Matthew 25:1-13 - March 19, 2023

Like most of Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Matthew, I have a lot of questions about our story of the bridesmaids and their oil. I’ll give you a second so you can get your own list up in your head. Good? Ok, let’s compare notes. 

Why won’t the “wise” bridesmaids share the oil that they have? Would there really not be enough for the short walk into the banquet hall? They seem more selfish than anything. 

Why did the five without oil leave their post? Which is worse - being there and not having oil or not being there at all? And what oil store is open at midnight?

What is the thing we are supposed to take away from this parable? Is it that we should keep awake, as Jesus mentions at the end of the parable, but is something none of the bridesmaids actually did? Is it to have a stockpile of oil? Is it that we should always be ready at any moment, day or night, to welcome Christ’s return - or else!? 

Is this how the kingdom of heaven works? Does one apparently arbitrary decision mark the line between inclusion and exclusion from the ultimate party? Are we saved by grace or by being prepared? 

As I said, so many questions. And the questions make this parable feel like not Good News. 

To push the “not Good News” a bit further, if the point of the parable is to always be waiting and ready, then we are in big trouble. 

I think part of the reason Matthew includes this parable is that he saw in his community of faith people starting to waiver in their waiting. They had been waiting for Jesus to come back for over 40 years! They needed this encouragement. 

But for those of us who are two thousand years later, well, we’ve grown accustomed to the master’s absence. That’s a long time to wait expectantly. We give little thought to Christ’s return, let alone what we should do to prepare for it.

While that is the unfortunate truth, this parable can be a call back to a more expectant type of waiting. I don’t think it means we should constantly be staring at the sky; “keep awake” doesn’t mean we should never sleep. As I mentioned, all the bridesmaids were asleep when the shout announces the groom’s approach. But maybe this parable does snap us back - perhaps not to vigilant anticipation, but at the very least to being prepared.

In the parable, being prepared looks like having oil for your lamp. Have oil with you. It doesn’t matter if you know where the oil store is or if they are open at all hours of the night. Have oil with you wherever you go. Make sure your lamp is lit and shining.

Think of “This Little Light of Mine.” Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Or, to use some of Jesus’ own teachings from earlier in Matthew, “You are the light of the world. Who lights a lamp and then hides it under a basket? Let your light shine before others.” Jesus tells us to be prepared because our lamps are always supposed to be lit - we are always supposed to be shining - we should always be ready with lamps lit when we have the chance to greet the bridegroom.

That’s hard to do if you don’t have any oil with you to keep you going.

It is double-y hard because we don’t know where or when Jesus will show up. And not just at the end of times, but we never know when Jesus will show up today - in the hungry or the thirsty or the stranger or the sick or the other or in any person who needs to see and feel the grace of God. Jesus shows up, in, with, and alongside those people. And we are meant to have our lamps lit and ready to go, have oil to burn.  

But the thing is, at some point, we won’t have the oil. We won’t be able to light our lamps. We’ll be empty. Our patience runs out. Our tank is out of gas. Our lamp has no more oil. 

It could be because we were foolish and left our oil at home. It could be because we have been burning for so long that we are just out. And don’t you know it, Jesus will show up right when we run out of oil. We won’t be able to go to Oils R Us to get some more. We won’t be able to draw on all that stuff we have stored up. And we will be called to shine in that very moment. Sometimes… sometimes, we will run out of oil. 

Part of the problem here is we do tend to focus on ourselves - our oil, our stockpile, ourselves. I can do it all by myself. But Jesus has been teaching us from the very beginning a different way. Don’t worry about yourself; God has you. Don’t store up; God has treasures for you. Ask, seek, knock; God will fill you up.  

God will fill you up. Spiritually, emotionally, physically, we need to be filled - because we will run empty. We lose it from time to time. Physically, we know we run low. Emotions flare and fizzle. While we tend to know what to do in order to be filled up in those situations, how do you get filled up spiritually? 

To bring it to today’s parable: What is the oil that you carry with you?
What do you do to replenish your oil?
Where do you go in order to be filled up with God?

*****

I hope some of you thought about a place like this - a community of faith that redirects us and reminds us of God’s love and grace for us - where we can hear again God’s story of love for all. I think we do a pretty good job of that here at St. Philip. Wouldn’t it be great to have a few more join us, too?

I hope some of you thought of the Lord’s Table, where Jesus meets us in bread and wine to fill our faith in a simple meal and unite us with our brothers and sisters of all times and all places. The meal is important for us - it feeds us spiritually. Wouldn’t it be great to have it at a rail everyone could access? 

I hope some of you thought of service to others, that visiting and serving and helping others is visiting and serving and helping Jesus himself - and a way that Jesus fills our spirit beyond belief. 

I hope some of you thought of challenging your spiritual comfort zone through tithing your regular supply, fasting from stockpiles, and supporting mission and ministry here at St. Philip. Believe it or not, giving is a way to stretch and grow how much spiritual oil you can carry.

I hope some of you thought of daily, dedicated, intentional time with God through prayer and scripture and conversation with another, where we can consciously and purposely connect God’s story to our story.

God fills us in many ways - by challenging us with something new and different and by comforting us with rite and ritual. God fills us as individuals and as a community. God fills us so that we can shine -
so that we can be ready to meet Jesus -
so that we can meet Jesus and without delay.