Year A Proper 27 6 November 2011
Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25 Psalm 78: 1-7 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 Matthew 25: 1-13
Joshua 24:23, 24 “23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”
We live in a society that doesn’t understand the concept of throwing away foreign gods. As I write this many children are “Trick or treating” and their parents are practising Christians who think this is okay. There are numerous schools, both Christian and secular who are doing activities that centres on Halloween and no one thinks it is anymore than a bit of fun. Much the same as many other popular activities like reading the horoscopes.
In our first reading, which comes from the book of Joshua, after the people have professed their faith in God and their desire to serve him, Joshua tells the people, “you are not able to serve the LORD....” This is true of them and true of us also – and we need some supernatural help to serve God.
Halloween is the eve of the holy day, “all Hallows”, meaning “all Saints”, but its practises and traditions come from the pagan festival honouring the god of the dead. I do not want to go into the Halloween debate, but I do want us to be aware that if we are partaking in these activities then we are not serving our God and we are holding on to, and taking into our houses, foreign gods.
This is not the only “foreign god” that is common in our culture.... we need to think carefully about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny also. While the events associated with these characters are meant to point to a reality of our faith, many times they teach our children completely opposing truths to our Christian faith. For example “Santa will come if you are good”. The truth is that we can not be good and that is why Jesus came. Also, we find that as children grow out of Santa and the Easter bunny they also grow out of the story of Jesus.
Tomorrow is the feast of all saints and it is followed by a day that is designated to all souls. So it seems fitting in the light of all that is happening this week to have readings about serving God whole heartedly and also our second reading which encourages us not to be so grieved over those loved ones who have died, and we are told that they have “fallen asleep” in Jesus and will rise with him.
The ancient festival on which Halloween is based is called Samhain. During this there were beliefs about the dead and how their souls may be either set free or released into animals. We are told clearly throughout different stories in the Bible that we live once, die and will rise with Christ at his return. It is a belief that is based on the credibility of the man named Jesus who was crucified and rose from the dead.
Saint Paul clarifies our understanding about those who have died in his letter, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
We have hope! This is an eternal hope – it is amazing good news. We do not need to appease a frightening god. We do not have to perform strange and frightening ceremonies to ensure a “happily ever after”.
This week we have a reminder of the hope that we have. Not only for an eternal existence for our loved ones, but for us also. But we also have very serious warnings in both our first reading and our Gospel.
Our Gospel tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids. These bridesmaids are symbolic of the people of God who greet the bride-groom and light the way for him. The bride-groom is symbolic of Christ and the church is his bride.
As the story goes, the bride-groom was a very, very long time coming. And what a coincidence! 2011 years after the birth of Christ we find Christ’s second coming seems such a long time coming, that many have “fallen asleep”.... The falling asleep is not a problem.... the problem is that when the bride-groom arrives it is in the hours of darkness and we need our lamps to be shining brightly.
Matthew 25:1-13 “ “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
Oil was used to anoint and is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that keeps our faith lit.
All ten of the virgins/ bridesmaids had lamps that were lit. When the groom was long in coming some found that they had run out of “oil”... I guess they are those who ran out of faith.
We run out of faith when various things happen and it is different for each individual, but it happens and how is not important. The important thing is to consciously put into place strategies that “keeps the oil flowing”. This is what the wise bridesmaids did. They had the forethought to bring extra oil in a jar.
Therefore, we need to think about what strategies we need in our lives to keep our faith illuminated.
The early Christians would not have been so sure of the hope that they have as Christians, if it wasn’t for the letters from St. Paul. We need to be taught the Gospel truths and then we need to be constantly reminded of them. This is just one way that we keep our faith illuminated. Meeting with other Christians nourishes our spirits and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are shared throughout the community.... we need each other so that we are not lacking in spiritual gifts.
Certainly, if we ignorantly hold on to foreign gods and do not have definite ways of keeping our “lamps” lit (i.e. a community that keeps us on the right track), then we will not even know that we have gone astray from God’s truth and our lamps will go out........... Then when Jesus comes we will awaken and realize our need for our faith...... but will it be too late?
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