A Cycle –32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 26
Mt. 25:1-13
One of the messages Jesus constantly gave us was to “be alert.” He also encouraged us to “arise from (our) slumber.” Over my adult life, I have been a member of fifteen different parishes in various states and two countries overseas. Large parishes, small parishes, vibrant parishes, and parishes without any desire to offer anything beyond the sacraments. What amazed me was how the members of each of those parishes were comfortable and satisfied with their parish.
Jesus came to set us free, to show us the Father and to remove the barrier of sin between us and God. His role in our salvation is clear, and it demands a response from us. A response that embraces salvation as a gift not something we earn. But He also was instrumental in sending us the “promise of the Father.’ The Holy Spirit would guide us to holiness, change our hearts, and create within us a desire for deeper intimacy with the Father. It is the Spirit that awakens us and provides us with a motivation to not only give thanks to God but to be visible witnesses of God’s mercy and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit is given to us to constantly change us, create within us a desire for more. To die to self and motivate us to be visible in our witness by what we do outside our parishes, not what we do in our parishes.
The state of our parish should be where we go to experience fellowship. Be strengthened in holiness and to help us grow as disciples. Weekly mass should be an experience that is not predictable because we are there to encounter God and to worship God. We are there to give thanks not to get something. Yes, I know we do get fed on the Word and on the Eucharist but that should also be and experience that is not predictable. An encounter with Christ demands a response. The scriptures are clear about that message, so what are we experiencing? It needs to be more than good preaching, good music, good fellowship. It needs to be challenging us to examine ourselves and see where we have become comfortable and need to be aroused and awakened.
Today’s gospel is encouraging us to “arise from our slumber.” Stop sleepwalking and be prepared to respond by expecting and encounter with Christ rather than just being present. We have failed to understand believing in Christ demands a response we have failed to give. Our lack of understanding is used by the deceiver to lull us into a state of complacency. Convincing us we are in a good place because we are faithful and as measured by our involvement in our parishes. That image of ourselves is no different than that of the Pharisees of Jesus’s time and we like them have become victims of one of Satan’s tactics. We are comfortable and have deceived ourselves into believing we have done what is required.
We have failed to learn one of the lessons Jesus continually spoke about and showed us by His actions. That lesson was to never believe we have understood what discipleship demands of us. We get caught up in defining our relationship with Christ by what we do instead of what He did. We depend on how well we follow the dictates of our faith and how well we fitfully satisfy the demands of our vision of discipleship. Simply stated we have become doers not believers who are always ready to respond to Christ.
Let me give you an image of what our weekly mass is designed to achieve. How we get engaged during our weekly mass. Our posture during mass is one of “giving thanks” for the life death and resurrection of Christ. The root meaning of the word Eucharist is “giving thanks.” We are invited to join in with all the heavenly hosts and give glory to the Lord. From the opening hymn we are joined together, as community, in one song of worship. The prayers read by the priest, guide us with descriptive images of Christs sacrifice. Yet, it seems we have not engaged our ears to hear, our eyes to see and our minds to respond by worshipping Christ. It seems we come to get not to give. We come because we believe are seeking what God offers, but we are like those five virgins who went out but were unprepared when Christ appeared.
Our comfortable faith is used by Satan to deceive us. Each of you should read C. S. Lewis book, “the Screwtape Letter.” It is an interesting book revealing the tactics being taught ‘demons in training” so they deceive souls from discovering their meaning and purpose in the kingdom of God. But rather than tell you about those tactic’s, let us look at a follow up piece written by C. S. Lewis entitled “Screwtape proposes a toast.” It is a one page piece about the graduation of all those demons after their training was completed. Just google that title and you will see the demons gather in a great hall, celebrating their graduation and their victory in capturing souls.
Their banquet is a feast on the souls they have captured and have pulled away from Christ. Screwtape is proposing a toast because of the vast number of souls they have captured. However, he adds that although the number of souls is vast, they are not like the ‘great saints’ of the past. Indicating, it is a victory, but it is not hard to deceive those who have failed to understand they have settled for less than what they were called to become. C. S. Lewis is revealing a spiritual truth to us in his writings. We are easily deceived by believing “showing up” is enough.
Today’s gospel story of the ten virgins is Jesus reminding us that showing up is not enough. It is first step, but more is required once we show up. Jesus is telling us what we bring when we show up is critical to us encountering Him. He is reminding us how easy it is to settle for less than He is offering us. We ignore the salvation won for us. We ignore the gift of the Spirit to awaken our desire to experience forgiveness and to feel the presence of Christ. In the Word and Sacrament. We like the foolish virgins, lose focus, and remain unprepared to respond to Jesus who is inviting us to cast our nets into the deep.
Do we engage our hearts when we begin to worship? Are we going through the motions believing what we do is pleasing to God? Or is our posture one of giving thanks because God chose to redeem us not condemn us. Do we realize holiness is a gift not something we will ever acquire by ourselves? We will never be holy by our own actions. But we can become today’s Pharisees by our reliance on what we do rather than embracing what Christ achieved by his death and resurrection.
We need to heed the words of Christ and arise from our slumber. We need to humbly Invite the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us so we can feel the love of God pour into our hearts as we worship Jesus. Let us love God with our whole mind, strength, soul, and hearts instead of depending on our acts of piety to appease God.
If we believe Jesus took the penalty of our sins upon Himself there can only be one response from us, GIVE THANKS. The very reason we gather each week is to thank Jesus and God for the gift of life and to acknowledge we are sinners saved by grace. It is that belief that is at the heart of why we are gathered.
