Jwquaker's Blog
Religion and Spirituality
Are We Sheep or Goats? (Sermon November 23, 2014)
Matthew 25:31–46 (NRSV)
The Judgment of the Nations
Mauve, Anton, 1838-1888
1850
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA, United States of America
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What is our role, what is our purpose? I think most of us have thought about those questions at least once in our journey through life. Many of us have thought about those question this week. We get frustrated for a moment and in that frustration we begin to question everything that we have thought we have known. Should I have taken that position, should I have retired, should I have become a parent, should I forget about faith, should I quit school…The questions continue to rise, but why do we question ourselves so much?
The answer goes all the way back to the garden. Our first parents were tempted by knowledge. They were tempted with the knowledge of good and evil. When they decided to bite into that temptation they sent humanity into a spiral of questioning if the knowledge we are acting on is good or evil. From that moment on there was a choice, there was an option to choose evil or good. Prior to that moment our first parents only acted in a mutually beneficial way, after that moment each person began to act out of selfishness. Does that mean we can no longer do good? Not at all, it simply means we struggle. We struggle with self-preservation or community building, we struggle with over extending ourselves in the community or isolating ourselves from others.
Prior to the fall there was balance. Mankind tended the garden and the garden provided all that was needed. But the balance was tipped and suddenly pain and toil entered into human life. Since that moment people have rejected the idea of God because evil exists in the world, but evil exists only because humanity allows their own selfish ambitions and desires to overpower them. We make choices that affect us personally and also that have a deeper more lasting impact. We make a choice, but how does that choice affect the people around us or the people that buy our products, working in our facilities, or those that have yet been born?
This is the question and the judgment that Jesus speaks of in this passage. He speaks of the day of glory when all nations are gathered before Him. He will separate them from one another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. This one statement is very interesting. A sheep and a goat are similar in many ways, biologically, but are also very different. Sheep were one of the first domesticated animals, they have been cared for and bred by humanity for so long that the animal will struggle to survive without assistance. A sheep requires the herd and a shepherd, but a goat is different. A goat is course, stubborn, and independent. A goat will look out for itself.
Jesus says that he will separate the people of the nations like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep are the ones that follow their shepherd. They listen to His voice, they follow His leading, they entrust their very existence into His hands. This is why Jesus came to dwell among mankind, from the time of the fall mankind has strived to do the best that they could, but they had these constant questions tipping the balance. What is good, what is evil, what is our purpose? Jesus came to teach and show us how to live as humanity was intended. He lived the perfectly human life, he showed us how to live, and through and with Him we too can live the life God intended.
Jesus was born into a family, a family that was not perfect but was perfected by love. They took on the ridicule of the community as Mary and Joseph raised a son that everyone else called a bastard. They loved him and treated him as their very own, because they loved Him. Do you think this was easy? They did this because they had faith, hope, and love. They raised Jesus, made Him part of the family, so much so that when Jesus was an adult the towns’ people knew him as the carpenter’s son. Jesus grew in strength and wisdom, He began to teach and act. His actions began to draw attention from others because he acted toward the least of community. The least, the rejected, the meanest, the lowest, the ones with very little standing. He came to the ones that did not have the privilege to stand alone.
Jesus came for the sheep, but there are goats in the herd as well. The goats as I mentioned before are stubborn animals, they have an independent streak in them that makes them think that they know what is best for themselves. There is a reason the sheep need to be separated from the goats, because the goats can cause harm. I have had the privilege of caring for a goat. As far as goats go, our goat was a good goat, but it was still a goat. We had to make sure she stayed in the pen because if we allowed her to wonder she would eat something that would cause her harm. We also had to watch her closely because if you were trying to make her do something she did not want to do she would ram you if you gave her the chance. Even when the things I was doing was for her own good this goat would act as if I were trying to kill her. That is the difference between a goat and a sheep, the goat does not listen but acts according to their own desires at that moment.
