God Does Not Close The Door On Faith

This morning I am still completely occupied with why Jesus was so hard on the five bridesmaid who didn’t come with enough oil.

However, first I want to remind you -- as a parallel example -- of how the Israelites lived.  They daily assumed God would give them victory over all their enemies.  

My take:   They assumed that without doing anything, or living differently — by just being Israelites — that God would give them political power, military strength and personal privilege simply because they were His “chosen.”

What they forgot was what God had ask of them — to be faithful and to take care of each other. 

While we wait for the time we meet God; we are invited to “prepare” — to be ready —  for that time by living in faith/trust in the God Jesus came to tell us about. 

We are to be prepared by believing — however the size of our belief —  God will provide for our welfare with whatever faith we have.

Here is the key to this tiny parable, that is to often over looked: considering the oil as a substance, something we can see, feel and understand about its use.

The oil in that story supplied fire for the lamps.  Right?

We also use this oil to cook with.  Too soothe a pain or soften the skin.

The oil that can be shared.  This oil is a liquid that can be measured.

Oil like this is easy to understand.

However the oil analogy in this parable is more complex in nature;  having various parts that are all interrelated.  And are much more difficult to share easily.

This oil relates to ones faith, trust, belief and spiritual strength — ingredients we are unable to borrow from another.

Caution, the temptation right now would be to think of this oil as a measure of one’s worthiness or value to God.

                                                No so!

The tiniest of faith is worthy of God’s love and acceptance.  I know because Jesus said so.   So I am thinking that this story seems so harsh because it was critical to Jesus that we find spiritual strength to sustain us through all of life.  Not just for an assigned time.

I am thinking Jesus wants us to realize that our faith needs attention all the time, not just when the lamps oil runs out.

In other words it is not wise to assume, or procrastinate, or put God’s will aside until later.

 

Clarification:

Being a good Christian does not necessarily mean being a member of an organized religion; nor belonging to a church.

Being a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ, and all he represented, modeled and taught.

Believing in God/Jesus, no matter the size of your faith, Is all that is needed to be a child of God.

And the door will not be closed to you.

¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

 

The Bridegroom Didn't Open The Door

  “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Harsh words from a loving Jesus.  

The bridegroom won’t answer the door to their call to open it.

Once again the lectionary puts in this difficult parable for us to grapple with.   

It is a parable that grabs at my heart.  

How could Jesus be so harsh to those who call out  “Lord, lord, open to us.”

 

There is a load full of assumptions that pull on this hard to hear parable.  So let me try to explain my simple theology here.

First: 

   The lamps are the ten bridesmaids,

     The oil, faith and spiritual reserve,

       The wise/foolish, the mixed nature of believers. 

The world is filled with wise and foolish people.

                                                                    That is just the truth.

Point of reference:  They all fell asleep and so did their lamps.

So, I want to suggest is that the story of the ten bridesmaids is dealing with the problem of assumptions.  

It is not, in my opinion, about an attempt to scare nor judge our human frailty.  

 To 'assume’ presents a complicated challenge to the human condition.

The foolish made a huge assumption. They assumed the future without taking the responsibility of preparing for other possibilities.

                                                                    

 The bridegroom was “delayed.” 

God doesn’t always fit into our timing.  Or our plans.

BIG jump:

              The word that could be helpful here is: procrastination.

How many of us are not well versed in procrastination?  The temptation to wait to do something we know we have to get done.

As a high school student I was famous for putting off what I didn’t want to do “right now.”  It has taken me a life time to resist that habit.

I am thinking that Jesus’ refusal, to open the door, is a not-so-gentle reminder of how important it is for us to not to assume nor procrastinate.  When it comes to our faith in his love.

Now, before I go on, what is on your mind?

I leave you with this complicated parable until tomorrow.

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” ⁷Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ⁹But 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.” ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” ¹²But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matt. 25)

What Will Our World Be Like?

Four years ago, November 7, 2016, a day I remember living through.  A day when the world was about to change in a way no one could even imagine.

It was an election that radically changed the ways of democracy; as this nation has always coveted.

Today I am trying to imagine what tomorrow will bring.

In the deepest parts of my being I feel hope.

I feel great trust in the majority of, this great countries people.  And where their hearts really are.

I also feel a tiny bit of fear that my idealistic mind will once again be crushed into some awful sort of realism I don’t care to face.

I think it is interesting that the Revised Common Lectionary, for Sunday November 1st,  chose Revelation as the first reading.

The Book of Revelation is about a God who does not pick favorites; and only those who honor rule keepers. 

It is an artistically poetic book that uses one persons imagination to focus on the issues of The Almighty verses the human made culture of the western world’s capitalism and global expansion; that favors the use of all manner of weapon --  military and mental -- of the modern world. 

This one book has created much debate thought out history.  

It is a book about the ways of God verses the ways of human power and mentality.

It is not a book, as many would have you believe, about scaring people into believing.

It is rather a message of hope for those who desire to follow the ways of the God; who came to earth in Jesus’ skin.

A God who sits on the “thrown” and welcomes all races, nations cultures, religious denominations, male, female, Jew, Greek, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, white, yellow, brown black who call on his name.

It is my own precious faith that keeps me grounded in the truth that nothing — not even a Presidential election — can destroy the hope we have in the Creator God.

Who promises to be with us through all of this world ups and downs, confusions and frustrations, grief and joy, destructions and reconciliations — to the end of the earth.