Text: Matthew 25
This morning in worship, we are actually covering the three discussions of the Kingdom of Heaven we find in Matthew chapter 25.
The ten bridesmaids.
The valuable coins.
And the sheep and the goats.
So often when we look at these stories, we examine them in isolation. We look at them one at a time and try to discern the moral of each of these tales.
So in the parable of the ten bridesmaids, we discover a lesson about being prepared.
Ten bridesmaids are waiting for the groom to show up. Five were wise and brought plenty of oil for their lamps. But five were foolish and left the extra oil behind. When the groom finally shows up, the foolish bridesmaids don’t have enough oil and have to run out and buy some and they get back too late. They get shut out of the party.
This is the perfect boy scout parable right? Be prepared.
In the parable of the valuable coins, we discover a lesson about stewardship.
A man goes on a trip and leaves his wealth to his servants. One gets five coins, another two, and the last one… each according to their ability. The first two take those coins and make more wealth, but the last one is afraid and hides the coin. When the master returns, the first two servants are celebrated and promoted, but the final one is thrown out.
Take your gifts and your talents, we discover, and use them, don’t bury them.
And of course there is that familiar passage about the sheep and the goats.
The Son of Man will sit on the throne in the final days and will judge the people. Those who served their neighbor are those who served Jesus. They will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. But those who ignored their neighbors, looking out only for themselves, will sent away to eternal punishment.
We Methodists love this parable. It reminds us that loving our neighbor is just as important as loving our God. Sometimes, we even say that it’s all that matters. That our good deeds will get us into heaven.
Why did Matthew choose to link these three stories about the Kingdom together?
Let’s look at what surrounds it.
Matthew 24 is apocalyptic, describing what will happen at the end of the age, the end times as we like to talk about it today.
There will be signs of trouble, earthquakes, famines, hate and betrayal…
There is a “disgusting and destructive thing” that shows up… a nod back to the apocalyptic visions of Daniel and the abomination in the temple when the daily sacrifice is abolished.
People will flee, the whole world will experience great suffering, the skies will darken…
And then the Human One, the Son of man will appear to gather the chosen ones.
No one will know when this will happen except God, so we should be prepared and keep alert and keep working, like wise and faithful servants.
Okay… so that is what comes before our three stories for this morning.
But what comes after?
Jesus is handed over.
Judas betrays him.
He shares in a final meal with the disciples and then they in turn fall away.
He is arrested, put on trial, and killed.
And after his resurrection, Jesus ascends to heaven.
Sandwiched in between apocalyptic visions and the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we find these three stories.
Matthew is writing to a community that is living after the resurrection.
He is writing to people whose master is away.
But they are also experiencing trials and persecution and conflict.
It felt like their world was ending and like the Kingdom of Heaven was a long way off.
What should they do in this time of waiting?
On Wednesday, I heard an interview with Thao Nguyen, a musician who wrote a song about her own apocalyptic reality in San Francisco. On September 9th, the skies turned orange from the area wildfires and she tried to make sense of what it all meant:
“It was just this culminating event to capture unspeakable despair and defeat… You can’t help but reckon in a more existential way – to ask, what have we wrought? What have we desecrated? What is sacred, and how do we protect it, and are we willing to? I mean that in the environment, I mean that in people. What lives matter? Where is our grace?”
I think today, we find ourselves in a place where we can really relate to those early Christians who would have first heard the Gospel of Matthew.
With all of the trouble that we are experiencing, it feels like everything is falling apart.
We are weary of this pandemic.
We are weary of working for institutional change in the church and in our society.
We are wearing of fighting with one another.
We want to throw in the towel.
Run to our separate corners.
Focus on ourselves.
Drink an extra glass of wine to numb the world.
But the message Jesus offers here is to not let your love grow cold.
Keep calm.
Keep the faith.
Keep going.
Don’t be distracted.
Don’t give up.
Don’t stop building the Kingdom.
