I
think that Jesus' strange story in today's Gospel needs a little update. I'm
going to re-tell it, and while I do so, I challenge our children and youth to
find at least two situations in this story that are unfair. OK?
Instead of virgins with oil lamps, let's
say there are 10 travelers down at gate B-26 of the Louisville airport. They
are there to take a 5 p.m. plane out of town. Five of these travelers are
foolish, and five are wise.
The foolish ones brought carry-on bags
but didn't pack any food to take with them. The wise, however, are prepared.
They have sandwiches in their carry-ons.
As you can imagine, there are
thunderstorms somewhere over Atlanta, and the plane is delayed! The travelers
sit and sit at the gate, as each new promised arrival time comes and goes.
Exhausted, they begin to dose, slumped over in their chairs.
By 8 p.m., hunger pangs wake them up.
It's way past dinner time. The airline representative at the counter says that
their plane could land any minute now! The wise travelers pull out their
sandwiches and start munching.
The foolish travelers plead, "Hey,
could we please have some of your food? We're too hungry to last much
longer."
The wise travelers grumble, "No way!
We may not have enough if we share with you. Just go down the concourse and buy
some food at a restaurant."
They head off as fast as they can down to
the nearest fast-food joint. But while they are on their way to buy food, the
plane arrives!
The travelers who stayed at the gate board
the plane, and the attendants shut and secure the door with big metal bolts.
Just then, the foolish travelers also come
running up, MacDonald's bags in hand. "Please, please," they shout,
"Open the door for us! We need to go home!"
But the airline official refuses, and the
plane taxies off down the runway. They are left behind.
That's the story. So now, what is
unfair here? (Get answers.)[1]
First, is it fair that the supposedly
"wise" travelers get rewarded for hoarding their food? They don't
share, and yet they're the ones who get on the plane.
Secondly, is it fair that the plane is
late? That's what causes the problem in the first place, right? If the plane had just been on time, then
everyone could have gotten on without waiting or needing any supper. Flights
are supposed to run on time.
Also, is it fair that the attendants bar
the plane door so quickly? Couldn't they have waited on the passengers who go
to get food? After all, it is supper time, and they have been waiting for so
long.
As usual, Jesus is messing with our
minds in telling us such a bizarre and unfair story. He's shaking us up, trying
to get us to see God and one another differently. As soon as we decide that God
is calling some travelers wise and others foolish, we remember the words of St.
Paul: "if you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools
… for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."[2] As soon as we tell
ourselves that God rewards the ones who pack a dinner and refuse to share, Jesus
says, "many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be
first."[3]
As soon as we decide that the attendant who shuts the doors of the plane on the
late arrivals is supposed to represent Christ, we hear Jesus say: "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of
heaven in [people's] faces."[4] Instead of trying to make
sense of this crazy story, let's enter into it.
I bet that we have all been in the
situation of waiting for hours for a delayed flight, hungry and tired and bored
and upset. Can you imagine yourselves back there in that place? It's a spiritually dark and
desolate place to be. You're uncomfortable in body and in spirit. You get rather hopeless and desperate sitting there, maybe even angry. You feel captive. You're
not in control, and nobody seems to care.
The world we live in can make us feel like
that, too, sometimes, can't it? In his Convention address yesterday, Bishop
Terry read us a list of statements that our youth wrote down at last month's
Fall Gathering. They were asked, "What is true about the world?"
Listen to the words of our 13-18 year-old Episcopalians, verbatim:
"We can't control the world."
"Cheating is fine if it gets you ahead." "Money equals power."
"Sometimes you can do everything right and still fail." "Not
everyone has a voice." "Women are not equal to men." "Sex
sells." "Cheating can bring success." "A lot of what you
know isn't true." "Everybody dies but not everyone lives."
"We live in a crazy world."
The world that our young people describe
so painfully here is indeed like sitting trapped at a gate at the airport. It's
like sitting in the darkness of midnight, with no oil to light your lamp.
When we find ourselves in this dark world,
we often try to deal with it on our own. We're told that if we can just be
prepared for it, then we can survive it. We haul around bags and bags of stuff
that we think will protect us from want. We're encouraged to buy weapons or build
walls that we think will keep us safe. We run around in panic like the foolish
travelers, thinking that we can buy our way to comfort and security and contentment.
Or we turn inward like the so-called wise travelers, bent on looking out only
for Number 1. Or, like the airline employee, we trade in compassion for strict rules,
barring the door and refusing to welcome the wayward traveler on board with us.
What our youth did at All Saints' that
weekend with Father Bill and Mother Katherine and Bishop Terry was a different
response, however. They each went outside and gathered an armful of rocks, with
one rock to represent each care or worry that weighs them down. They lugged these
stones into their sacred place and sat down together on the floor. After
talking about their burdens, they brought the rocks forward and laid them on
the altar together. They laid their cares in the lap of God, and they prayed
together and shared Eucharist together. They found solace in God's presence and
in mutual support and understanding. They got a glimpse into the Kingdom of
God.
In a few minutes, we are going to come
up to the altar with our pledge cards and lay them down. I invite us to follow
the lead of our youth. Lay down your burdens here, as well as your gifts. Give
and receive and take a peek at God's Kingdom in this place. We may all be
waiting for God, but in Christ, we don't play a zero-sum game. In Christ, we
carry one another's burdens and lift up one another's joys. We share what we
have, and everyone has enough. Like Christ, we welcome those among us who have
made mistakes and those who have wandered. Our doors are always open. We have
no need to run off somewhere to get our own food, because we receive Christ
himself in bread and wine, and he is inside of us, loving us and building us up
from within.[5]
This is the vision of God's Kingdom that Jesus brings to our troubled world.
Image found at https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-sign-all-gates-airport-direction-to-image32744594
[1]
My interpretation of this parable is based on a sermon by David R. Henson,
"The Breaking of the Bridesmaids: Rethinking a Problematic Parable."
Found at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidhenson/2014/11/the-breaking-of-the-bridesmaids-how-scripture-undermines-a-parable/
[2]
1 Cor. 3:18
[3]
Matt. 19:30
[4]
Matt. 23:13
[5]
John Shea, On Earth as it is in Heaven: The
Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers , Matthew,
Year A (Collegeville, MN: Order of St. Benedict, 2004), 317.