Jesus speaks of the sheep and the goats, he separates the sheep from the goats sending one to the right the other to the left. One walks to share in the glory of the Son, while the other is sent to experience the fires of rejection. What exactly is the difference between the sheep and the goats of humanity? A couple of weeks ago I said that the main purpose of the church is to serve, when I spoke those words there was some resistance to them and a statement was then made that our number one purpose is to worship. But I want us all to understand that both are right and both are the same. Jesus came to show us how to be human, he showed us that there is a holy rhythm to life: the meeting for worship, prayer, and service. This rhythm is what brings balance to our lives, and to be a true disciple of Christ we cannot separate these three things from one another because if we do so we would then tip the scales once again. There is a problem though, to truly make this rhythm our own we first have to let go of ourselves and entrust every aspect of our being to Christ, who is the only one that can truly keep the scales in balance. The moment we take one of these things in our own hands we run the risk of toppling like a jenga tower. But when we entrust our lives into the hands of Christ, when we make his life our life and allow Him to guide our steps, we begin to change.
The change is subtle at first, but eventually if we continue to seek and follow Christ our identity glows with His spirit instead of our own. As we worship and pray we are drawn to become a blessing to the least. This is the holy rhythm, this is what faith, hope and love does when it is lived out. This is what the garden was like and what the kingdom is. But why do we not see it? Why after 2000 years of church history are we still faced with the horrors of war, dehumanizing poverty, and the exploitation of mankind and all of creation? We still have a lot of goats in the herd that like to push and ram around the sheep.
A goat is a person that may say all the right things, but there actions do not reflect the words that they speak. A goat is a person that is more concerned with their agenda or their reputation than that of the community in which they work and live. A goat is someone that demands respect but does very little to gain the respect they desire. There are goats in all aspects of life, they are republican and democrat, Baptist or Catholic, and yes there are many goats among Friends. A goat will look at the problem in a community and be unmoved or are unwilling to get involved personally. A goat relies on their own strength and power and rejects the possibility that God may provide for something far greater. At times I am nothing more than a goat, I am hard headed and stubborn, and often I am also on the receiving end of a goat’s charge.
I say these things to let us all realize that most of us can exhibit goat like qualities. It is part of our culture, we are the offspring of people that had to work hard to get where they ended up in life. We are proud of our heritage, but that does not make it Godly. Jesus looks to the sheep and says, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” They responded to Jesus with a question, “When did we do this?” They did not realize that they had done these things because it was their nature, it had become their rhythm. They were just listening and following their shepherd so closely that they did not realize that they were doing great things and they never would have known because they were not doing them for the recognition. Their desire and their joy came from the relationships that they had with God and those around them. They found their place and their identity with the herd and the shepherd.
They found their place and their identity with the herd and the shepherd. They found their joy and their purpose living the holy rhythm of life with Christ. Making it their custom to join together in worship, withdrawing to the isolated places to pray, and going out to serve wherever they were led. Their purpose in life was to Love God, embrace the Holy Spirit, and to live the love of Christ with others. If I can teach only one thing to this Meeting this is it. I do not care if this meeting house is filled to capacity or if we have ministries that make headlines, but my one desire is that everyone knows this holy rhythm that Jesus lived. That every one of us would simplify our lives in such a way that this lifestyle would take form in all that we do, and so that if anyone was to have a conversation with any one of us that they would witness this type of lifestyle not only on a Sunday morning but every time they would see us.
Jesus looks out at the people of the nations, and he begins to separate us to the right or left, sheep or goat. That is what is important. It does not matter if our theology is right on that day, what matters is if our theology produced in us a lifestyle and life that reflects Christ in everything that we do. Call me simple, call me un-academic, call me whatever you want, all that matters is that as each of us walk this journey of life we reflect Christ giving hope to the hopeless, and shining light into the darkness right here and now.