I think the lynchpin for interpreting the three stories we find in Matthew 25 is actually a little parable about faithful servants at the end of chapter 24.
The ones who take care to keep fulfilling their responsibilities while the master is away, unlike the bad servants who think, eh, it will be a while, and focus on their own selfish objectives.
What are our responsibilities at the servants of God right here and right now?
What is sacred and how can we protect it, fight for it, live into it?
How should we faithfully wait?
Let’s go back to those parables…
In the parable of the bridesmaids, I find the reminder to hang on to the truth that there really will be a wedding someday.
We are coming near to the season of Advent where we wait for the coming of Jesus and we aren’t simply preparing for Christmas. We are waiting for the day that Jesus will come again to bring the Kingdom of Heaven about in all of its fullness.
We can’t simply go about our own business while we wait – we are called to be bridesmaids, getting ready for that day.
I notice this time around when I read the text that ALL of the bridesmaids, not just those labeled as foolish, fell asleep on the job.
Waiting and working for the Kingdom can be tiresome work.
But we have to keep laboring in God’s name.
I also start to notice the fear in the parable.
First, the unprepared and foolish bridesmaids were afraid.
They were afraid that they would be found wanting. That they were inadequate. That they had to have it all together to be included.
And so they run off and turn away and leave their responsibilities in order to try to compensate.
I begin to wonder… what would have happened if they had just stuck around? If they showed up just as they were?
On the other hand, the “wise” bridesmaids were filled with fear, too.
You see, they thought if they shared their oil, there wouldn’t be enough for them.
They forgot the whole purpose of the coming celebration was to be together.
And when they let fear and scarcity rule their hearts, they turn away from mercy and hospitality and it leaves five of their friends out in the dark.
Suddenly this parable is not about making sure we are prepared so we can get into heaven but is a call to actively wait, to show up as we are, and to share what we have so that all can experience God’s Kingdom.
Okay… what about the parable of the talents?
Well, the first thing I notice this time is that this isn’t a separate story.
If we look at the Greek, it is actually a continuation of the previous one.
For like a man who is absent calls in his servants and entrusts everything he has to them, we are called to actively wait for his return.
We are called to build upon what Jesus has left to us.
Two of these servants do this, but the third is afraid.
Ahh, there is fear again!
This servant was given incredible responsibility, but neglected to do their part.
You see, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a gift that we are given when we accept Jesus, only to hide and hoard, waiting for the day the master finally returns.
The Kingdom of Heaven is about what we are building with that gift right now.
This point is driven home in the final of these three stories.
We get a vision of what will happen when the Son of Man finally appears.
When the master returns home.
When the Kingdom of Heaven arrives in its fullness.
And we find a sort of parallel of the less familiar story at the end of Matthew 24.
Those who inherit the Kingdom are those who have been faithful servants.
In her weekly reflection, Debie Thomas writes, “the coming of God’s kingdom in all of its healing, justice-making fullness is the yardstick against which we must measure all of our own healing, justice-making efforts. The wedding feast is our ideal, our goal, our destination. Without it, we have no standard. No accountability. Nothing to lean into, nothing to work towards, nothing to anticipate as we labor in God’s name.”
In other words, everything we do right now should be held up to what we expect to find in the Kingdom of Heaven.
This parable isn’t about earning a ticket into heaven.
It is about embracing the Kingdom of Heaven right here and right now.
The fullness of life, true aliveness, eternal life is ours.
Not just living as if it our reality, but claiming it AS our reality.
Not being afraid of judgment, or imperfection, or scarcity, but simply being faithful.
Putting one foot in front of the other every day.
No matter what happens.
Wars or earthquakes or famine or persecution…
All of that is temporary and none of it excuses us from the work that is before us.
Those who are shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven, you see, are the ones who simply have failed to live within it.
The bad servants who said to themselves, eh, I’ll worry about that later.
No, now is the time.
Now is the Kingdom.
All around you is heaven.
Let’s get to work.
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