BE PREPARED
A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon
First Baptist Church, Palo Alto, CA
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Text: Matthew 25:1-13
My entire career as a Boy Scout fell within my fourteenth or fifteenth year. As a sissy boy, who often felt lonely and outcast, the scout troop that met in the basement of First Baptist Church held an initial promise that I might be one of the boys and make my father proud of me. He himself had been an Eagle Scout, rising to the highest rank. But the truth of the matter was that I was not a very good scout. At the time, I might have argued that I wasn’t cut out for scouting, though from this perspective, I’m not certain how true that is. Perhaps, with a little more support, a little more courage, a little more perseverance, I could have been an Eagle, too. My memory is that I was defeated by the complexities of learning Morse Code and my inability to tie the proper knots. I don’t remember feeling devastated or demoralized by my scouting failure. It seems to me I just lost interest and drifted away. There were many other things, like reading and music, school and church that captured my attention and held it. If my father was greatly disappointed, I don’t remember his laying that on me.
So, it’s always been a little bit of a joke to me that I was not a good Scout. Not something I’ve worried about or lost sleep over through the years. Why am I bringing this up this morning? Well, those of you in the know recognized this morning’s sermon title as the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared.” Many a joke or comedy sketch has been spun from this time-worn motto. Since I’m a worse joke teller than I was a scout, I won’t attempt to repeat any of these, but you may want to chuckle quietly to yourself as you recall your favorite.
Still, “Be Prepared” is also a time-honored motto; it’s also the primary theme of this morning’s ancient word. Though parables are supposed to have one simple, arresting point to make, at least for their first hearers, this parable is complex and challenging from a 21st century perspective. To begin with, Jesus says “The kingdom of heaven will be like this.” Right from the beginning, we’re in troubled water. By and large, our tradition has taught us that heaven is that “land that is fairer than day, and by grace we can see it afar.” It is above and beyond; it is that place in which we hope to spend eternity, walking golden streets and singing with angel choirs. But, as we’ve noted before, this is a misreading of what Matthew is trying to say. When Matthew writes about the kingdom of heaven, he is really writing about what the other gospels call the kingdom of God. Out of respect for the Jewish tradition in which he is immersed, he is reluctant to name the name of God and so he opts for heaven as an alternative. But in his view, as well as that of the other gospel writers, Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God, though it has dimensions beyond the here and now, is, more than anything, the way God wants us to live today, not in some sweet by and by. In its day it was a radical and revolutionary political claim, that creation is God’s realm; none other rules here. It is a direct challenge to all earthly claims of power and authority.
Now it is true that first century church initially believed that Jesus would return in glory any day, radically changing their own lot in life. But, as Matthew writes, toward the end of that century, hope has begun to fade. Devout believers have died without seeing the second coming. Oppression continues, persecution increases, poverty grinds down, spirits and bodies are crushed. The promise has begun to lose its power and appeal. People have started to drift away from the community and the faith, and Matthew’s group, the Jesus’ Movement, seems to be losing the battle to be the dominant party in Judaism.
I think I’ve told the story before of my beloved Sunday School teacher who told us that it was better that people be scared in to heaven than burn in hell. Even, in my adolescent confusion, my soul said “No, this is not the way it works.” As I thought about this text, I wondered if Matthew was up to something like that, trying to hold the attention and the faithfulness of his community as they became increasingly skeptical about Jesus’ return. Essentially he’s saying, “If you don’t take this Jesus’ business seriously, you will not be taken seriously when the time comes.” Scare them into being prepared by threatening them with being shut out. I don’t know for sure, but it is difficult for me to imagine God or Jesus saying to anyone who wants to be part of the kingdom that they are unwelcome or unrecognizable. Still, these matters of ultimate judgment are in God’s hands. I do believe that any of us is quite capable, like the foolish maidens, of putting ourselves in the position where we lose out.
God is very likely a God of judgment as she is a God of compassion. It may be difficult, if not impossible to separate those two realities in the heart of God. Because God has loved us and given so much for us, she quite reasonably expects that we will step up and be the creatures she has made us to be. Among her expectations are that we would be awake and prepared, that we would be conscious and in tune with her way and her will for our lives.
However, in his editing of the parable that Jesus told, Matthew has added his punch line about people staying awake since we know “neither the day nor the hour” when Jesus will return. But if we look at the parable itself, both the wise and the foolish maidens fall asleep. It’s not their sleeping that’s the problem. They all wake up when the Bridegroom calls. The problem is that only half of them are prepared to go on with the Bridegroom to the wedding banquet. Now admittedly, we could make a case for the meanness of the wise maidens who won’t share their oil or even with the Bridegroom, himself, who seems excessively harsh, but these side trails take us away from the central focus that we are to “Be Prepared.” David Bartlett says of this passage that “For Matthew, the story of the maidens is a further elaboration of the demand that the faithful should always be ready for the consummation of the kingdom.” He says, “The passage is clearly parabolic and eschatological. This is not a moral homily about how to treat one’s needy neighbors but an evangelical call to constant watchfulness. In the life of faith there are many gifts one can give to another, but one’s watchfulness, readiness, faith are always one’s own” (David Bartlett, New Proclamation Commentary on the Gospels: Matthew, p. 54.)