The questions still remain, and as we learn more even more questions emerge. Are we sheep or goats? Are we good or evil? Are we light bearers or foolish bridesmaids? Are we wise servants investing our lives in areas that would overjoy our master or lazy? Every one of those questions revolve around one central theme, who is Jesus? How we answer that question and how we let that answer saturate our every aspect of our lives determines how we will react when the time comes to invest our talents, or illuminate the path of the bridegroom, or if we enter heaven or hell. As we enter into a time of open worship and holy expectancy let us examine our lives and let the Spirit of God soak into the crevasse that maybe we have stubbornly rammed Him out of. Let us soak in the spirit and listen to his directions so that when we leave this meeting for worship we will enter into His service and bring life to our dying world.
How Are You Investing Your Life? (Sermon November 16, 2014)
Matthew 25:14–30 (NRSV)
The Parable of the Talents
(Lk 19:11–27)
JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings were selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings. See: http://www.jesusmafa.com and http://www.SocialTheology.com.
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Sometimes the worst thing about the parables of Jesus is that there is just too much information packed into a seemingly short story. Like last week’s story about the ten virgins. Who would have thought that we as a group would be discussing it for a good thirty minutes after the service? But during that discussion something very interesting was brought up, the idea of why the five wise virgins did not share the oil that they had with the foolish ones. That very question leads up to the parable that Jesus spoke just after that story. I want us to consider the oil as Luther suggested, as faith, or in deeper terms the source of faith, which is the very Spirit of God. That Spirit of God that was breathed into mankind on the sixth day of creation that separated us from all other living creatures, setting us apart to be stewards of all creation. The oil that burns in a lamp is the source or the fuel that allows for the energy of God to enlighten us, to burn within us without destroying us. It is drawn through the wick and the light shines all around, the flame, the oil, and the wick all relate to the triune God working together within a vessel of clay. A simple story that we teach to the youngest of ears, yet so deep it can puzzle the greatest biblical scholars, if they are honest enough to admit it.
But even Jesus knew that the story of the virgins could be twisted in some degree to the point that the true message would not be heard. Those ten virgins in the story waited and fell asleep, throughout history many groups have looked at this story and have said as long as you have the oil everything is good. This has left the church peddling a cheap grace, and a distorted form of discipleship. This is the very type of grace we so often hear about in our contemporary culture. As long as you have said the right prayer or attend the right church you are ok. It does not matter if your actions are right, or even if you are awake, the virgins were asleep. Yet Jesus ended that parable and transitioned into his next with one very important statement, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Keep awake. A lamp is worthless unless it is actively burning, oil is just a potential fuel until the flame ignites it, and a wick is just twisted fiber quickly devoured unless it is saturated. Without the flame, oil, and wick a lamp in the first century is just a fancy piece of clay, no life and no purpose only to broken down returning to the dust from which it was created. If the lamp is worthless asleep what does that say about us?
This is where today’s passage picks up. “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to their ability. Then he went away.” The first thing that is striking when we look at this passage in context with the parable just prior to it, is that this basically says we have a purpose for being here. We are here for a reason, to take care of the master’s property. This has been the role of humanity from the dawn of time, this is why we were created in the image of God and given the breath of life. We are the caretakers of His property. Each one of us has a role to play, it does not matter if you believe in God or not, that is our role and our purpose. Have we ever really thought about that? In our ever present quest to redeem the world for the cause of Christ have we actually boiled our purpose down to the very core of why we exist in the first place?
To each of the servants the master entrusts a portion of his property, entrusting them with only enough that he deems they are able to handle, but I want us to consider just how much he has entrusted each of these servants. A talent is a form of currency, its value is approximately six thousand denarii. The denarii in ancient times was a day’s wage, so one talent is almost worth 16 and a half years of labor. In classical Roman times, the age encompassing the time Jesus taught, the average life expectancy was thirty years. So a talent would basically represent the wages an average individual would expect to earn in their lifetime. Think about that for a moment. You thought that this parable was about money, really it is about life.
