March 19, 2023 - Fourth Sunday of Lent
Matthew 25:1-13
Deborah Laforet
How Long, O Lord?
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
The early Christian church thought the second coming of Jesus was imminent. Jesus tells them stay awake. He tells them it will come like a thief in the night, so be alert. Paul reinforces this in his writings; he eagerly awaited Christ’s return, possibly even in his own lifetime.
Matthew’s gospel was probably written around 85 CE or more than 50 years after the death of Jesus. By this time, early believers were being persecuted and killed and the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. How much longer would they have to wait. People were dying for their faith, for their commitment to follow Jesus. How long were they to stay awake? How long were they to be alert? How long, O Lord?
There is a song based on the scripture we heard, an African-American spiritual that was possibly created by enslaved persons. The lyrics vary but people are asked to not stop prayin’, and to not grow weary, and to keep your lamps trimmed and burning. Here is a sound clip.
Enslaved people, in the American South, in Canada, in Great Britain, and all over the world would also ask, how long? How long until they would be free? How long would they have to wait before being recognized as human and worthy? How long, O Lord?
The past couple of months we have been exploring the issue of houselessness or homelessness. I have learned a lot the past few months, through workshops, a book study, guest speakers, movies, and community activists. People who live on the street, people who panhandle, people enslaved in the sex trade, people with mental illnesses or addictions that keep them from living in stable environments, are the forgotten in our society. They are invisible. People walk or drive by all the time, looking straight ahead, afraid of making eye contact. Most cities couldn’t even tell you how many homeless have died on the street because they don’t keep track. There have been attempts in Toronto, for all levels of government to declare homelessness a national emergency, but it hasn’t happen. People without homes are also usually without the means to be heard, to advocate for themselves, and to fight for their own rights. How long must they wait to be seen, to be counted, to be valued? How long, O Lord?
There are people sitting amongst us who are waiting. They are struggling with jobs and finances. They are grieving someone they lost. They are having challenges with their health, physical or mental. Some are weary from caring for loved ones and feeling guilty about it. There may be those of us who are finding it difficult to find hope in this consumerist, success driven, war filled, climate disaster filled, self-obsessed world in which we live. How much longer will we have to wait? How much more can we take? It’s been 2000 years; are we still to believe that Christ will return?
Play Clip - “Children, don’t get weary.”
Kimberly Wagner, Assistant Professor of Preaching at Princeton Seminary says that we are living in an in-between time. She writes:
“The world is hurting, violence is a daily reality, illness and pandemic continue to haunt and hurt us, and it seems like the promise of peace, wholeness, or even hope seems far away. Communities, whether they want to admit it or not, are still contending with the trauma from the pandemic and figuring out how we live as community in new ways, now that all our patterns have been disrupted and our ways disordered. And on top of that, our country and world seem more divided than ever.
“Yet, amid all of this hurt, people long for a cure to cancer or Covid or mental illness or for a day when oppression or division will be no more. We live in this in-between space where many are wondering where God might be amid all of this, even as we are waiting (perhaps more eagerly than we would like to admit) for God’s grace, peace, and love to infuse our lives, country, and world. And yet, like Matthew’s first-century church, we find ourselves in a holding pattern, waiting with no guarantee how long it will be until things are made right.”
This is where the wedding attendants in our scripture might help us. We have five wise attendants and five foolish ones. These labels have to do with how much oil they brought with them as they waited for the bridal party to arrive. The foolish ones made the assumption that they had enough oil to last. The wise ones did not make this assumption. They brought extra oil with them, just in case. So, of course, when the bridal party showed up very late, it was the wise attendants who still had oil. Now, I personally feel these prepared attendants could have shared some of their oil, but the point is that the foolish ones had none left, had to leave for more, and upon their return, they were not allowed into the marriage feast. They were too late.
The wise attendants were prepared. They knew the wait might be long. Now, to be fair, the last line of this parable says, “Stay awake,” but all ten attendants, foolish and wise, fell asleep while they were waiting. We’re human. We get tired. Maybe a better way to express this is how do we stay alert, well-rested but alert.
Matthew’s gospel of the ten attendants reminds us to keep our lamps trimmed and burning, as we hear in the African-American spiritual. This is an active waiting, alert and prepared. There is work to be done while we are waiting. For the people who were enslaved, they didn’t just wait for this promised second coming of Jesus to save them. They kept alert and watched for signs of resistance. Their songs, possibly even this one, held clues of how to escape to freedom. They kept watch. They held onto hope with tight fists and prayed for cover of darkness, for rivers of water to cover their scent, for compassionate white folks to give them safe passage. (Play clip)
For what are we waiting today? I’ll be honest and say that I see the prophecies in our bible of the second coming or of the end of this world as mostly symbolic. Instead of a point in time when Jesus descends from the heavens to bring about God’s kingdom on earth, aren’t we taught that Christ is here with us now, teaching us, guiding us, assuring us, providing sustenance and inspiration? I don’t want to discount the idea that Christ might return, but I don’t think Christ is going to suddenly arrive and do all the work of creating this heaven on earth for us.
The bridal party arrives after the negotiations and after the promises are made. We are then invited to the marriage feast, a time when all things will be made new, when all will gather as one to share in the banquet that has plenty for all and room for all, but we have work to do in the meantime. We need to keep trimming our lamps, we need to keep them filled, we need to buy some extra oil, and we need to stay alert, for we don’t know the day or the hour.
For those who are tired of waiting, who are losing hope because this world feels so broken, maybe what they’re waiting for is not the return of Jesus, but for us. We are the hands and feet of Christ in this world and at this time. Maybe we can create a new story of ten attendants who support each other while they wait, who keep each other warm, who share what they have, who make one another feel loved and valued, attendants who share their oil when others run out so that all of us can enjoy the marriage feast together. What a world that would be. May it be so. Amen.