A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 8 November 2020, the twelfth-third Sunday after Pentecost, by the Revd Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 78:1–7; Wisdom of Solomon 6:17–20; Matthew 25:1–13.
The parable today is of the ten bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to bring them to a wedding feast at night. This is a familiar gospel account to many of us.
The five wise bridesmaids prepared enough oil for themselves while the five foolish did not. Eventually the unprepared were not allowed to go into the wedding feast and were left outside. The Lord even said to them, ‘I don’t know you’. The parable is to remind the disciples to keep watch and be prepared for the coming of Christ as they don’t know at what day or at what hour the Lord may come.
In Matthew’s time, the Christian community was facing a very difficult situation with political and religious persecution. In 70 AD, the temple was destroyed. But their Lord Jesus Christ was not yet come. Some believers were disappointed, frustrated and about to give up. But there were some others still very resilient and waiting patiently for the coming of the Lord.
Stay awake and be prepared for the coming of the Lord is the key message of the parable the author of Matthew would like to share with his audience of the time.
What do we learn from this parable today?
Stay awake and wait for Christ. What does it mean and how?
When the bridegroom was coming, the foolish bridesmaids realized that they did not have enough oil and so they wanted to borrow oil from the wise bridesmaids who had prepared for it. But they were rejected. In a community like us who always advocate the value and practice of the spirit of sharing and generosity, would you feel uncomfortable with the response from the five wise bridesmaids who could be considered selfish?
We have to be careful in reading the text. The context and focus of this parable are not about sharing and generosity as such. It is about one’s responsibility to prepare for what they should have done for preparing to meet with the Lord.
When we are able to take responsibility for ourselves, we will not put blame on others. So the five foolish bridesmaid have no reason to blame the five wise bridesmaid not lending them oil. They cannot complain to God why they are left out. This is the consequence they have to face if they are not well prepared. Just like if we miss a bus or ferry or a flight, we cannot blame the driver, the captain or the pilot for not waiting for us. Remember always: what we have done and what we have not done will make an impact to our future.
In my life, I have come across people who ask for help and expect me or someone else to solve their problems. I come across also people whenever they encounter personal problems, they just simply put the blame on others and find excuses. I would consider this kind of persons irresponsible and foolish as they refuse to address their own problems and to meet their own needs by themselves in a responsible manner.
When I am getting older and more mature, I learn a very important lesson. If someone who comes to me for help is not willing to take up their responsibility or to own their own problems and issues, I would be very cautious in giving my helping hand. The reason is, if a person is not willing to take up their own responsibility, his/her problem will continue in life. I remembered a nun who has said this: “God only helps those who help themselves.” There is wisdom in it.
Wise people bear their own responsibility by taking actions accordingly. For the Kingdom of God, it belongs to people who are prepared and willing to take up their own responsibility.
Another aspect of the parable that I want to highlight is: there is something in common for the wise and the foolish bridesmaid. Do you know what is it?
They both became drowsy and they slept while they were waiting for the delayed bridegroom to come. (25: 5)
As human beings, no matter you are clever or foolish, we all have our human needs and limitations. That is normal as human flesh. For those who are wise, they don’t have to deny their needs and human weakness, but to accept it and try to transform whenever it is needed. So for those who are truly wise, they will accept they are foolish as well. There is an idiom in Chinese: the great wise master looks like a fool.
Both the wise and the foolish bridesmaid were drowsy and went to sleep indeed gives us comfort, as we don’t have to be too demanding and harsh to ourselves all the time. Another insight from this parable is - to keep a normal life, accept all things that happened in our lives no matter how tough it seems to be, and to carry on in life in the midst of uncertainty and hardship. What makes a difference in life is the wise people don’t give up but wait actively and are prepared as the author of Matthew reminded us today “keep awake”.
The Kingdom of God is there for those who live everyday normal and ordinary, but be alert at the same time.
The Old Testament reading taken from Psalm 78 today reminded us that, the Kingdom of God requires the people of God, the faithful in encountering life at the present and in future, need to go back to revisit God’s saving grace in human history. The Jews are very good at that. (nice summary: Psalm 78:7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandment). They always remind their people of God’s love and compassionate salvation to their nation through the study and living out the Laws that God has given them. We are living in a world full of troubles and uncertainty with the unending threat from the COVID 19 pandemic, economic and ecological crisis, the tightening of political rights both in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. The words of God remind us to remember the work of God in us and in the world, past and also at present. God never gives up his people. God is the one always there to care.
When Matthew ended the parable by saying “keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”, this statement is very remarkable to indicate time belongs to God. Our lives and our world are all under God’s sovereignty.
The Psalm and Wisdom of Solomon we heard this morning also remind us God, the ultimate, the Divine Wisdom lived in the past, lives at present and in the future. To acknowledge God’s sovereignty in creation and human history, we learn and do our best to let go of power and control at a personal level, to faithfully obey the commandment of God and humbly follow the way of Christ. And this is the way to the Kingdom of God. By acknowledging God’s sovereignty in the world, we would not lose hope because the wicked power on earth is still under the rule of God.
In today’s lectionary readings, I selected the text from “Wisdom of Solomon”. This book cannot be found in the Hebrew Scripture (or what we used to call it the Old Testament). “Wisdom of Solomon” was written in Greek, and belonged to Apocrypha (meaning hidden text) and it is also known as Deutero-Canonical book (from the Greek meaning ‘belonging to the second canon). The Jewish rabbi considered these books as Jewish Canonical books that are related to the Hebrew Scripture. But Protestant tradition in general considers them non-canonical. Apocrypha (the hidden text), the Deutero-Canonical books (second canon) were later addition found in between the Old and New Testament era between 200 BC to 200 AD. These books are also called inter-testamental books.
For the reading from Wisdom of Solomon we heard this morning (6:17-20), it links wisdom to instruction, immortality and kingdom. The important insight from this text to me is the connection between human wisdom and divine wisdom. It is the desire and love of the Laws to bring humans close to God, the Divine Wisdom. It is also God’s will to assure human beings who are mortal can be eternally connected to God and to experience immortality. To link this passage to the parable of the ten bridesmaids from the New Testament, we are reminded to be spiritually awakened and renewed. While we treasure our human body and take it as gift from God, human flesh still has its limitation and we will die one day. It is our spiritual being that can forever survive and be connected to God. Spirit moves beyond time and space. Therefore, the wise are those who are spiritually awakened, being aware of God and be present in all times and in all places to receive Christ, the Lord. Where there is Spirit, there is the Kingdom of God.
Spiritual awakening requires preparation and watchfulness like the five wise bridesmaids to prepare the flasks of oil. For spiritual awakening, what we require is the spiritual oil that is made through regular spiritual disciplines like worship to God, reading and meditating the Word, prayer and spend time with God in silence, service to the Church and to the world.
Spiritual awakening is required of one very important thing from us. That is LOVE – the love to God. The greatest commandment from the Old Testament and from Jesus is to love God, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Love God is the foundation of all.
The early Father Augustine of Hippo - “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”
Are you the wise or foolish? Sisters and brothers, I trust that you are wise enough to choose which way to go to experience the grace of God and to live out the Kingdom of God. Amen!
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, November 08, 2020
