“…Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13)
Matthew 25:1-13 (Year A: Third Sunday before Advent 12th November 2017)
Life, itself, is not complicated. We complicate it for ourselves and others.
In the Buddhist religion, which has much overlap with the Christian religion, one is encouraged by two words: mindfulness and practice. These lie at the core of Jewish-Christian-Islamic life: mindfulness of the great love of God who is ever present and, at the same time, the practice of justice/love/mercy. The two go hand in hand. The genuine quality of our mindfulness is tested by our practice. Our praxis is grounded in mindfulness. Being ready and prepared is about living out of the centre of our lives:
Grounded in the present moment in the here,
Relaxed in this moment,
Attentive to the Other,
Centered in our own bodies and minds, and
Energised by the current of love that flows through from the ground on which we stand
In one word: GRACE!
Living gracefully takes habit and practice. It is never, ever too late to begin all over again here, now, in this moment and in this place. To live well means to live each day and each hour as if could be our last. Someday this will actually turn out to be the case.
One night I stood beside my mother when she was dying and prayed for her and for me as follows: ‘Pray for us now and at the hour of our death’. She was too ill to say those words but she had said them many, many times in the course of her long lifetime. I sensed that her hour had come so those words had special meaning.
The secret to a long and good life and a happy one, too, is to be always ready by being grounded in the here and now enjoying and living fully the present moment of life while being fully attentive to the presence, needs and communication of whoever is next to us.
Perhaps it was my mother who was praying for me that night just as much as I was praying for her.
Two things are required of us: (1) mindfulness of all what is within and around us and (2) compassion. We cannot exercise the gospel value of compassion without being prayerfully mindful of the other and ourselves. To be prayerfully mindful is to use our God-given abilities to see, hear and sense what is within us and around us. Prayer and times of prayer are not self-contained and separate human activities. Rather, they are a natural part of life’s rhythm just as natural as breathing in and breathing out.
Standing in the way of mindfulness and compassion are those things that derail and distract us from our intention to live life to the full. One of the great distractors is that screen – big or large – ever beckoning, ever calling and ever demanding. While it can serve many useful purposes including informing, entertaining as well as connecting us with others, it can also disconnect us from reality – that is, from ourselves, others and ultimately from God because God is all in all and, as such, is pure, innocent love.
The ten bridesmaids (or virgins according to some translations) were a mixed bunch. Some were the foreseeing type with everything organised, packed and insured. (You know the type). Others were disorganised, careless and presumptive (‘sure that will never happen’). The point of the story for us, now, is not that one type of character is necessarily always better than another. Those who fuss a lot may be impossible to deal with. In any case, those given to fussing a lot can miss the really important things. The point of the story is that, in life, we have only one chance: one chance, that is, to be happy, to live well and to live properly. We might go astray once or many times but we can come back to the core position and value. However, we only have one chance in this very short and precarious life of ours. The person standing next to you in the morning train may not be alive tomorrow. Or, it may be your turn however, unlikely or distant an event that may seem right now. Think back 20 years in your life (if you are, say, 25 years of age or older). Now think forward a possible future 20 years. Be sure that the next potential 20 years will ‘go quicker’ than the last 20. Extend the exercise to 30, 40 years depending on your age.
When our hour comes will we be found ready with lamps lit and baggage disposed of?
Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse
‘Marriage "ceremonies" in the East were conducted with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony of marriage was performed commonly in the open air, on the banks of a stream. Both the bridegroom and bride were attended by friends. They were escorted in a palanquin [a large box carried on two horizontal poles to carry one passenger] carried by four or more persons. After the ceremony of marriage succeeded a feast of seven days if the bride was a virgin, or three days if she was a widow. This feast was celebrated in her father's house. At the end of that time the bridegroom conducted the bride with great pomp and splendour to his own home.’
v. 1-4 Being prepared. Bringing enough oil and expecting the unexpected.
‘A lamp and oil with it, is faith working by love’ (John Wesley on Matthew 25:3)
We do not know what lies ahead today, tomorrow …. Next year. What if today was our last day on earth?
I might travel to the other side of the country by night. Will the petrol stations on the service stops be open on the motorway?
I need to allow myself more than enough time to get there. You know ‘stuff happens’ like accidents, road closures..
V. 5-6 The delay of the bridegroom and his sudden arrival in the night
Are we ready for that unexpected hour? The author of Hebrews (10:36-37) writes:
For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet ‘in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay.
Will the Lord say to us:
This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)
V. 7-9 The wise and the foolish contrasted
Cf Luke 12:35: ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit’. At all times, but especially in the evening of life, we ought to examine our lives and be prepared for the next phase. Our life’s faith, hope and love will confront us unexpectedly at an hour and a day we were not reckoning on. Then, it may be very late. Even then we must not despair but say in earnest as the good thief did:
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ (Luke 23:42)
V. 10-12 The outcomes
‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21)
V. 13 So what
Not knowing when or how must, surely, bid us to be patient and to be very ready for that day.
“The very Creator of the angels himself is waiting for you (…). The Father is waiting and longing for you” (Serm. Christmas Eve 2:7).
