about getting ready for the end times. It’s preparing to follow in the way of Jesus Christ when God’s promises are not fulfilled as soon as we had hoped.” To be truly present to what’s going on – so we’ll be 100% all there when asked, “What are you doing?” What are we doing day in and day out to follow in the way of Jesus? The way to truth and love and grace.
Perhaps one of the more famous stories making this point comes from a time in France during World War II. “When the darkness of Nazi Germany fell across southern France during World War II, the villagers of Le Chambon provided shelter to more than five thousand Jews, saving them from the death camps. One documentarian, seeking to identify some dramatic moment of decision among the villagers was surprised to hear villagers explaining the actions by saying, “It happened quite simply.”
The bible says to feed the hungry, to visit the sick. It’s a normal thing to do. One villager, asked to explain her decision to hide Jews after the German army had occupied southern France said matter-of-factly, “I don’t know. We were used to it.”
They were used to living this way, the way of truth, love and grace. They were used to living the ways of Jesus Christ giving their life, their day, their labor all to God. They would never fear anyone who questioned what they were doing.
Andrew Connors reminds us, “It’s easy to trust God’s promises when peace looks reasonable, the economy is on the upswing, and relationships are going well. It’s easy to trust that God is ushering in a new world when you see a hungry child given a full meal, a once declining church on the upswing, a sick family member healing with successful care. It’s easy to trust that Jesus is going to show up when you first hear the promises that he had made to come and make all things new.
But when it’s midnight, and you’ve been waiting for peace that never seems to come, waiting for a few extra dollars to get you out of a hole that never seems to shrink, waiting for something to change in a relationship that seems beyond repair…when you see hungry children go suffering, when you watch your church struggling, when the doctors tell you reluctantly that there’s nothing more they can do…that’s when we draw on the fuel that we hoped we would never need, fuel that enables us to live into God’s promises long before they are fulfilled.”
With this truth before us, this morning’s parable need not be read as a warning about being fearful and ill-prepared. No, our teaching is one of hope. There is good news to be found for those who follow Jesus Christ.
Embedded in this morning’s story is a gracious promise: Though today we may be frustrated with the inactivity of God in our lives – be patient. The Lord promises to come to us. God will come to us. God will find you. What is God doing? Seeking each of us.
Though we may be discouraged and tired from waiting, though we may have worn out our knees from praying for the living God to be present in our lives in a meaningful and undeniably real way – take heart. What is God doing? Longing for each of us.
Though we may be lost to what God wants us to do in our life, despair not, God has work for you and for me and God will, in God’s good time, call upon each of us to do it. What is God doing? Loving each of us.
By our human standards God may be moving too slowly. When we are in pain or difficulty any wait can seem too long. But be well assured, our God is a living God. Our God keeps the promises made. And our God has promised to come to you and to me in times of joy and in times of tragedy, in times of light and in times of dark, in times of laughter and in times of tears. Our God has promised to be ready, I wonder if we will? I wonder, what are we doing?
What are we doing about being “all there”, prepared and focused on God’s real presence in our lives? We do see God’s presence in our lives don’t we? It can happen quite simply. It is here in the love he has for us felt in the blessings of loved ones and friends, in this time and this place and in each of the pieces of our life story, the good times and the times not so good. Especially during the times not so good. That’s what God is doing. Standing with us always.
For us, being acutely away of God’s presence is a long and slow process. A process that comes from practicing God’s presence day after day and year after year, as we live and pray and worship, as we study and seek God’s comforting wisdom. As we follow in Jesus’ way of love and service.
Here is how Julian of Norwich, a mystic who lived in the late 14th century in England would sum this up:
“So God tells us: You will yourself behold that all will be well. It is as though God were telling us: Take it now in faith and truth, and in the end you will see truly, in all fullness and joy.
Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit will accomplish an action on the last day; what it will be, and how it will be accomplished, no creature…knows, and so it shall remain veiled until the act is accomplished. God wishes us to know this so that our spirits might be surrendered to God’s love, and we might then ignore every disturbance which thwarts our true rejoicing in God.”
This my friends is how we are to prepare ourselves to follow the way of Jesus. Knowing God will act on the last day, we are to follow our heart by surrendering to God’s loving presence now, rejoicing in our life filled with God’s grace, being “all there”, hearing the bible tells us how to prepare and how to live and follow Jesus Christ, being 100% present to what’s going on in our lives and the world so we can be 100% there for Christ to be his servant to the world.
We know what God has done and is doing for us.
What I wonder are we doing in return for God?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever more. And all God’s people say, amen.
Additional resources:
“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XIX, Number 6, pgs. 48 – 55.
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