Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Matthew.25:1-13
To be honest with you, I grimaced when I read the texts for today. Both of them sit uncomfortably for me for I feel like my theology has moved on. I do not see our God as a `jealous being` concerned about other gods to the extent of punishing those followers who backslide – which could also be seen as the outcome for the unprepared girls in the parable of the ten virgins.

Biblical commentators tend to see the theme of this parable as being one of `preparedness` and some would also connect it with a judgmental second coming doomsday expectation. But I have a problem with that in that it seems to emphasise fear and rejection – which does not exactly compute with what this parable is on about with its joyous wedding setting! Is God`s kingdom really like that?

But then, I had also started reading an article by theologian and Episcopalian priest Barbara Brown Taylor from which I took heart. She points out that `theology is the stuff of imagination . . . and that] the church`s central task is one of imagination` citing the Jewish midrashic way of speculating on texts as a good example for preachers and teachers to follow. For instance Jewish discussions would have played with questions such as `What made Abraham worthy of God`s interest in him? What prepared him for the summons from God?`

The resulting midrashic traditions credited Abraham with being the first in his culture to see the falseness of idols. Normally it was a wise thing for travellers to pay at least lip service to local gods but Abraham was the first to gain a bigger picture sense in worshipping only one god; and ancient stories were shaped to reflect this understanding. Mi-drahsh is the art of reading scripture that produces the art of `reading` yourself, your community, your God. Discovery, not invention, was the goal of the midrashists .. . even if it meant stretching one`s imagination to the edges of the heretical.` Taylor encourages this art by pointing out that Jesus` parables have different doors through which to enter often leaving his listeners to open those doors themselves. Rather than explaining his parables, Jesus knew that, each time he told the story, listeners could find themselves in a different place within it. In fact Jesus probably told this story in many contexts and a little differently each time. A parable requires something of us, it does not allow us to be passive bystanders.

I started thinking, `I think I know which viewpoint I`m coming from at the moment in this parable!` – I`m currently three quarters of the way through doing three days a week whilst Rosemary is on two months` long-service leave from her role as Associate General Secretary Mission Support (which is very similar to the position I held before I retired). Also during these past six weeks our family have returned to Perth so we`ve been child minding one day each week, I`ve conducted a wedding, been responsible for a retreat, two Rainbow services, and this one today, as well as attending CHOGM free events, a friend`s 80th birthday and tomorrow a 40th. I am having a fulfilling time but am feeling somewhat exhausted!! Maybe my light is in danger of burning low!

So I started playing with Barbara Brown`s suggestion about reading parables by putting ourselves somewhere within it. Let`s try now - `You`re wearing your best outfit and you got to the meeting place on time. You managed to remember to take some spare oil with you. In fact you got it all over your best hankie trying to fill the flask. And that flask banged against your hip all the way there.

There were ten of you altogether and you notice half of the others had not brought a spare flask. Don`t they realise these bucks` do`s can go on a bit. When the call came that the bridegroom was finally on his way, one of those silly girls even asked for some of your oil, but you say, `If I do that I may not have enough either, no sorry go and buy your own.` After all you cannot keep on being responsible for other adults. Overfunctioning just wears you out and all you`re doing is creating dependency. If you keep on spoon feeding others, just making everything right for them, how are they supposed to learn? No! too bad! They`ll just have to go and buy their own.``

So that`s what it feels like to be the smart bridesmaid. And I`m pulled up in my tracks to realise that this `perfectionist critic` can also be part of me especially when I`m stressed or tired.

So let`s put ourselves in the place of the silly one. `You wake up suddenly with smoke coiling up from the lamp getting in your eyes. You don`t know what`s going on at first and then you realise. You`ve been waiting for this wedding for so long and you were so excited and now your lamp is smoking – about to go out and uhoh! you didn`t bring any spare oil. Truth be told you`ve been chasing your tail for weeks, too busy to prepare for anything properly. You look around flustered - what can you do? And then you notice your linen outfit - even if you had pressed it, it would still look like a rag. Those others are so together, they even managed to sleep and not get their clothes creased. It`s the story of your life.