Jesus goes on to say that the one that received five talents, enough money for five families, quickly went out and used what he had in trade and made five more talents, as did the man with two talents. The man with one talent went off, dug a hole, and buried the talent he had received. At times it is difficult to think of this story beyond what we perceive as economics, but I would really like us to think outside the traditional box we put this story in and think about it as life. One servant was entrusted with the livelihood of five families, another with the livelihood of two families, and the third was given his livelihood. The master granted them with the portion of property that he thought they could handle, what Jesus is saying is that lives are in our hands.
This is what my theology teacher would refer to as God’s economy. An economic system that was not regulated in currency but in something totally different and much more valuable. Jesus did not come from heaven to be born of a virgin, to live among humanity so that we could have a financial return on our investments, but so that mankind could be redeemed from death to life. God dwelt among mankind to restore humanity. Humanity and life is the economy that God cares about. All of our perceived wealth and wealth creation is worthless in the eyes of God, if what we invest our lives in does not promote life.
The servant that was a steward over the livelihood of five families was able to invest the resources he was given to provide for an additional five, the one with two could provide for an additional two. Suddenly the community grew from eight to fifteen, consider that for a moment. We have each been entrusted with life, we each have at bear minimum one talent to invest into this world. We have our one life. The question is how are we going to use it?
How are we going to invest our lives? When we consider our individual lives thing begin to get more complex. How we invest our lives reflects what we hold as most important. Consider a conversation you may have had with someone you did not know before, what are the things you talked about? You probably exchanged names, more than likely right after names were exchanged the discussion moved toward our employment or what we retired from, and generally the conversation dwindles from there. Our identities all too often are attached to our careers, our identity and our social standing is derived from a twisted economy where value is measured by currency and the ability to amass more currency. That part of our lives are tools that we use in bringing about who we truly are. Currency is a tool, wealth is a tool. It is no different than any other tool when we look the bigger picture. The dollar is like a shovel, how many people have devoted their lives to the savings of shovels? But a shovel is an important tool a shovel when used properly can dig the foundation for a house for someone to live in, it can provide an opportunity to make clean water available to a remote village, and it can give someone a way to feed their family.
I bring this up because the resources, every resource we have available to us is important. They are important only because those resources can be invested into lives. And life is what God is interested in. Are we investing our talents into the lives of our community or are we burying our talents in a hole? Along with that question is another, are we actively participating in the investment or are we just speaking words?
This is not cheap grace or easy discipleship, but an actual cross to bear. So often our words are gilded with scripture but our actions speak something totally different. How often have we heard words spoken saying, “I’m Pro-life” yet have not opened our homes to house a child whose parents’ are unable to support them? How often do we hear that we should help the poor from people that would never open their doors or tables up to someone in need?
We are stewards of the master’s property only stewards. We have been blessed with talents to invest not in ourselves but into the lives of other. What will the master say when he returns? To the ones that expanded the influence of the master he said, “Enter into the joy of your master.” But to the ones that bury their resources and refuse to invest in life, those are wicked and lazy servant who will lose everything. What does it cost to be a disciple of Christ? What is the cost of being a friend of Jesus? It takes belief that the belief goes beyond knowledge and trust, the belief that we will entrust all we have and all we are into our master’s business. It takes us learning that business by participating in the very life that Jesus himself showed us. It takes us investing all that we have to bring light into the darkness, hope to the hopeless, and healing to the broken. To be a disciple of Christ our actions and our words reflect each other, our careers are tools that we use to minister, and our very lives are lived so that His will will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. And that starts with each of us individually turning to him, it continues by us corporately walking together and encouraging each other to walk that journey with Christ, and it returns when we share in the joy of service.
As we reflect on this story that Jesus told and examine our lives during this time of open worship. I ask again, how are we investing our lives?
