MT 25:1-13

Matthew in the Margins…23rd S. After Pentecost…Revised 2017    

Jesus is a great storyteller. The greatest. Life is a collection of stories. God’s & ours. After reading / hearing any story, in this case His story of the wise & unwise brides-maids, the question is, ‘But what happens next’? For the participants in the story, the answer lies within the story; all’s well that ends well for some, & poorly is as poorly does for others. The acid test of a Jesus story is always, ‘Where & how do we take it on from where He leaves off?’ 

Not long before, Jesus has been warning of the coming destruction of the Jerusalem temple & the inauguration of God's Rule consequent upon this. Eschatology, though, if not interpreted well enough can all too easily lead to faith becoming ‘pie in the sky in the sweet bye & bye’! Jesus Himself, though has already given us the necessary perspective when He tells us to pray for God’s Rule, God’s Authority with a Capital A, to be implemented ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. The bridegroom is always present. Always inviting us to celebrate with Him now, not one day. We don’t have to wait for Him or anyone else to arrive in ‘the middle of the night’.

Jesus is careful to point out that all the bridesmaids trim their wicks. The foolish ones, however,  fail to see trimming a bit here & bit there can’t make up for the fact they’re out of oil. There’s a lesson for our spiritual life today here!

Think of our lives today being our ‘lamps’. Are we living them full of God’s Spirit, ’oil’, ready for anyone & everyone we need to be there for? Looking out for, looking after? There’s no such thing as being ‘half-full’ of Holy Spirit! When God fills, God fills! There are no half measures with God, nor does God settle for any half-measures on our part. If I’m right in exploring ‘oil’ as representing Holy Spirit, Jesus reminds us being half-full of Holy Spirit is a no-go! No use to anyone. Not just five unwise bridesmaids. If the five wise bridesmaids were to share their oil with the unwise ones, we’d end up with the whole ten bridesmaids with half-full lamps running out of oil. Their lamps would all be useless, leaving the bridal party, the community in total darkness. What kind of darknesses are our community living through today as a result of us or anyone else running low on, or running out of, the ‘good oil’, the God oil? 

Holy Spirit isn’t a commodity we can top up at our local church, or ‘revival centre’. The ‘good oil’, HolySpirit, is God’s own life He’s always sharing with those of us who know we need Him; with those ready & prepared to receive Him totally into the lamps of our lives to keep them filled.

Celebrating God’s being married to us all the hours of every day & every night is God’s wedding present to us; God’s own way of keeping our lamps alight & burning brightly for Him & each other.