Stay Woke

I found this as a Draft, which I never posted.

One Sunday I preached on Matthew 25:1-13 at Huffman UMC. 'In my brain' reading of the scripture was inspired by David Henson. Andy interrupted my reading with other verses.


Webster defines a parable as a short simple story illustrating a moral or spiritual truth.

 
We sometimes say that Jesus spoke in parables using everyday examples so that his listeners could understand complex spiritual truths.  But sometimes they are just confusing.

 
Lutheran preacher Nadia Bolz-Weber once tweeted ‘Reading parables as instruction on how to behave is like using riddles to get directions to the airport’.
 

That might be true here.  I will admit that I struggled with this parable as I prepared for this sermon.  I am pretty sure that every sermon I have ever heard on this scripture reminded us to all be good scouts – Be Prepared.  When I first looked at this a few weeks ago, I kept hearing “Don’t Share!” which seemed totally un-Jesus-like.
 
 
I looked at the other scripture options to see if they were more appealing.  But the reason I like to preach the lectionary is that it challenges me to really interpret the word of God, instead of preaching my thoughts and finding scripture to support my ideas.  So I studied and prayed through this scripture.

 
In my brain, it sounded something like this:
 
 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten young bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Now five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish...

1 Corinthians 3 18 Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
“He traps the wise
    in the snare of their own cleverness.”
20 And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
    he knows they are worthless.”
 
 ...3 The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t bring oil for them. 4 But the wise ones took their lamps and also brought containers of oil.

5 “When the groom was late in coming, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Look, the groom! Come out to meet him.’
7 “Then all those bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 But the foolish bridesmaids said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps have gone out.’
9 “But the wise bridesmaids replied, ‘No, because if we share with you, there won’t be enough for our lamps and yours...


Matthew 5:42 Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you.
Luke 6 – 29b If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either.30 Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them.
We have a better idea. You go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 

1 John 3:17   If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

...10 But while they were gone to buy oil, the groom came. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding.
Matthew 19: 30 But many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first.
Then the door was shut...

Matthew 23: 13 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. 

...11 “Later the other bridesmaids came and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us.’
12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’...

Proverbs 21:13  Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.

...13 “Therefore, keep alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour.

Stay woke!
 
 
The heart of the message of Jesus is that we have a generous God who invites us to be generous.  I was having a hard time reconciling the inconsistencies of this scripture about some pretty selfish ‘wise’ bridesmaids with other verses about giving to anyone who asks and coming up with anything that developed into a sermon. How do we hear this parable as a story that is filled with God’s grace?

My mother faithfully attended church of a different denomination as a child and teenager. In high school she visited West Woodlawn Methodist with friends. I always assumed that she became Methodist because that's where she met my daddy. Shortly before she died, she very seriously told my sister and me that growing up, she'd leave church feeling scared, worried and guilty. It was in the Methodist church that she first heard about grace in church. And she knew she would raise her children in a church that taught about God's grace. So with that heritage, you see why I am looking for the grace in this parable.
 
But inside the wedding feast is a group who did not do what Jesus taught – share generously, even if it means your own suffering.  Outside is a group who are experiencing rejection despite their efforts of going out in the dark and somehow finding someone to sell them oil.  And there they are, knocking on the door.  Jesus said the door would be opened if we knock.  How do we make sense of this situation?
 
How can we celebrate the wise maids who are responsible for the rejection the foolish faced? They sent them out in the middle of the night with no light. I realize the foolish bridesmaids played a part in the situation by not bringing enough oil. But the other bridesmaids seem to just be kicking them while they are down.

I have struggled with this for a while. Until one morning this week during my devotion, the right question came to me.  And I realized we might need to look at this from a different perspective.  
 
 
We teach our children to trace their hand to draw a turkey.  Turkeys might teach their children to trace their feathers to draw a person.  
 
We have been teaching that the bridesmaids who brought enough oil to replenish their lamps were the wise ones.  But it is not always easy to tell the difference between the wise and the foolish.  As Andy’s scriptural interruptions reminded us   '19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.'
 
Let’s look this story again in context.  
 
In the chapter before this story, the disciples ask Jesus to help them understand the signs of the end of the age.  Jesus tells them struggles that will occur in the last times. He tells them that no one knows exactly when that day will come.  Matthew 25 has today’s parable of the bridesmaids, followed by the parable of the talents and then the parable of the sheep and goats.  Which leads us right up to:
I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
"when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’
 
Now looking through the lens of the chapter before and the completion of Chapter 25, let us look at these bridesmaids again.
 
Jesus’ disciples are eager to understand the end times.  He tells them there will be signs, but there will also be incorrect rumors.  Trust what Jesus has taught us.  
 
The wisdom of God tells us to look at Jesus’ overall message.  Love God.  Love others.  Show that love by giving food, drink, clothing.  Welcome the stranger.  Visit the sick and imprisoned.  Take care of the least, the lost, the last.  

The wisdom of God tells us that his way turns conventional wisdom upside down. In Corinthians Paul reminds us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved.