Light bearers (Sermon November 9, 2014)
Matthew 25:1–13 (NRSV)
The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids
Lamp of Wisdom Waterperry Gardens Oxfordshire, Great Britian
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
There is something special about weddings. Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a wedding of a good friend and his now wife. It was a traditional wedding, nothing super special about it except for a couple of things. First it was a good friend’s wedding and I got to help with the celebration. Second the minister did something that was pretty profound, he asked those that gathered who is the most important people at the wedding. There were several answers, the funniest was when someone said Jesus and the pastor said that is a good answer but not right. I was sitting there wondering where he was going with this question and he turned to the crowd and started naming off names of the children and asked each child, including Albert to come up to the front. As the children gathered he said these children are the most important people at this wedding because it is these children that will look at the love story being played out before them and if the couple loves deeply and correctly it is the children in that room that will benefit the most.
I was amazed by that short little part of the ceremony. That is one of the most profound and correct things about marriage that I have ever heard. It is not only about the couple, but it is about the community. Encouraging and strengthening the community as a whole through the love that each family shares with each other. I spent the rest of the evening just thinking about that, that one statement changed everything I thought I was going to say today. We join together in marriage for the children of the community not out of love, not out of the potential for more children, but to strengthen the understanding and to become examples of the love God has for each person to those already in the room.
As I considered that statement, I reexamined this parable of the ten virgins through a different perspective. Often I read this passage and get stuck focusing on the wise women and the foolish women, but I think those women are just illustrations for something much deeper, something that goes down to the very heart of humanity as a whole. Often we get caught up in a narrow view of marriage, we get too focused on the family and fail to see how our commitment to a spouse strengthens families and communities in areas we may never know. I think I have missed this before because I look at this story through the lenses of our culture, and fail to understand what marriage meant to a Middle Eastern culture two-thousand years ago.
The first thing we need to understand is why there are ten virgins heading out to meet a bridegroom. I am almost embarrassed to say that most of my life I assumed that the bride groom was choosing his bride from these ten women, but that is not at all what is going on. In the ancient customs of marriage the community was very involved in every aspect of the ceremony. Negotiations were made between the families, prices were set, and debating going on between the parents of those to be wed. When all of the negotiations were settled, the bridegroom would be able to take his wife into his home. For many of us we see this as a terrible situation because it seems to treat women like property and not equals, but we are looking at things through cultural lenses instead of reality. The negotiations were made not only for the transfer of wealth but as a sort of insurance policy. Although the wealth was transferred into the man’s house the woman had the final say in how that portion of their combined wealth could be used. In many cases, the women would carry this wealth on their head coverings, hanging coins from their veils for all to see. If the woman’s wealth was used it was often scandalous, because this wealth was similar to what we know as life insurance, it was to be used in emergencies or if the husband died.
But that does not tell us why the ten women were out there getting the bridegroom. These women are what we would now call bridesmaids, their job in the ceremony was to go to the bridegroom’s house to escort him and his family to the bride’s house where the wedding feasts would begin. So these bridesmaids are told that the negotiations have been settled and the feast can begin, so they gather their lamps and go to the man’s house to bring him to collect his bride. So these ten virgins are not the bride, they are only representatives sent by the bride.
As always the characters in the stories that Jesus tells have important things to say to us. The bride is the church, the bridesmaids are those who minister in and through the church. I bring this up because often we see our personal relationship with God as being the most important thing about the Christian life, but that is not exactly the case, it is the church that is the bride not us. We are the bridesmaids. We are the representatives sent out by the bride to escort the bridegroom and his family to her. Yes our personal relationship with God is import but that is not the whole story.
Jesus goes on to say that there are different types of women in this group the wise and the foolish. The wise virgins grab their lamps as well as a flask of oil, where the foolish only grab their lamps. The lamp is an important illustration. In the days before street lights nights were very different. Only the moon and the stars provided light to illuminate the darkness unless you had a lamp to cast light. In the ancient cultures women would tend the lamps, and they would keep them burning all night often waking throughout the night to add oil so that the flame would continue to burn.