As I reflected on my Boy Scout experience, my first thoughts were that it is all ancient history and, like algebra or chemistry or physical education, none of it is or ever was of any real use to me. But then I thought of all those things that I didn’t learn in scouting or in school and wondered what would happen if I was lost in the wilderness or cut off from resources in a natural disaster. There are ways in which I can be very focused and helpful in a crisis or emergency, but there are many other ways I would be utterly unprepared. Since I don’t go backpacking in the wilderness and I think I know the basic things to do in an earthquake, I probably won’t lose a lot of sleep over these wonderments, but it did help me focus on the importance of the point I think Jesus is trying to make in this parable. How well we prepare makes a difference in our lives.
The kingdom of heaven, God’s realm is like a wedding banquet. It is utterly joyful, filled with fun, food and festivity for all and we need to be ready to party. It is somewhat ironic to consider such a severe word spoken in relationship to wedding party. Marcus Borg helped me see this yesterday in response to a question I asked him about today’s text. In fact, he speculated about letting go of the whole notion of the second coming and keeping our focus on the here and now, the reality of God’s reign that broke through in the very person of Jesus and continues to this day. In Borg’s panentheistic view of God, God is ever present and available. In the words of Paul, it is in God that we live and move and have our being. If there is to be some spectacular consummation of the kingdom it will come in God’s time and God’s way. We live here and we live now and God’s reign is here and it is now. The waiting, the preparation, the coming to consciousness is our work and it is work that we are called to do wisely and joyfully.
Truly there may still be moments when we find ourselves waiting and wondering and wanting the answer to some question or another. There may be hours when we feel ourselves lonely and outcast, living on the margin, looking through piles of papers for that wedding invitation we know is there somewhere. There may be days when we want to give up and just be taken care of. This word about preparation encourages us to plan for such moments and hours and days, so we can see beyond them and live through them, and be ready for the wedding banquet when we find its doors open for us and the Bridegroom calling.
So how is this all good news for us, for you and me? What would it mean for us to be fully prepared? In an article in Christian Century, Andrew Warner says that “…any situation can seem dire, any night seem long and dark, so that the important question is, ‘Are we prepared?’ Are we learning God’s word, doing God’s work and praising in God’s spirit in season and out of season?” (Andrew Warner, “Living the Word” in Christian Century, November 4, 2008, p. 20.)
Learning God’s word means studying both scripture and tradition, and, beyond that, it means studying Jesus himself, who is God’s living word. How committed are we to wrestling with the word and extracting the truths we need to walk God’s way in our daily lives? What difference does God’s word make as you do your job, enjoy your retirement, engage in your relationships, cast your ballot, walk the street, watch the news, spend your money?
Doing God’s work means first and foremost loving God with one’s whole being, and then, as Borg told us yesterday, “loving what God loves.” This is a fascinating twist on loving your neighbor as yourself – loving what God loves. What does the most quoted verse in the New Testament tell us about that? God loved the world; in fact, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son” to show us how and when and where to do God’s work. Borg argues, and I agree, that loving the world does not just mean loving other human beings, it means loving the whole of creation, all that was brought forth by the breath of God, all that was made by the hand of God, all that was loved into being by God. Care and compassion for one another, for our neighbors, even the ones we label enemy; the creation of just and compassionate social and political and economic systems; responsibility for the planet and the universe beyond, all this and more is God’s work in which we are invited to be partners.
Lifting our voices in praise, lost in the very spirit of God who gives us the breath to sing our songs is our worship, our participation in the wedding banquet. In the immortal words of Auntie Mame to her secretary Agnes Gooch: “Oh, Agnes! Here you've been taking my dictations for weeks and you haven't gotten the message of my book: live!” Agnes queries, “Live? “ “Yes! Live!” Mame replies. “Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” (Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mame.) Our voices in praise is our “yes” to life, our acceptance of our invitation to the banquet and our pledge to be ready to party. Our praise of God is found in worship and song, in prayer and holy silence, in thanksgiving and blessing, in dance and art, in study and play. It requires being in tune with God, centered in the presence and the power of the banquet host. It requires that we be prepared, and though that may sometimes seem difficult, it is also worth the effort as we sit at God’s table and celebrate with our sisters and brother and the whole creation. Amen.