The wisdom of God asks how can God's love be in the person who shows no compassion? We are hypocrites if we shut others out of the kingdom of heaven.

Professor and author Marcus Borg wrote: Christianity is not about avoiding punishment or gaining reward. It is about loving God and loving what God loves. And what God loves is the whole of creation.

As I was praying though this scripture this week, the question that came to mind was. “Who are the bridesmaids we are sending out in the dark?”
 
Who is being shut out of the kingdom of heaven?  
 
Membership in Mainline Protestant denominations continues to decline year after year.  We keep hearing about the ‘nones’ and ‘dones’ – those who have never been affiliated with and those who have left the church. I’m sure almost everyone here today knows someone – a friend or family member – who has left the church for some reason.  Because they asked too many questions, so they were told they didn't have enough faith. Because they did not dress the way some 'wise' church person thought was right. Because they were different in some way.  Because someone deemed them foolish.  Because they didn’t have enough oil.  Or enough faith.  Or were somehow lacking in the eyes of the wise church members. In one of Father Richard Rohr's meditations this week, he noted humans are afraid and mistrustful of all otherness. We have a long way to go to embrace those who are different than us.

Their lack of sameness is their modern day lack of oil.

As christians we should do better.

On Veterans Day weekend we could note that our military is diverse. People serve alongside people who are different than themselves. They serve/deploy/fight in countries whose citizens are very different. But often when there is a common cause, we overlook those differences. At least temporarily.

Not all Veterans have been welcomed back home and treated well. Some have felt like they were sent out to the darkness and left out in the cold.

As a country, we can do better for our veterans.

As a church, we must do better for all God's children.

Who have we sent out in the dark?  To whom have we closed our doors?  
 
Today’s scriptures closes with the verse that tells us to stay awake or be alert.  

Some of you may have wondered about the sermon title.
 
The phrase ‘Stay Woke' is increasingly used as a byword for social awareness.    

It was popularized as a call to action that went hand in hand with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, but the idea of getting (and staying) "woke" has broadened and taken on a different, more complex meaning in the years since it first began to spread across the internet.

"woke," means understanding systemic injustices, and being determined to do something about them.

Being Woke means Knowing what's going on in the community.

Staying "woke" for us means being aware that no matter how welcoming we think we are, we can always be better. We must be aware that we are still sometimes the smug wise bridesmaids. We still hoard all the oil that we were wise enough to obtain. We still send people out in the dark.


Stay Woke. That oil is the grace of God.

Stay Woke. Confess that we have tried to hoard that grace for ourselves.

Stay Woke. We are all made in the image of God.

Stay Woke. Don't accept a system that excludes others.

Stay Woke. Be aware. Stay alert. Who are the ones we've sent out in the dark? To whom have we shut the door?

Now what are we going to do about it?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE MARRIAGE TRAP

Luke 20:27-38 Common English Bible (CEB) 27 Some Sadducees, who deny that there’s a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first man married a woman and then died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third brother married her. Eventually all seven married her, and they all died without leaving any children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to participate in that age, that is, in the age of the resurrection from the dead, won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, because they are like angels and are God’s children since they share in the resurrection. 37 Even Moses demonstrated that the dead are raised—in the passage about the burning bush, when he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. To him they are all alive.”

THE MARRIAGE TRAP

This Sunday's gospel may be one of the earliest recorded uses of marriage as a weapon regarding a controversy among religious leaders.

This scripture is a challenge to me because I do not claim to be an expert in marriage or the afterlife.

Let’s put this narrative in context. Over the last several weeks we have been traveling with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem and the journey is drawing near its conclusion. Last week we were in Jericho with Jesus and Zacchaeus. The lectionary skips over several verses at this time, so between last week and today, Jesus has entered Jerusalem, gone to the Temple, and has been teaching there every day, while his opponents look for the opportunity and means to get rid of him. We have reached a point in Luke’s gospel where the Sadducees are part of a trend of trying to trap Jesus. Jesus cleansed the Temple in Luke 19 and 19:48 tells us that "From that point on, the chief priests, the scribes and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him".

So, as he teaches in the Temple, various groups come to try to trap him with questions about his authority, about paying taxes, and now, about resurrection.

The series of events between last week’s reading and this week intensified the tension and hostility between Jesus and the religious authorities of his day.

Who are these religious authorities? The Sadducees and Pharisees - two sects of Jews, who differ in their interpretation of the tradition’s teachings.

The Sadducees had primary authority over the Temple. They recognized only the original five books of Moses - (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) - as fully authoritative. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead because it is not referenced in these books known as the Torah or Pentateuch.

The Pharisees believed that God continued to speak to and through people beyond those five books. They also read the Prophets and Psalms as scripture, and it was there that Pharisees found justification for belief in the resurrection of the dead. In some ways these groups were rivals, but they were united in their opposition to Jesus.

Along comes Jesus, who has been attracting a lot of attention. The Sadducees put away their differences with the Pharisees in order to discredit Jesus.

Those who say there is no resurrection have a question for Jesus about resurrection.

