Pentecost 22 a

Pentecost 22 (Matthew 25:1-13) “Watch!”

Watch is the imperative to wake up, pay attention, assume personal responsibility for your actions and attitudes.

It is important to remember that a parable is not an allegory. A parable is a story drawn from life experience that helps us to understand spiritual truth. The parable helps to reveal the pattern of truth our Heavenly Father designed into the universe. The parable helps us to discern how the Holy Spirit works within the context of human experience to manifest that pattern in our lives.

It is important for us as 21^st century people living in a secular culture to have some basic knowledge about the marriage customs in Biblical times. The culture then expected everyone to marry. Jesus was an exception to this rule as were the apostles Paul and John. This cultural expectation was grounded in one of the most ancient principles that govern life on this planet. That principle is “populate or perish.”

Marriage was considered too important to society to leave to individual choice based on infatuation or romance. Families arranged marriages when their children were very young. A marriage celebration was a great feast for the entire community. It was carefully planned. The date was set months perhaps even years in advance. Everyone knew the date and the place for the marriage feast.

That is a key point in this parable. All ten bridesmaids had received the invitation. All ten knew the date that the Bridegroom and his friends would walk through the town and summon  the guests to the celebration. All ten knew this event was very important to the life of the community as a whole and for them personally. Only five of the ten took the invitation seriously.

Only five prepared. Only five kept watch on the pre announced day. Note that all ten fell asleep as they waited. But, the five who had prepared were ready when the Bridegroom came.

Now, many modern people miss the meaning in the parable. We feel a certain outrage, perhaps, that the five wise maidens did not share their oil with the five foolish. We find fault with the Bridegroom that he makes no allowance for the maidens who come late to the celebration. We are, if we are honest, outraged that the Bridegroom isn’t more understanding, charitable….Christian.

The point of the parable is that there is an hour of decision. The principle of the parable is the principle of paying attention, preparing and assuming personal responsibility for our lives. The pattern is the interplay of grace and choice.

Although the parable is not an allegory, people at the time understood the oil represented grace. Grace is universal and unconditional. We cannot buy it. We don’t deserve it. We can have as much as we want but we can’t sell it, barter it or even share it with others.

In the preparation the five wise maidens paid attention to the customs of their time. They were alert to the invitation and the appointed day. They prepared by cultivating their attitudes and actions with the goal in mind. The kept watch for the great moment.

The five foolish maidens did not prepare. They did not prepare because they did not value the invitation. Because they did not value the invitation they did not keep watch. They cultivated an attitude and an action of indifference. They weren’t lazy. They just did not care. They were indifferent.

The application to the plan of salvation is the pattern of choice, self- responsibility and consequence. God constantly pours forth grace, divine favor, to all people everywhere. The Great Mystery of the Plan of Salvation is human choice. Some of us pay attention. Some of us don’t. Some of us value what God is offering. Some of us don’t. Some of us prepare to meet Christ, the Bridegroom, by using the grace the Holy Spirit gives us to place Jesus first in our list of priorities. And, some of us don’t.

Salvation is the real presence of the co-eternal Son in our lives. It is a universal unconditional gift to all people everywhere without exception. Jesus once made this point by saying that some criminals and promiscuous people would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven while some upstanding and moral people would not. The key is choice.

The door to heaven which this key fits is Jesus.

Jesus wants all people to accept his Father’s grace and to cultivate the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the eternal Bridegroom. Heaven is the marriage feast. As Billy Graham once observed: there are no shot gun weddings in heaven. If you want what God offers you can have it as a gift. But, you can’t buy it. You can’t demand it as a right. And, you can’t borrow it from someone else.

Jesus loves us with an everlasting love. Because he loves us he warns us. It does matter what you choose. It does matter where you place your time and attention. Every choice you make forms your soul. You are the co-creator of your own life in this world and your destiny in the life of the world to come.

The Father sets the pattern according to the Son by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The pattern is the real presence of divine love. The process unfolds in every choice we make. The Holy Spirit is the Helper who offers to anoint us with the oil of salvation. Jesus offers himself to us as our forever friend. In that offer he reminds to make a real choice to pay attention, take personal responsibility for your attitudes and actions. Above all- observe the chain of cause and effect in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Hear the call to worship, believe the call to worship, and respond to the call to worship.

Wake up. Pay attention. Make a real choice to live and move and have your being in the real presence of Jesus Christ who encourages us with the imperative; Watch,