If Not Me - Who?

Proper 27A; Amos 5:18-24; Matthew 25:1-13; St. Paul’s, 11/12/2017

Jim Melnyk, “If Not Me, Who?”

(Standing at lectern, looking around, drumming fingers…) Don’tcha just hate waiting?  We spend a lot of time waiting.  Waiting in line.  Waiting at the light – even waiting on the Interstate.  Waiting on a spouse or partner, our children or parents…waiting on love.  Waiting for revenge…waiting for peace.

We spend much of our lives waiting for one thing or another – some of us are better at it than others – but none of us have it down pat.  Do I start doing something and have to stop in the middle?  Do I just sit and think until it’s time? Today’s lessons are about waiting – and what we’re called to do and be in the midst of that wait.

We open with Israel lost in exile – waiting in Babylon – living in judgment for trampling God’s justice in the dust.  “You sell the righteous for silver,” Amos has told Israel.  “You sell the needy for a pair of sandals.”  Israel sits by the waters in Babylon and waits for the Day of the Lord to come – the Day of Judgment – hoping to be vindicated by God.  Amos says, “You’ve got to be crazy!  Your vindication will be a long time coming.”  And in the midst of the waiting Amos tells them, “Don’t count on your religion to save you – it’s not enough to practice good liturgy, or have great voices – even good sermons.  There’s more to it than that folks!” 

As my spouse, The Rev. Lorraine Ljunggren, has said: “The life of faith isn’t about holding great faith convictions, rather, it’s about being held by great faith convictions.”  “Let justice roll down like waters,” says Amos, “and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”  Live as though you believe God’s promises to be true.

Like Amos, Jesus seeks to offer hope in a time of exile – an exile that’s internal in its nature.  At home in the land, the people of Israel are not at home with God.  The Romans occupy their land. 

There are too many teachers teaching the letter of the law and not enough teaching its spirit.  As in every age and every culture, people are being pushed to the edge of society.  Justice is lost.  Israel hopes, and waits, for her vindication.

No wonder Matthew’s Jesus bears the name Emmanuel – “God with us.” Jesus tells his listeners to be prepared – to be ready to live as if God is physically present in their here and now – in the midst of the people. “Readiness in Matthew is…living the life of the kingdom, living the quality of life described in the Sermon on the Mount” (The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. VIII, page 451).  In Matthew’s gospel the Sermon stands as the framework for Jesus' teachings – the framework for true discipleship.  It’s not as “earthy” as Luke’s Sermon on the Plain – where hunger, thirst and poverty aren’t spiritualized – yet it still calls listeners to a new reality of life. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit (theirs is the kingdom of heaven).Blessed are those who mourn (they will be comforted).  Blessed are the meek (they will inherit the earth).  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (they will be filled)…the merciful (they will receive mercy)…the pure in heart (they will see God)…the peacemakers (they shall be called children of God).

Once again Jesus offers a parable which is more about living these truths now, rather than sitting and waiting for some far off future.  The bridesmaids go out to the feast – some prepared and some not.  The oil in their lamps connects us with long-standing Jewish tradition.  There are places in the tradition where oil symbolizes good deeds.  “The oil, or rather having oil in this story, represents what will count [when Christ returns:] deeds of love and mercy in obedience to the Great Commandment [in this life].” “When I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink – you clothed me when I was naked – visited me when I was sick or in prison.” 

There are also places in Jewish tradition where oil represents the Torah – the Teaching of God – and having oil would mean living in the fullness of God’s teaching.  Preparation for the fulfillment of God’s promise is therefore seen as responsible deeds of discipleship – not simply staying awake or remaining watchful.  Christian faith is not an exercise in theory – it’s a way of living one’s life faithfully for God in a very real and needy world.

Many years ago at a community worship service I heard what was for me a troublesome word preached on this parable.  The pastor said, if you’ve got the oil you’re in, and if you don’t have it you’re out – you’re consigned to the fires of hell.  I remember thinking, “No way! When I preach this I’ll say that in the end Jesus would surely have had the bridesmaids share their oil.  “I’ll do one of those: ‘you’ve heard it said…but I say to you’…deals Jesus is so famous for in Matthew.”

Then I started reading commentaries.  “Don’t get all sentimental about Jesus and start talking about sharing the oil,” they all read.  Rats!  But the truth is – if this story is about living faithfully while we wait, then the undeniable reality of the spiritual life is that nobody can live faithfully for you.  Nobody can be faithful for me.  There are some things I have to do myself.  I can’t live out the Sermon on the Mount through you.  I can’t live out the Great Commandment through you – no more than you can live them through me.  It’s not about being selfish – and it’s not about refusing to share – it’s about doing for ourselves what only we can do for ourselves – living faithfully and trusting the grace and love of God to sustain us.

And that’s where the tough part comes in.  Waiting.  Being ready for the long haul.  Living faithfully is easy to do – for a day – or a few weeks – maybe even for a season – but for a lifetime?  Matthew includes this parable of Jesus because his readers have been waiting for the return of Christ.  What they thought would be a long weekend wait has stretched out into decades – and still no Jesus.  Believers are dying and Jesus hasn’t returned.  They needed hope for their time in the waiting – they needed to know how to live in the midst of the waiting – because living faithfully is such a tough thing to do.  “Being a peacemaker for a day is not as demanding as being a peacemaker year after year when the hostility breaks out again and again, and the return of Jesus is still delayed.  Being merciful for an evening can be pleasant; being merciful for a lifetime, when the bridegroom is delayed, requires preparedness” (TNIB, p451).  How prepared are we to be merciful these days?

If the parable is about being prepared – and if it’s about living into the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount – if it’s about the Great Commandment and about the parable that follows this one – if the parable is about being faithful to Torah (about being faithful to the Teaching of God) – then we must pay attention.  How are we, as individuals, living in this time of waiting?  How faithful are we at living out these teachings of God in Christ?  How faithful are we to those whom Jesus calls “the least of us?” If we’re not faithful to the call, then it’s not even a matter of ‘if’ we have enough oil for the feast – we might as well pour out what oil we have on the ground – because we will have missed the whole point!

In some ways it boils down to three questions.  If not me, who?  If not here, where?  If not now, when?   Are we willing to live as if God is physically present in our here and now – in the midst of us? Living faithfully is what we do in the midst of waiting for God’s promises to unfold.  It’s hard enough for me to wait graciously while stuck in traffic – let alone for something as ethereal as God.  I mean, I only have so much oil, you know?  How much of ourselves will we bring to the task?  How much of who we are and what God has given us will we offer in preparation for God’s coming among us?  If not me – if not us, who?  If not here – if not St. Paul’s, where?  If not now – if not today, when?