“ITS TIME TO CHECK YOUR OIL”

Matthew 25:1-13

(11-09-08)

 

 

 

Why didn’t they share the oil? 

After weeks of preaching on what the kingdom of heaven will be like,

that it will be a place where forgiveness is practiced over and over again,

that it will be like a vineyard owner

who pays the last workers just as much as the first,

that it will be like a king who shows enormous mercy

to a servant who owes a debt he cannot repay,

that the fundamentals of the kingdom

will be to love God with all that we are

and to love our neighbour as ourselves,

that we are to humble ourselves

for those who try to exalt themselves will be humbled,

after all that, it’s a bit jarring to come upon this parable

where 5 bridesmaids won’t share their oil with 5 of their friends,

where it seems that you better take care of yourself because no one else will,

where being a little late, making a little mistake,

won’t place you in the hands of a merciful God,

but rather smack up against God’s judgment! 

 

There’s a story of a high school teacher in Nashville, Tennessee,

who took great pleasure in slamming the classroom door as soon as the bell rang,

and then saying with relish to every late student who knocked at the door,

‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 

If we are offended by such a teacher,

what would make us less offended by Jesus’ depiction of a bridegroom

who stands at the door and says to the late bridesmaids the same thing? 

 

How many wedding banquet have you been to where someone wasn’t late? 

Isn’t this the same Jesus who said that the last shall be first in the kingdom? 

Apparently you can be last, but you better not be late! 

It’s a hard parable to hear,

but parables are meant to challenge us,

to shake up the usual way we think about things. 

 

Our text for this morning is part of Jesus’ response

to a question from his disciples about when he would return after his resurrection,

about what the end of the age would be like. 

Jesus responds by making it clear that no one knows the day or hour,

not the angels, not even the Son, only God the Father, and he’s not saying. 

Rather than worrying about the exact timing of it all,

Jesus says that we are to live in readiness for his return,

whenever that might be. 

 

By the time Matthew wrote his gospel account,

at least 50 years after the resurrection of Jesus,

he had not returned and the early Christian community

began to worry about when Jesus would indeed return to earth. 

So Jesus’ words about not worrying about the timing

but rather about living in readiness,

were even more pertinent for the early church

and they are for us today as well. 

 

What separates the wise from the foolish, in the words of Tom Long,  

is that the wise aren’t just ready for the groom’s arrival,

they are ready for the groom’s delay. 

How do we, then, live faithfully,

anticipating the return of Christ,

but prepared for his delay?

In the parable, Jesus equates living wisely in readiness for his return,

with having enough oil for our lamps. 

This is perhaps the key to understanding this parable. 

How do we understand this oil? 

We know some things about the oil from what Jesus says in the parable. 

Because the bridegroom was delayed,

all the bridesmaids fell asleep. 

When the time came, the foolish ones found that their lamps were going out

because they didn’t bring enough oil. 

Apparently, the wise bridesmaids

felt that there might not have been enough for both them and for the others

since they would not share their oil. 

That’s an assumption but it may not necessarily be an accurate one. 

There may have not been enough,

but there might well have been enough to go around. 

The difference is in understanding the nature of the oil. 

It seems that the kind of oil Jesus speaks of

isn’t something that you can borrow from another at the last moment. 

 

Last week we spoke about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees,

of how they loved to talk the talk but didn’t walk the walk. 

They had no credibility in the eyes of Jesus,

everything they did was for show. 

I doubt whether this sort of false piety was what Jesus was getting at

when he spoke about having enough oil in our lamps. 

Its not about simply crossing off things on a list of religious things to do,

or accumulating points on some holiness chart. 

Its about our nature, about who we are and how we live,

whether we are living as the light of the world,

as a lamp which is not put under a bowl but rather is put on a stand,

giving light to everyone in the house. 

There are things that can be shared

but there are other things that simply must be owned,

that must be lived out in each of us. 

We can share our money with people,

but we can’t share our sense of generosity if they don’t have the heart for it. 

We can share our knowledge with someone

but not the passion we have for a particular subject. 

We can even share a kidney with someone that might need one,

but you can’t transplant hope, faith and love into another person’s heart. 

You just have to own certain things,

you just have to live it out for yourself. 

 

I think this is what Jesus was getting at with this parable. 

How do we live faithfully,

anticipating Christ’s return, but prepared for his delay? 

We live, not stockpiling a checklist of religious deeds or achievements,

not obsessed with trying to know the unknowable,

about when Christ will return,

interpreting every event and happening

as a sign of the imminent appearance of Jesus,

and we certainly don’t live as a people

who have given up all hope because of the delay in Christ’s return.

 

We live, rather, as a people who know that the Jesus who will return

will be very much like the Jesus who returned already after the resurrection

and who has now ascended into heaven. 

We live as a people who already know what Jesus expects of us,

to be the light of the world, to be lamps on a hill,

to live working for healing, with compassion, with mercy, for justice. 

We live as a people who know

that Jesus has already given us the commands we need

to live lives of readiness,

that we are to love God with all that we are

and to love our neighbour as ourselves. 

 

Its about living with integrity, with consistency, with credibility,

its about making sure that what we do in private matches what we say in public,

its about living with authenticity, not hypocrisy,

with intentionality, not accidentally. 

 

Its time to check your oil. 

When the time comes, when the banquet doors are opened,

we won’t be able to get in using false piety,

it won’t make any difference how often we went through the motions

if our hearts weren’t in it, just ask the Pharisees.

We won’t be able to get in on someone else’s faith,

not our parents’, not our grandparents’, not our spouses’ or our friends,’

we can’t borrow someone else’s oil,

there are some things that we just need to own,

that we just need to live out. 

 

Its time to check your oil. 

Do we live with an abundant supply of oil,

anticipating Christ’s return,

but ready for his delay? 

Do we live with a nature which is faithful enough

to be fully engaged in the work of God’s kingdom,

trusting that the future is in God’s hands,

even if that future is delayed?

 

I began the sermon with the question,

why didn’t they share the oil? 

There comes a time when you just can’t share the kind of oil Jesus is speaking about. 

But the good news is this, that time isn’t yet upon us. 

The good news is that this is still the time for sharing. 

We are to be about all those things that Jesus spoke about

when he was describing the kingdom of heaven. 

We are to be about forgiving, sharing, mercy, grace and love. 

We are to be about loving God and loving our neighbour

so that they may come to own the truth of Jesus’ love, joy and peace

in their own lives, in their own hearts. 

 

And the good news is also this, maybe even more so this,

that in this time of God’s gracious delay,

we still have time to learn from the generous sharing of others,

from the God-filled love of others for us,

so that for all of us who need to replenish our reserves of oil,

we might do so now, while there is still time.

My friends, is time to check our oil. 

In this time of God’s gracious delay,

if we are running short on oil,

if indeed we have even run out and our lamps aren’t shining as they should,

don’t despair, don’t give up, but don’t wait either. 

We can’t cram for life’s final examination. 

 

The good news is that in God’s grace,

its not too late, not too late now to make a decision,

to take that first step, to make a commitment,

to entrust our lives into God’s care

and to rest in the peace and joy that comes from knowing

that we have come to own the things God desires of us

and are living the lives God intends for us. 

And to God be the glory, now and forevermore, Amen.