"Lord, Lord... Open to Us."

"I ask for the desire to pray and meditate for my congregation regularly.  May we find patience, tolerance, gentleness, compassion and empathy.  May we abstain from anger, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, discouragement and shame.  May we know and follow Jesus more closely."


Matthew 25:1-13
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids^* took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.^{* 2}Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” ⁷Then all those bridesmaids^* got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ⁹But 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.” ¹⁰And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹Later the other bridesmaids^* came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” ¹²But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.


1) "...foolish;" "...wise;"  "...all of them became drowsy and slept;" "...keep awake;"  "...you know neither the day nor the hour;"


2) Paul reverses the meaning of foolish and wise, did Matthew do the same?  Does "wise" mean selfish, unkind, stingy?  Do we need to be concerned that "there will not be enough for you and us?"  Will Jesus really not recognize us for any reason?  I think there is a trick in this story.  Rather, I think we will show up late in the night; we are more likely to refuse to share our resources; we will fail to recognize the needy when they come to our door and ask to be let in... we do that all the time, especially for fear that we will not have enough.  Jesus, even in the Gospel of Matthew self-identifies with the marginalized, not the wealthy.  The "wise" in this story, seem self-appointed.  For the Kingdom of heaven to be like this, Jesus must be self identifying with "the other bridesmaids."  The disciples are the bridegrooms.  Other followers are the "wise" bridesmaids.  The command in the end isn't "make sure you have enough oil in the first place," but "keep awake!"  It occurs to me that a little later, in the Garden, Jesus will pray, the disciples (both the "wise" and the "foolish") will sleep and Judas will show up with the soldiers.  Both the wise and the foolish were drowsy and slept.


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To keep praying even though I am drowsy and want to sleep.  To "sleep" is to lose attention and focus, to get distracted, to turn away from the path, the way, the truth and the light.


"Holy One, keep me focused on your way, that I may witness the Kingdom of Heaven."


Breathprayer: "Lord, lord... open to us."