Year A - Proper 27, November 12, 2023
Burn Your Lamp Brightly
In the name of the one who calls us to be faithful and to keep our lamps burning, Amen.
Once again, in this morning’s Gospel reading, we are right in the middle of Holy Week. Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He has spoken to the chief priests and religious leaders in the Temple. But he’s no longer there. It is now Tuesday evening, and he is on the Mount of Olives, just East of town, having an intimate conversation with his disciples.
In these sacred moments with his disciples, Jesus has only a few more chances to pass the torch, so to speak, to help them prepare for ministry without Jesus’ physical presence. So he leaves them with this parable of ten bridesmaids.
I have so many nagging questions about this parable:
Why couldn’t the bridesmaids with lamps burning share their lamps with the others?
Why didn’t the bridegroom know his wedding party?
Why was the groom late to his own wedding?
Who would have been able to buy oil in the middle of the night anyway?
And so my questions sent me searching to learn more about first century weddings:
In Jesus’ day, all the wedding guests would gather at the bride’s home. The bridesmaids were young women, eligible for marriage. When the groom and his family were ready for the wedding, the groom would travel to the bride’s home.
Everyone would then light torches and join together in a grand processional to the groom’s home for the wedding ceremony and festivities that would then last several days. Jesus was a part of one of these weddings at Cana.
Like weddings today, these events were emotional, anticipated, and beloved moments within the community. And, it would have been common sense to bring extra oil for the torches.
Thus, in today’s parable, Jesus uses a momentous event to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. While he is referring to the last day, when the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour, he is simultaneously referring to the Kingdom that is here, now.
At this important moment with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, Jesus is talking about readiness. The Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay, minister and writer, says this:
“Readiness comes in the small details as much as in the climatic moments. Jesus lived over thirty years, spent three years in public ministry, and only a few hours on the cross.
Every moment made up his mission.
Every encounter was important.
Every decision moved him forward in preparation for the glory of the passion and resurrection.”
Brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ, I believe that when our lamps are filled with oil and burning, we, too, must living as though:
Every moment makes up our mission of following Christ;
Every encounter is an opportunity to encounter Christ;
And every decision can better enable us to extend God’s love in new and mighty ways.
Encountering Christ can take place every time we share in God’s love with someone. And these opportunities are endless! They can be at the checkout lane in the grocery store, they can be at home with our family while we’re doing laundry, they can be here at church during coffee hour or during Sunday School.
Healing moments also come through participating in intentional opportunities for reconciliation with those around us. One recent opportunity in our Diocese was by learning about the Indian Boarding School in Genoa, NE. in the 19th and 20th centuries, there were over 500 Indian Boarding Schools across the US. Children were often forcibly removed from their families and taken to one of these boarding schools, striving to assimilate them into a European way of living.
“Kill the Indian to save the man,” they said. Reading, writing and only speaking English were part of the curriculum. The children wore European clothes, their hair was cut, and they completed manual labor as part of their duties. Many children died at these schools, either from abuse or from disease.
Nothing can undo what has already happened. However, descendants of these Pawnee students and we can experience healing through reconciliation. Reconciliation begins with learning, listening and by being affected by these stories. In situations such as these, we have the opportunity to acknowledge the pain caused by those who have gone before us, realize that the Pawnee people still suffer due to the atrocities that have occurred, and respond in love. In August, a member of the Santee Sioux Nation, Misty Flowers, shared some of the stories of Genoa with our Diocese. The school has reopened as a museum, and Genoa’s Digital Reconciliation Project is now available online.
This is just one example of how our Diocese is striving to follow Christ through reconciliation. These types of efforts toward experiencing God are invaluable, for it is impossible for us to empathize, or respond in love, if we ignore the stories.
In fact, so often, we fail to make every moment count. Our lamps quit shining when we get caught up in our own stressors. We become blinded by the things that cause us angst or distract us, and then we are unable to see the needs of the world around us.
When our lamps are burning brightly:
We can see the needs in the world,
We are reminded to make every moment count, and
We recognize that Christ is present, and stands at our door knocking.
When we respond in love to the needs that constantly surround us, we find that we experience healing, as well.
This healing is what God offers you. I believe that God, too, sees every moment as an opportunity to bring healing to your life.
Healing moments can happen at any given time. When we’re awake and ready for the Spirit to move, God’s Kingdom is near. Amen
Rev. Lisa Aguilar+