The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Fr. Robinson)

​     When I was a child we sang a song in Sunday School that went like this: “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning.  Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.  Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning, keep me burning to the break of day.”
 
     That song refers to the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, which we just heard in today’s Gospel.  Weddings in the days when Jesus walked the earth lasted an entire week.  All regular activities were suspended.  Religious obligations were dispensed with by law.  It was to be a celebration from start to finish. 
 
     The highlight of the week was when the bridegroom went to the home of the bride and took her in procession to his home.  No one knew when he would come.  It was always at night, and he’d try to arrive after the bride and her ten bridesmaids had gone to sleep.  So the groom would make his surprise arrival, wake up the ladies in the middle of the night, and they’d make their way to the bridegroom’s house, lighting the way with their lamps.  Once they had arrived, they would go into the house and have more partying.  The doors would be closed and barred so that beggars and thieves couldn’t get in.  Wouldn’t it have been fun to attend a wedding like that?!
 
     Jesus was comparing life with him with a wedding.  He’s the bridegroom; the Church is the bride.  We’re the ones who are at the celebration.  Is Jesus implying that if you’re a part of the Church life is one big party?  I don’t think that’s his point.  I do believe that he’s saying that no matter what’s going on in your life, if you’re living in him and with him you’ll have a kind of joy that cannot be extinguished.  Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  Robert Louis Stevenson had it right when he said, “To miss the joy is to miss all.”  That applies whether we’re talking about experiencing the birth of your first child, or a baptism, or the first day of school, or, of course, a wedding; whether we’re speaking of a serious illness, or losing a job, or experiencing the failure of a marriage.  It applies even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death.  No matter what, good or bad, happy or sad, Jesus wants to be present with us and in us to give us greater understanding, to guide us, to comfort and console us.
 
     As is his custom, though, Jesus puts a twist into the parable that’s uncomfortable.  When the bridegroom arrives, unexpectedly, five of the bridesmaids’ lamps have gone out because they didn’t bring extra oil.  They try to borrow some from the wise maidens who had prepared, but they don’t have enough for themselves and for others.  So the five foolish maidens go out to buy more oil.  By the time they arrive at the groom’s house the door has been shut and barred and they can’t get in.
 
     You may be a part of the Church, a believer in Christ, a part of the wedding party, yet find yourself outside, wanting to get in but unable to do so.  Tennyson, in “The Idylls of the King,” captures this moment in life poignantly:
                    Late, late, so late!  And dark the night and chill!
                    Late, late, so late!  But we can enter still.
                    Too late, too late!  Ye cannot enter now.
                    No light had we: for this we do repent;
                    And learning this, the bridegroom will relent.
                    Too late, too late!  Ye cannot enter now.
                    No light: So late!  And dark and chill the night!
                    Too late, too late!  Ye cannot enter now.
                    Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet?
                    O let us in, tho’ late, to kiss his feet!
                    No, no, too late!  Ye cannot enter now.
 
     Our faith is that Jesus will come again, at the end of time, to judge the living and the dead.  But that’s not the only time Jesus will come.  He comes at unexpected times as well.  He wants to be with us in our day to day activities.  He wants to be able to help us through the crises of our life.  Yet for him to be able to do that, we must prepare a place for him in our hearts.  As Phillips Brooks said, “Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.”  In other words, we need oil in our lamps for the light of Christ to burn within us.  If we’re going to be prepared for him when he comes again in glory, we need to be prepared for him in the ordinary and extraordinary times in our lives.
 
     How do we prepare?  Receive Holy Communion.  Read, mark, and learn Holy Scripture.  Regularly examine your life and make your confession.  Give generously of your time, talent, and treasure for God’s work.  These things are oil for our lamps and prepare us for the coming of the Bridegroom. 
 
     The whole point of the parable is that it’s not yet too late for us.  Will you be prepared when the Bridegroom comes?  When he does, we want to be able to sing Hosanna at that time.  Remember how the song ends?  “Sing, Hosanna, sing, Hosanna, sing Hosanna to the King of kings.  Sing, Hosanna, sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna to the King.”