Well these women were waiting on the bridegroom to come, because he was delayed, they grew tired and fell asleep. I want us to reflect on this for a bit. They were holding their lamps but they fell asleep allowing the light to diminish, they stopped tending their lamps as they should and were caught off guard for the announcement. This is where our personal relationship with God becomes very important.
There are several interpretations of what the lamp and the oil mean throughout the history of the church. But through each of those interpretations there is a common theme. Salvation means something more. If the bride is the church, and we are the brides maids our job is to be light bearers we are to carry the lamps filled with oil to escort Jesus, and the community to the bride. We are to bear the light. There is something very profound in that, to bear light means that there is work that has to be done. We must tend the lamps, keeping the wicks trimmed so that smoke does not overcome the light, and we must keep the oil filled. Throughout Christian history they have said that this is a balance between works and faith. The oil is our faith and the filling of the oil is our personal relationship with God, because it is God’s spirit that is the oil and it is the oil that burns creating the light. The Lamp that we carry is the ministry and the works that we do to carry the light of Christ within us out into the community.
Jesus makes mention of half of the virgins as being wise and half foolish. Both the wise and the foolish carry lamps. But some neglected to bring oil with them. All people can do good works, all people can minister to other and shine light, but eventually their stocks of oil will run out and the light will fade away. Those without oil will cry out to the others but they will not have enough to go around so they will have to run to find it. Those that have oil will tend to their lamps and will escort the community to the feast.
This is interesting, because both groups of women were tired and asleep, and suddenly brought back to awareness. We never know when we will be called into action, but are we prepared to carry the light? God will use those that are prepared. Often we get caught up in carrying lamps of service only to find ourselves burning out, or we are focused on stockpiling oil but never carrying the lamp. Both cases we are not in a position to be bearers of light, at least for long. This is where discernment is very important, and the only way to have this sort of discernment is if we participate in the holy rhythm of life that Jesus taught us. Making it our custom to worship together, withdrawing to isolated places to pray, and going out into the community to minister and serve. The worship together ignites our passions and sets our heart ablaze. It is during worship where our wicks get trimmed and together we can encourage one another to continue on. These gatherings may not always look the same, passions that ignite our hearts can come in many different forms, we can be ignited to burn for the environmental movement, or for tax reform, or any other ministry that promotes our communities, but if there is not an adequate supply of oil the lamp will burn down and eventually fade. That is where a disciplined life of pray comes in. it is in those times of prayer, study, and mediation where we are filled and gain reserves of the oil of the spirit.
You might argue with that statement and say but we are filled with passion during worship, but what happens if you miss a day or several meeting for worship? If we are not personally engaged in a life of prayer eventually our reserves will diminish. When we do not actively engage a life of prayer when tough times hit us we cannot bear light because we cannot see because the oil is gone and we are burning a dry wick. Worship gets us excited to serve, Pray gives us discernment on where and when we are called to serve, but we are not bearers of light if we do not get out of ourselves to carry the light to those around us. Just like that minister said in the wedding that my family attended last evening, the bride and groom bear the light of love to the community so should we be bearing that light, the light of God’s love to our community.
If we neglect this holy rhythm, we will one day be called to minister and we will have nothing to offer like the foolish virgins without the oil. We will be forced to run out to find the oil we need but in the process we will lose the chance to become bearers of the light, we lose the opportunity to celebrate in the joys of the wedding feast. All because we were too focused on other things, we had our lamps but they were empty.
This parable struck me hard this week. It speaks of priorities and passions, it speaks of discipleship and discernment, and it speaks of the joys of service. It has caused me to look at what I have been doing and made me wonder if maybe I am not as wise as I would like to think. But then I saw little children gathered around a couple dressed in white, looking them in the eyes, hoping for a chance to see love played out before them. I began to ask myself, what are we as a community really showing the world around us? Are we bearers of light, or just another smoldering smoky wick?