Theologian Sarah Dylan Breuer noted that “They went for the political jugular -- they went for family values.” Because – everyone knows that family -- marriage and parenthood – is the bedrock of society. The Sadducees thought they had Jesus right where they wanted him. And by challenging him on the question of resurrection, they may embarrass the Pharisees as a bonus. The Sadducees have asked a trick question.

In this Biblical definition of marriage, the law they referenced comes from Deuteronomy and was meant to ensure the family name was carried on by stipulating that a man should marry the childless widow of his brother. The question is hypothetical, taking an ancient practice to a far-fetched scenario to demonstrate that the whole idea of resurrection was foolish.

Jesus avoids their trap by pointing out their failure to understand the resurrection -- resurrection life is different from life here and now. Additionally, he shows their failure to understand Scriptures by using another passage from the Pentateuch (the Exodus 3 story of Moses' encounter with God in the burning bush) to establish the legitimacy of life after death. The passage proclaims in present tense that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not that God was their God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must in some sense be alive; therefore, the necessity of resurrection. The Sadducees set a trap for Jesus and it is turned back on them.

The entire argument of the Sadducees is based on the idea that in the kingdom of God, things will be just like they are now. Jesus insists that life after death is different from life now. Debating to whom a woman who has had seven husbands will be married is silly.

The ordinary events and relationships by which we track our mortal life -- marriage, childbirth, graduations, so on -- do not depict our eternal lives because resurrection life is not merely an extension of this life, but something totally different.

The butterfly is a helpful symbol of this reality. The caterpillar and butterfly are entirely different, but they are the same animal. Caterpillars crawl and eat leaves. Butterflies fly and drink nectar and pollen. They are different life stages of the same animal. We will be as different after death as a butterfly is from a caterpillar, but we will still be ourselves.

We don’t really know very much about what life will be like after we die. This is something, that as far as I know, none of us have direct experience. We do know from Jesus that we will be with God and will be safe.

The Next Place, by Warren Hanson, is a poetic exploration of things we know and do not know about life after death. According to Hanson, it will be very different – no Mondays or months or body characteristics – no boy or girl or color of skin – but we will know we belong and will be close to all the people we have loved.

Whatever the limits we may experience about describing resurrection life, this passage invites us to proclaim with confidence our faith that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob raised Jesus from death and promises to do the same also for us. Because Jesus brings a message of Good news – of hope – of love. In this life and the next God is with us.

I often wonder what would have happened if the Pharisees and Sadducees had spent as much time actually listening to Jesus to hear as they did listening to find something to use against him. What if they had taken his teaching to heart rather than arguing with each other and plotting against Jesus. I wonder the same thing about religious leaders today. The questions they pose in order to trap Jesus are just unnecessary noise which distract from the important things Jesus taught.

The Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed on which books were authoritative scripture. Their differing interpretation of scripture lead them to differing beliefs on resurrection. We know from Paul’s letters to various churches that there were disagreements and differences among the followers in the emerging church. To this day the church is divided into branches and denominations. Our own denomination is divided on issues. And we all waste a lot of time, energy and money arguing over issues that distract us from the overall message of Jesus.

As Jesus walked this earth, he was clearly concerned about healing and transformation of individuals and of society. The church has focused more on doctrinal belief and morality.

In John 17, Jesus prayed for all believers to be one – to be brought to complete unity. He did not pray for uniformity, but unity. The church has historically defined us in groups - often, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, in oppositional ways.

On what should we focus?

Last week when I attended a gathering of the clergy of the North Alabama conference, Bishop Bob Farr preached from Matthew 14, where Jesus walked on the water. Peter got out of the boat and came toward Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. Bishop Farr reminded us that Peter’s mistake was that he took his eyes off Jesus. And then he reminded us that our mistake, as pastors, is that our eyes are often on the church instead of on Jesus. We are GAZING at the church and only glancing at Jesus.

I fear we are too much concerned with the preservation of the institution of the church and focused on our differences, when we should be keeping our eyes on Jesus. We need to be focused on the message. And Jesus’ message included that we would have the Holy Spirit to continue to communicate with us in an everchanging world.

The Sadducees were defenders of the status quo. I’m sure their origins were noble, and they thought they were righteous. But they never got past the first 5 books of the Bible. Eventually, their identity was tied to temple worship and they ceased to exist as a group after the destruction of the temple.

To what is our identity tied? Is our energy spent defending the way things have always been done? Are we listening to the Holy Spirit guiding us to new ways to embrace our community?

Last week, I asked when Huffman UMC was most successful. Think about that for a minute. Many of you have been here your entire life. When was the height of our success?

I dare to say that it is now as we are in ministry with our community. Our focus is not tied just to our worship here on Sunday morning, but to the ways we can be in ministry seven days a week. I believe we are a resurrection church. We might not look the same today as we looked nearly 150 years ago when this church was founded. We don’t look like we did the first time I came to Huffman in the early 90s. We don’t look like we did 20 years ago. And we won’t look the same in 10 years. But if we keep our eyes on Jesus and listen to the Holy Spirit, we will be part of the Kingdom of God – worthy to participate in the resurrection - continuing to do the work we are called to do.