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Psalm 70 |
November 10, 2002 Proper 27, Year A;
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
As I stood in the checkout line at Shop N Save on Wednesday evening I started reading the covers of the tabloid newspapers, you know, the ones with the flashy headlines that are strategically placed in the checkout aisle for waiting customers. Well the headline of the “Sun” did catch my eye. There in bold print was ARMAGEDDON IS HERE! Beneath the headline was a picture of soldiers dressed in biochemical warfare uniforms, and under the picture was headline Bible Warnings Come True at Last. Knowing what I had to preach on today, I toyed with buying a copy to see if it had anything better to preach on than the scripture readings for this morning. What the heck! (Hold up copy of the Sun.) I went back and bought a copy. Now I probably don’t need to tell you that it was a waste of money. The authors of the article in the Sun used prophecies that have already been fulfilled to make their case that war with Iraq will herald in the final battle against the forces of evil, thereby bringing about the second coming of Christ.
Predictions about God intervening in the affairs of the world have a long history. During the time of Amos the kingdoms of Judah and Israel enjoyed great prosperity and influence. They might even have been considered a super power of that time. Some held the belief that God was about to act by restoring the kingdoms to the glory and power they enjoyed under David and Solomon. As we hear this morning Amos was not very reassuring about God elevating the Jews to an even higher status in the world. As a matter-in-fact, Amos’ prophecy was a kind of Armageddon for the Jews. “It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”[i] Maybe not quite as dramatic as the visions of Daniel or that John wrote about in his book of Revelation, but still a rather bleak prophecy of the future.
What brings about these doomsday prophecies that we read about in the Bible and tabloids like the Sun? During the time of Amos a smugness had developed toward God and the laws that he had given to them to govern their lives. In their prosperity many of God’s chosen people had abandon the faith and ways of their religious heritage in favor of living the “good life.” The worship and sacrifices they did offer to God were more of a bribe to appease him for their sinful behavior than an expression of their faith. And their greed for more as they accumulated their wealth at the exploitation of friends and strangers alike became a driving force. They were if you will, burning the wick of their oil lamp at both ends so that darkness and not light would greet them on the day of the Lord.
Centuries later a light came into the darkness of the world, a light capable of dispelling all darkness. This light was Jesus Christ. As he lived and moved among the people he taught them that the day of the Lord could be a welcomed event, a time of brightness. But he also told them it could just as well be a time to be dreaded, a time of darkness and gloom. He told them a parable about what it would be like when the day of the Lord came. One of the stories he used about the day of the Lord was that of the wise and foolish bridesmaids.
Wedding customs were different in the time of Jesus. Although we do not know very much about the wedding ceremonies, from this parable we do learn that one of the customs was that there was a period of waiting for the groom to come and take his bride to the wedding banquet. It is during this time of waiting that the bridesmaids waited with the bride for the arrival of the groom. It is also apparent that this event often occurred after dark, as the bridesmaids formed a grand procession of oil lamps to escort the couple to the banquet.
The parable does not have a happy ending for some of the bridesmaids because they were foolish. They ran out of oil and their lamps went out. The rejection these bridesmaids receive seems very severe, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”
What did Jesus mean by this parable? Jesus is the bridegroom. The five wise bridesmaids are those who are prepared to receive and go with Jesus whenever he returns. The five foolish bridesmaids are those who want to be a part of the resurrection but have not prepared themselves for the journey. The wedding banquet is the messianic banquet in the kingdom of God.
Last Sunday we baptized Nicole Young. We baptized her because she wanted to receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. But as I reminded Nicole before the service, this is just the beginning of her journey, the time of waiting. Her responsibility is to use this time wisely by growing in her faith and relationship with God and Jesus. As I presented Nicole a lit candle after she was baptized I said, “Nicole, receive the light of Christ and walk as a child of the light.” Now that candle will not burn forever. Eventually the wick and the wax will be consumed and it will no longer shed any light. But fortunately for her and us, the light of Christ will never go out in us, so long as we remain immersed in that which feeds the light.
The oil lamp is a better example of what I am talking about. Pull the wick out of the oil and soon the flame dies. The oil in Jesus’ parable represents the grace of God poured down upon us in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. If we withdraw from that grace, darkness soon begins to descend upon us. When this happens, the day of the Lord will become an Armageddon because the doors of heaven will be shut and no matter how hard we bang on the doors and cry out, the voice from inside will say, “I do not know you.” On that day darkness and destruction will descend on those who have separated themselves from the love and grace of God.
All of this talk about the “day of the Lord” and Armageddon is frightening even to Christians. Do we have enough divine oil to keep the light of Christ burning brightly until his second coming? To borrow from the imagery of Paul in his Second Letter from Timothy[ii] that was read at Mabel Fick’s funeral yesterday, have we fought the good fight or given in to sin, have we finished the race or quit before we reached the finish line of salvation, have we kept the faith or discarded it for the treasures of the world?
As we laid Mabel’s remains in the hole in the ground yesterday I felt a confidence that she greeted her death with brightness because her lamp was burning brightly as she awaited her turn to meet the bridegroom and walk with him to the messianic banquet prepared for her in the kingdom.
We are here this morning to have the oil in our lamps replenished. And replenished they will become as we immerse ourselves in the worship of God who offers salvation freely to all who accept it. Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and souls with the divine oil of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, that when the trumpet sounds at our death or while we are still alive we will gladly welcome him on the “day of the Lord.”