Twenty- third Sunday after Pentecost 8th November 2020

1 Thessalonians 4: 9–18                   

Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly towards outsiders and be dependent on no one. But 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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Matthew 25: 1–13

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! There will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. 

Reflection: 

I decided to do a little research this week- how long does the average person spend waiting every year?

What do you think?  Certainly those who live in the city might have a higher statistic-  they wait for public transport, more traffic lights and more people mean longer queues and we here in Bellingen/Urunga have less time spent- but when you think about waiting in Dr’s surgeries, waiting to at the pathology, waiting to cross the road, waiting in the Chemist, the supermarket, the service station, waiting for the children to get out of school or waiting for your coffee at the café, let along try getting through Coffs Harbour in Christmas traffic and see how many traffic lights you wait at! We probably wait up to 3 minutes at each red light….. tick, tick, tick- it all adds up. 

According to data from online statistics, the average adult spends five hours and 35 minutes queuing each month, with most of those spent waiting in line at the supermarket, and dare I mention, the post office- they say that those posting Christmas mail will wait approx. 10 minutes each time they line up!

Waiting is not always easy. The parable this week that Jesus tells, is certainly about being prepared and ready. I’ve heard many a sermon along these lines- get your life in order, don’t put off the things that you might want to or need to do, tell your family you love them, ask forgiveness or forgive if you need to. Certainly take time to set aside for those things of life that are life giving, foster faith, hope and your relationship with God. But perhaps we still miss the point. Or at least one of the many points of this parable.

In her commentary on this parable, Dr. Susan Hylen offers what I found to be a really helpful insight: Susan writes, ‘the point of the parable is not constant readiness. “Keep awake” does not imply that the disciples should never sleep, standing vigil through the ages for Christ’s imminent return. In fact, all of the bridesmaids, wise and foolish, are asleep when the shout announces the groom’s approach.

What is distinctive about this parable is its focus on the delayed return of the expected one. The passage does not simply call for right action in the groom’s absence. It calls for recognition that he may be delayed.’

By the time Matthew wrote this parable, the community of disciples may have been waiting for Jesus’ return for fifty years or more. Most of the eye-witnesses were either very elderly or likely dead. The church had spread, but it had also been oppressed. The Temple that had been celebrated by both the Jews who confessed Jesus and those who did not had been destroyed, wreaking havoc on Jewish and Christian communities (sometimes worshiping together) alike. So the question for them- ‘Where was Jesus’? 

….Yes, the waiting is the hardest part.

The Thessalonians to whom Paul is writing some thirty years earlier, are experiencing anxiety. They don’t know when the Lord will return. Thus, it’s understandable that Matthew would offer a series of parables highlighting both the need for preparedness and the difficulty of waiting.  

Now extend that challenge to our present day and you can appreciate how little sense it will make to twenty-first century communities to speak about waiting or preparing for Christ’s return, the delay of which had perplexed and upset first-century communities. The apocalyptic imagination of the earliest Christians (including Paul), even if moderated by 50 years of delay (Matthew’s situation), has mostly dissipated in the two thousand years since. Odd self-appointed prophetic types come to light now and then with their great predictions of end times and the end date has come and gone many a time. Even Martin Luther predicted that the end of the world would occur no later than 1600. I can remember when I was still at school (now showing my age) - George Orwell’s book ‘1984’ caused much concern as he predicted an end to the world as we knew it- little did he really know what we would become and are still becoming! Let alone what 2020 would bring! 

And yet the difficulty of waiting is still present. We are waiting for our Lord to return in glory, waiting for an end to war, for the day when every knee will bow before Jesus and proclaim him as Lord and King.

Perhaps the difficulty of waiting is more than ever, as we live in a culture where any delay of satisfaction or result is nearly intolerable and any waiting is often seen as a waste of time. We live in a time when particularly in our western culture gratification seems to be very highly demanded and prioritised. The internet is quicker than ever, we see news that is happening on the other side of the world as it happens, order on line and often it arrives the next day, everything is quicker, more efficient and streamlined. This is one thing that Covid seems to have levelled somewhat as what we ‘want’ is not always now obtainable and we have to learn to wait. I went to buy something the other day and was told that the wait would be up to 6 weeks or longer as they would need to order it and did not know when they could deliver.

So it seems that the theme of “waiting” may be a helpful approach to this challenging parable as we ponder it today, remembering that not all waiting is the same. Waiting for something good – the birth of a healthy child, the closing on the purchase of a house, the promotion in a job or thinking of our year 12 students- acceptance into university – waiting for these sort of things is a lot different than waiting for something that is hard – waiting to see the doctor’s report confirming that the cancer has returned. Or even waiting for the boarder to reopen and for the Victorians recently - for lock down to be over.  And whether you are waiting for something good or bad, when the anticipated arrival is delayed, it’s almost always causes anxiety- why haven’t I heard from….? Have they arrived safely? When can we travel to see our loved ones again? The waiting, indeed, is the hardest part.

Perhaps, then, two thoughts to consider. When the waiting is for something positive, can we slow down to see in the moments of preparation and anticipation blessing. Once it’s here – the baby, the job, the acceptance, life will take on its own new and likely hectic timing. Can waiting at times be seen as gift rather than obstacle? Perhaps practice in waiting for those things we look forward to can help us to increase our patience and perseverance in other areas.

When waiting is not for something positive, or when it is made harder by delay, then I suggest that it’s helpful to remember that we don’t wait alone. The noticeable heartbreak in the parable is that five of the bridesmaids took no extra oil at all. They made no plans, anticipating no delay. Surely there is something to learn here. But the less obvious, but also a disturbing act is that the five who had brought “flasks of oil” would not share. Why do they assume there will not be enough for all? The announcement of the groom’s imminent arrival had already happened. Can we also learn from the wise but miserly bridesmaids and not force people to wait alone, so that no one in our communities has the isolating experience of being locked out?

We often wonder what we can do as communities of faith to make what we offer more attractive to a culture increasingly disinterested with traditional religion. Might we offer ourselves as a community that…….?

Perhaps that’s enough! Can we offer ourselves as a genuine community in a world where more and more people feel isolated? Can we be a community that celebrates together, the people of the Bellinger. A community that slows down to prepare together, to worship, to pray together, to bring the gospel into places of darkness. And people that wait together, making sure when the waiting is the hardest part that no one – not one person – has to wait alone? The waiting is the hardest part. We can’t change that reality, but we can change the experience by waiting together, in Christian unity, community, and fellowship. Amen.