The Wise and the Foolish

THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Year A, Lectionary 32

November 9, 2014

Amos 5:18-24

Matthew 25:1-13

Pastor David Tryggestad

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church

Duluth, Minnesota

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

The parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids has always troubled me. First of all, I don’t like it that the wise bridesmaids don’t share their oil with the foolish. Their excuse is that, if they were to share, they would all run out of oil and the bridegroom would have to come without a welcome; there would be no light whatsoever for his arrival. Imagine a totally dark wedding banquet.

But, for me, the more troubling thing is the conclusion—the response of the bridegroom to the foolish bridesmaids who eventually show up, having purchased oil for their lamps. The door has already been shut. The bridegroom replies, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

The response seems harsh. It seems particularly harsh when the bridegroom represents our Lord.

Doesn’t Jesus say somewhere else in Scripture: “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14)? How does Jesus know his own and how do his own know him?

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

If our Gospel for today is not troubling enough, there’s Amos, the prophet from our First Lesson, through whom God sings:

I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies [read, “worship”]. . . .

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps. (Amos 5:21, 23)

The one thing more than any other that constitutes a Christian congregation is corporate worship, and, before Christ, the regular worship of the Jews in the Temple and synagogues. How can God possibly say, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies”? And perhaps the one thing we do more than anything else is to sing. How can God say, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps”?

I grew up in the church. I probably missed no more than two or three Sundays a year going to worship. But I don’t think I ever really heard the words of our prophet until I was in my late 20s, when I had the job of my dreams as full-time director of music at a large Lutheran church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. My life centered around preparing choirs, soloists, and instrumentalists to lead four different worship services every weekend. I thought I had the most important job in the world! And most fun! Then I heard, as if for the first time, the words of our prophet thundering as if from heaven itself:

I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies . . . .

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

I felt as if the prophet—or was it God?!—had negated everything to which I had devoted my life. I had to ask over and over again that good Lutheran question, “What does this mean?”

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

So what do we make of our troubling Scripture readings for today? From our Gospel: “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” And from our prophet:

I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies . . . .

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

God does not stop there. God continues:

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24)

It seems God is interested in justice and righteousness. As we read further in Amos, we find that the same people who come to worship on the Sabbath go out and live lives centered on themselves the rest of the week. In so doing, the poor in their midst suffer, and most egregious of all is that some of the so-called righteous not only ignore their suffering but even contribute to it by withholding what they might contribute to help alleviate suffering, and to work for justice.

When we opened our worship this morning singing “Let Justice Roll Like a River,” we were not just singing a peppy, bouncy, upbeat tune; we were committing ourselves to the lyrics we sang . . . or were we? Do we mock the poor and mock God by singing the lyrics but not living them?

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

Then there’s our Gospel for today: “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

Evidently, the bridegroom knew the five wise bridesmaids because they were ready and waiting for him with their lamps burning brightly. They had oil enough to keep their lamps burning. The five foolish bridesmaids had run out of oil, and they were “in the dark,” literally. They were not present to welcome the bridegroom. Therefore, he did not know them.

How would he know them? How would he know anyone of us?

Do you ever receive a card or letter in the mail and know immediately who sent it because you recognize the handwriting? Do you ever pick up the phone and immediately recognize the voice on the other end? Do you ever look at your caller ID and instantly recognize the number of the person calling? Why is that? Does if have to do with being in frequent communication, frequent conversation?

We committed one of our dear ones to the arms of her Lord a couple weeks ago and a candle burned for her on the altar last week on All Saints Sunday. As I spoke with her family in planning her funeral, her brother handed me several pages from her journals, which I had permission to share.

 January 21, 2001, 9:36 p.m.: Jesus, I need you for my Savior, and I claim you for my Savior. I humbly beseech you to heal me.

July 7, 2012: We can’t begin to live until we’re prepared to die.

August 17, 2008: [The] 53^rd Chapter of Isaiah is the heart of the Bible. Please bless me that I might be a blessing. Amen.

Undated entry: “I would like Isaiah 53 to be in my funeral.”

Then, as to be certain that the reader who might find this journal would take her instruction seriously, she signed her name. (Isaiah 53 is one of the Servant Songs of the prophet, interpreted by Christians to prophesy Jesus, the suffering Messiah.)

It was evident that this person read her Bible and that she was a woman of prayer before her Lord. I fully expect that our Lord would have said to this person, “Truly I tell you, I truly know you.”

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

How do we keep our lamps “trimmed and burning”? It seems it might have to do with having enough oil and to be ready.

I wonder if keeping our lamps trimmed and burning has something to do with our prophet Amos, and God’s admonition,

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

And I wonder if keeping our lamps trimmed and burning has something to do with being in constant conversation with our Lord, in daily Bible reading, weekly worship, regular Bible study. I wonder if it has something to do with praying unceasingly. Our song continues:

Brother, don’t stop prayin’,

sister, don’t stop prayin’,

brother, don’t stop prayin’,

see what the Lord has done.

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

Thanks be to God!