Message: … because the light is our shining treasure.
Matthew 25:1-13
In our faith journey, time is an interesting factor. We live in the present - the here and now - with the well-founded belief that this moment will progress with time. The hands of the clock, a very precise machine as it is supposed to be, will make perpetual circles, with no mistake in pointing to the right time. Of course, to do that, the clock must be fully charged, and oh yes, we must remember to turn back the clock for Standard time. Last Tuesday night at City Hall, it was very interesting to see people set their wall clock one hour backward, during the middle of the meeting at the courtroom. (I thought that’s the kind of thing I might see in church - not such a place as the City Hall courtroom.) We clapped and cheered for the person who rose up and set the clock right, who grinned, and laughed with us. Some humourous moments are good icebreakers.
Jesus is really an excellent story-teller; he always knows the perfect icebreaker for every crowd. In his parables, time is always an interesting factor; He knows how to use it in his stories. Some great examples are found in the stories we hear today in the morning and tonight at 7 pm! (Just a friendly reminder: we will celebrate the Covenanting Service, at 7 pm, please come for this joyful service.) The stories we’ll tell this evening are the Treasure and Pearl parables. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” In these stories, time, among other things, makes the narratives interesting.
Time works in the parables in that the normalcy of the man’s or the merchant’s time (past-present-future) is abruptly, but happily, “shattered.” The future the man had planned and projected for himself is totally invalidated by the advent of the Treasure which opens up a new world for him. His ordinary time is confronted with new, unforeseen possibilities.
The point of these stories of treasures and the pearl is that God is playful and creative with time, and loves these subversive actions: ‘reversion’, ‘invalidation’, ‘confrontation.’ And with finding the God-given treasure, the man’s and the merchant’s lives - past, present, future - are happily “shattered.” The clock-bound, “needle” time, (In Korea, we call the “hands” of the clock - the “needles.”) halts/stops/pauses. Astonishing, overwhelming joy has filled the treasure-finder, and so, the presumed linear-time plans and future projects lose their gravity.
On the other hand, the Parable of the Ten Virgins we hear in our morning service tells us what the kingdom of God is like from a different “time”, “clock” view.
In the patriarchal society in which this story was first told, women, the virgins, are depicted as less capable, less responsible, less wise than men. Their social location as women means that they have to prove to the males they are wise, acceptable to the society. There are certain aspects of misogyny playing in this story, for sure. This story certainly gives the Gospel message, mixed with the traditional admonition toward women to be watchful, virtuous, and vigilant. And these standards separate the young women into two categories: those who are considered to be ready and good and those who aren’t. While we keep in mind the patriarchy in this story, we also see Jesus, the storyteller, playing with “time.” Speaking about young women, the virgins, cleverly or spiritually responding to their context, illustrated in “time”. A delay occurs. The bridegroom, whom the virgins have been waiting for, is delayed. The bridegroom is not yet coming. The hands of the clock have passed the appointed time. The waiting wedding party is not even sure whether he will eventually come in the end. Like in the stories of treasures and the pearl, the expected time is again “shattered.” However, if the man and the merchant’s time are shattered for the unexpected, astonishing, overwhelming joy of finding the treasure of exceptional value, the virgin’s time is shattered because of the delay, not because of joy. It is important to note that the time is not shattered because of “sleeping”. The story tells us that both the “wise” and the “foolish” fall asleep because the time is then the deep middle of the night. God doesn’t forbid us from taking care of ourselves with sleep. If we have to wait, we wait. If we need to sleep, we sleep. I’m sure that many of us experienced the disappointing time when a flight is delayed for hours, or even cancelled! If it is delayed, we wait, while waiting, we may sleep. The truth in the story is that time is “shattered”, because of the extra oil. The wise who have prepared enough oil for burning their lamps even with the delay are able to welcome the bridegroom with the light of their lamps, and the wedding begins.
We might wonder why this story divides the young women this way, especially when the wise virgins could still lend some oil to the others so that all ten of them could be one community in solidarity, rather than upstaging each other in competition for the bridegroom. This appropriate question creates wonder. What does it mean to us to hold a lamp, a burning bright light? What does it mean if we say, we must keep our light, our lamp, our torch because only if each of us has a torch will there be enough light, and will we light the others.
When I was preparing this sermon, I was thinking of our Back Forty presentation at City Hall this week. The committee who dealt with our application could have made a decision at the meeting, but the decision was delayed. We supported our people, and listened to our neighbours. I was wondering what message would be encouraging to tell each other, if we honour this time of delay, centering ourselves on our spiritual position to understand where we are now, how we are doing. What would be our light, our lamp for us to keep, now, and hold for one another, and for our future? Interestingly, one thing is on hold, but we have two other things in immediacy which call for joy, excitement, anticipation and curiosity. Tonight, for sure! Many people and our elders put their creative spirit and talent into creating this joyful service to celebrate covenanting (“marrying”) Immanuel people with their new minister (which is me, I am very pleased to say) with Winnipeg Presbytery and with God. It will be a passion-burst moment to celebrate! Second, we are anticipating the welcome of our new Sunday School director, if the interview is successful next week!
What makes us continue to be faithful is the extra oil: God calls us to the excitement of experiment, the energy of curiosity, and the continuing discovery of wonder. Our journey is really discovering and finding the treasure with positivity, seeing the abundance in our midst. In this journey, we discern and declare what we would want, and pay for it. Have you noticed that the three parables of today all stress the verbs, such as “find, buy, sell”: The man who finds the hidden treasure, the merchant who buys the very fine pearl, and the virgins who prepare extra oil for the deep midnight and tell the others “Go and buy some oil for yourselves.” (which means the virgins have gone to the dealers and bought the extra oil for themselves, in advance. They have paid for it.) I would like to repeat the brilliant part of the story: When the unprepared said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out,” the wise replied, “No, there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” The action this story tells us is required of us, that we are called to do, is to keep our light burning bright.
In our faith journey, time is an interesting factor. How we understand our time and how we are creative and playful with our God-given time is really the oil that will be our spiritual sustenance. In such times of waiting, in our life and for our church, what we can do and must do is look at the bright light within us, and to keep our light, keep our cause, keep our lamp and use it to light the lives of others, because the light is our shining treasure.
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