So you choose the girl with the softest face and sidle up to her. `Could you please lend me a bit of your oil? I`ve been so busy I didn`t have time to buy any.` But her face loses some of its softness. `I`ve been busy too. Sorry, but if I give you some of mine I may run out. Go buy your own.` So you and your friends go and find a 24 hour outlet and by the time you get back everyone`s gone inside. You knock at the locked door. `Please, please let us in.` But the bridegroom calls through the door, `Do I know you? I don`t think I know you` That`s what it feels like to be the silly bridesmaid facing rejection for being unprepared – is that really such a great sin?

And is that such a great ending? Or was there originally more to this – Did Jesus finish by challenging people to imagine an alternative ending? `If you were the bridegroom what would you do?... In your feasting would you just ignore the late arrivals or would you try to find the bridesmaids who are already inside to vouch for these girls outside?` . . . And what if someone says to Jesus. `You know Lord, if I was one of those wise ones I would have said to the silly girl without a light `Just put your arm through mine – no, not the one holding the lamp silly! That`s better! Now we can both see and we`ll all get there in time. So when the bridegroom arrived he would have found all the girls waiting arm in arm along the path to the house with one lamp lighting two faces. Should we not always be prepared to share?` And I can see Jesus` face lighting up too as he says `I`m glad you didn`t let that story stay like that, but that you have understood it based on all that I have told you.` After all, Jesus had already given his followers an image of seeing themselves as a lamp empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In remembering his challenge not to hide our light under a bucket, we realise that he saw God`s people as co-creators responsible for providing that light in dark places. We are not to keep it just for ourselves, we are to share it! I do not see this parable as being about individual salvation despite the slant the writer of Matthew`s gospel seems to have put on it. However, given the context of his day who can blame him? The number `five` occurs in the New Testament many times as a symbol for the Jewish people (whereas seven represents the Gentiles). I suspect that Matthew is alluding here to those Jews who originally responded to the Christ message, but some (the foolish ones) were flagging from their responsibilities as Christ followers. With the stresses and turmoil of that era under brutal Roman oppression, perhaps it was little wonder that Matthew was seeking to encourage the few remaining, to be faithfully prepared come what may. We too are becoming the few remaining faithful but in my opinion seeing ourselves that way must never be at the expense of rejecting others.

Maybe Jesus` parable had originally been about encouraging people to trust in God`s time - we don`t have control over what happens, and we may grow tired with the waiting but yes, we do need a certain preparedness, an intentionality to be ready for when the honoured guest arrives. Which in turn begs the question of who is the honoured guest in our lives? Maybe the one we await will come in a very different form from what we were expecting in those we meet on our life`s journey.

Philip Haile`s book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, is the story of a little village in the French Alps named Le Chambon. Unlike many other French towns, Le Chambon hid the Jews that were living there from the Nazis. They used a wide variety of means to save them from deportation and death. A major reason for this stand was the preaching of their pastor, Andre Trocme. Sunday after Sunday he preached on love and justice and the need to live as Jesus taught them.

One elderly lady spoke of how she had faked a heart attack when the Nazis came to distract them from finding the family she had hidden under her chickenhouse. When asked why she had risked this, she said, Pastor always told us, `One day Jesus will come into your life and ask you to do something just for him`. On the Sunday that the Germans came to our town, the pastor repeated those words in his sermon, `One day Jesus will come into your life and ask you to do something just for him.` Well, everybody in the congregation had quietly nodded their heads. We knew what to do. We were prepared for it.

Sometimes we are indeed called to heroic action but as Barbara Brown Taylor puts it `Why not be ready all the time, not just for the end but also for what the moment brings? Every day when you wake up, decide to live the life God has given you to live right now. Refuse to live yesterday over and over again. Resist the temptation to save your best self for tomorrow. Do not put off living the kind of life you`re meant to live.`

And I would add – don`t neglect to take time for yourself. Don`t close your eyes to the beauty and the wonder hidden in each day. Don`t miss the joy of the ordinary moment, and, most of all, don`t ever miss the opportunity to bless someone`s life.

After all the invitation to the wedding/to the kingdom has already been issued by Jesus. As Christians we are all part of the wedding party whether we`re ready or not. And so dear friends I leave you with the thought that our responsibility is not just to faithfully keep the light burning but also to share that light so that everyone may recognise and assist the honoured guest in serving in God`s banquet feast.