Watching for the morning of November 9
Year A
The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost:
Proper 27 / Lectionary 32
Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow, close up of The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
The Gospel for Sunday brings us to the first of the final three parables in Matthew 25: the five wise and five foolish virgins. It is a parable not an allegory. It does not bid us speculate on what the oil for their lamps signifies or why the five wouldn’t share. It bids us be wise about the reign of God.
It is harvest season. The end of the liturgical year is near. Our gaze turns towards the consummation of the age. And so we read Paul’s letter reassuring the believers in Thessalonica that those who have died will not miss the Day of Grace. But Micah warns his community not to think that the day God draws near in power will be for them a day of Grace.
Judgment and promise. The vision of the wedding banquet when heaven and earth are reconciled and joined as one; and the judgment that some are unprepared for the feast to come. We are headed towards the parable of the sheep and the goats, the great division of humankind to God’s right and left hand. The one will inherit the kingdom, the life of the age to come when all is made new. The other departs into the fire that has been made ready for the devil and his angels.
“Let justice roll down like waters,” urges God through the prophet. And we sing songs and make banners never pausing to consider what happens when we don’t let justice roll down.
It is possible to be unprepared for the wedding. It is possible to be a fool and fail to understand the true nature of the world around us. It is possible to abide in folly, grasping neither in whose image we were made nor what is our destiny. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” imagining there is no point or purpose or direction to life other than what we choose. They are driven by their fears and desires rather than walking in the way of love. They are wandering the marketplace rather than receiving the groom with joy.
Judgment serves grace in scripture. God takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” And there are words of promise in scripture about God’s ultimate triumph over our brokenness. The story is, after all, about a wedding not a legal code, about fidelity and love rather than obedience to rules. But the exhortation remains: Be ready. Be watching. Don’t miss the wedding.
The Prayer for November 9, 2014
Gracious and true God,
our eternal father and our heavenly bridegroom:
grant us wisdom to recognize your way and your life,
and keep us ever faithful to your reign of grace;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Texts for November 9, 2014
First Reading: Amos 5:18-24
“Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord?” – The prophet challenges the people’s hope declaring that, should God draw near, he would draw near in judgment not to save. Instead of looking for deliverance, this people should “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”
Psalmody: Psalm 70
“Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me!” – An urgent prayer for deliverance.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” – Paul writes to reassure his fledgling community in Thessalonica that those who have died will not miss God’s reign of grace upon the earth.
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
“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.” – As a wise bridesmaid would be prepared for the bridegroom to be delayed by the last minute negotiations of the bride price (her family must show her worth by their reticence to let her go) so God’s people must be wise as they wait for the appearing of that day when all things are made new.
Watching for the morning 