The Long Night of Faith
Pentecost 24, Proper 27
November 12, 2023
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today’s parable comes to us at a fitting time. Our days are getting steadily shorter as we approach winter – on the calendar if not on the thermometer. This despite our futile attempt to “save” daylight – it should be called daylight shifting time, no savings occur.
On first pass, the point of the parable seems clear enough. The bridesmaids represent those who follow Jesus, be it his 12 leading disciples, his disciples in general or extended all the way out to all who follow him or are seeking him. Jesus said, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” No matter who you are, be prepared because he is coming at an unexpected hour.
Most often when we think about Jesus coming, we have in mind The Second Coming, which we heard Paul describe to the Thessalonians. The Lord will descend from heaven, the dead in Christ will rise first (which will be very interesting) and then the living get caught up to be with the Lord forever.
He’s addressing a common concern that arose in the early Church. As the Apostles shared the Good News about Jesus among Jews and Gentiles, they shared what he said about coming again, what we call the Day of the Lord. They heard the urgency in Jesus’ warnings in parables like this one and when he spoke more directly about it as he had just done in chapter 24 of Matthew’s gospel, and they naturally assumed that meant he was coming soon, certainly in their lifetimes.
But as is always true in life, people die. We regularly lose family and friends and acquaintances, so it was important for Paul to assure people that physical death wasn’t an issue given the will and creative power of God. I’ll expand on that a little further to say, and this is my studied opinion, that bodily burial, or cremation, or burial at sea, or lost in an accident of some sort – whatever becomes of our physical bodies – is not an issue given the will and creative power of God.
We do not want you to be uninformed. We do need to wrestle with what Jesus meant when he told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” and how that relates to his Second Coming and the raising of the dead as well as the living. Faith seeks understanding. If we live in Christ and if we die in Christ, we are his and his promise holds forever.
Just as some in the early Church expected Jesus to come again in their lifetimes, that hope and expectation has been alive and active in every generation ever since. When Jesus shared the signs of his Second Coming, he mentioned wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, tribulations, false prophets, lawlessness and “the love of many will grow cold.” Add to that the dynamic but very challenging symbols and metaphors in The Revelation to John and others in scripture, both the Old and New Testaments.
We can look around today and we have wars and rumors of wars brewing on many fronts. The war in Ukraine in particular threatens famine. The war in Israel and Palestine is worrisome in its particulars but also in where it might lead. We can’t possibly know how Artificial Intelligence will affect our world, and we have a ton of science fiction chocked full of warnings about it, but here we go anyway.
But we also know that every generation has had its clashes and calamities, its disasters, evil rulers and looming challenges that could be tied to the signs. Jesus is very clear. He says be ready, but don’t worry. He does not want us to be fixated on those events. he wants us to be fixated on him. The bridesmaids aren’t fortifying the defenses, in fact they all fall asleep. But half of them have reserved lamp oil, and there is a key part of this lesson.
We don’t know when Christ will come again on the Day of the Lord. We pray for it and we wait for it, but we can’t know and we won’t know. Jesus said no one knows except the Father.
Further, none of us know when we will die and have our personal reckoning with him. But his command is the same. Be ready, so ready that should you fall asleep, which Jesus sometimes used as a metaphor for death, you’ve got oil in your lamp and more in reserve. The oil is your faith, built up in your love of Jesus and put in action as oil burns in a lamp, not hidden but put on a table to shine forth dispelling the darkness.
It occurs to me that we are also regularly awaiting Jesus in the daily struggles of life. We wait on Jesus.
As a church, as a community of faith, we are collectively dealing with illnesses, some of them critical, injuries, chronic pain, anxiety, illnesses and financial strains. We are dealing with loss of mobility and despair of things ever improving. We see the strife and cruelty in the world, the natural disasters and the man-made ones. Meanwhile, babies are being born, forgiveness is given, families are gathering and life is celebrated. Prayers are prayed over all of it. We live in hope, and when hope seems dim, we hope for hope itself.
All the while, we wait for Jesus. We may be awaiting him for ourselves or for people we love. We wait for him to come in glory. We wait for him to take us home. We wait for him to heal, to comfort, to direct, and to simply be with us day by day as we walk along difficult road that gets steeper and rockier as we go. We wait for him in the dark of night when our pain and worries rob us of sleep.
In what ways are you waiting for Jesus today, tonight, tomorrow? Let’s pray on that.
AMEN