Sunday 6th November, 2011 Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:11
Collect
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning; grant that we may so hear them. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which You have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
Old Testament Lesson Joshua 24: 1 – 3a & 14 - 25
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors--Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
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Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."
But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good." And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD!"
Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses." He said, "Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and him we will obey." So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
Psalm 78: 1 – 7
Give heed to my teaching, O my people: incline your ears to the words of my mouth
For I will open my mouth in a parable: and expound the mysteries of former times.
What we have heard and known: what our forebears have told us
We will not hide from their children, but declare to a generation yet to come: the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, His mighty and wonderful works.
For He did marvellous things in the sight of their ancestors: in the land of Egypt, in the country of Zoan.
He divided the sea and let them pass through: He made the waters stand up in a heap.
In the daytime He led them with a cloud: and all night long, with the light of fire.
He cleft rocks in the wilderness: and gave them drink in abundance as from springs of water.
He brought streams out of the rock: and caused the waters to flow down like rivers.
But for all this they sinned yet more against Him: and rebelled against the Most High in the desert.
Epistle 1 Thessalonians 4: 9 – 18
Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
GOSPEL Matthew 25: 1- 13
Jesus said "The kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But 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.'
And 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. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
What a powerful and timely passage this is, from Israel’s own experience just before being permitted to enter the Promised Land. ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve’ has long been a very challenging and moving ‘sermon’ from Joshua to those who were, sort of, God’s people. The passage is a reminder of the way in which most people, in spite of the determined choice for God, still carry enormous amounts of old baggage of religion, superstition and habit.
I had been brought up on the (remarkably false) proposition that when a person turned to God, then all of those old issues disappeared. That is never the case, for one needs to pilgrim on to discover the extent to which old patterns hold sway. Many times this shows up in quite unexpected ways, occasionally quite unsettling. If this happens to you, do not be surprised, but simply recognize the reality – and move on from there. Sadly, Jewish history shows that Israel failed rather miserably in maintaining their loyalty, which tends to be part of the human dilemma, does it not!
Psalm
And centuries later, even the old psalmist was aware both of God’s activity and Israel’s inconsistency. When will we ever learn ..............
Epistle
It is not surprising that the Thessalonians would have had similar problems to the ancient Jews; their short background in the faith would have left lots of gaps in their understanding of God and the Faith. The Apostle was really quite gentle with this lot, and offered some assurance to them about what we might have heard referred to as the ‘Last Things.’
May I reiterate comments from previous years and readings about Paul and the Parousia. Before anyone tries to build all manner of schema about what is said to happen at the Lord’s Return, it is always hugely important to note how even the Apostle himself moved his views and developed his theology as time and years passed. These letters to the Thessalonians were early in his ministry, so one needs to first discover when the various epistles were written and then place then in order of date of writing. Then notice the movement and development of Paul’s comments about the ‘End Times.’ Then, if you are really game, and understand apocalyptic writing, read through and understand what John had to say in his Revelation. Then you may well end up with a remarkably different understanding of the ‘Second Coming,’ and so avoid so many of the rather crazy views that seem to circulate periodically .
GOSPEL
If you are rather put off by the rejection of the five foolish bridesmaids , then realize that this is part of the parable – and part of the culture of those days. The whole point of the story is to underline what Israel failed to do all those centuries ago: this is a tale to encourage, perhaps even to demand that people take responsibility for their actions, -- and that tends to be somewhat of a forgotten issue in today’s world.
Here is a lovely tale, with a real sting to it. If one is to be in the Kingdom, then one needs to take full responsibility for one’s actions, outlooks and attitudes. If one gives one’s word, then one has to stick with it.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
If there is one thing about life today, and outcomes from life, today’s readings really do offer a different but wholly sensible response to choice and action. It is a day or two since, as I write this, that there was a remarkably tragic and foolish road accident just north of the Barossa Valley. Apparently, two young women were riding on the bonnet of a motor vehicle on the main, sealed road when one fell of and was killed. Her sister, we are informed by news outlets, went to her aid and she too was killed by a passing car. The two children of one of the women were in the vehicle and apparently witnessed the hideous event. This is said to have occurred at about 3.00am. The sad point of mentioning this totally sad tale is that all manner of excuses were offered in the attempt to explain what had happened. It was nobody’s fault; its cause was inexplicable. With all due respect, the truth of the situation lies rather elsewhere, does it not? If I carry on like that, drunk or sober, I am responsible for the ghastly outcome no matter how I attempt to get around it all.
Should you think that to be unfair, then look at almost any other situation where the attempt is made to lay the blame on someone or something else. This is not the preserve of the ordinary person; it is a constant from our political leaders down to the humblest citizen, Not just with road accidents, but with decisions made about the Murray, the Desal Plant, and it won’t be long before it applies to the Adelaide Cricket Ground or the RAH, new or old. So much of society is taken up by those who seem to delight in avoiding issues and side-stepping responsibility. And that is the top part of a very slippery slope indeed.
So much of the emphasis of today’s readings point in exactly that direction. From Israel’s story as the people entered to Promised Land, to that odd little parable about a wedding. You have a task to fulfill; so go ahead and do it properly.
One is left wondering quite why the current view of things has dropped so very low. It is not as if such a process has any value or offers any real benefit to anyone except perhaps the person who refuses to oblige. It is a strange thing about so many similar issues – the line of least resistance is followed, and the more that is the case, the more devastating the outcome emerges. On the other hand, it is worth exploring the relative value of the better path. While there may well be some superficial disadvantages initially, the far more widespread advantages show up very quickly.
If there is one thing that produces maturity in individuals and communities, it is precisely the extent to which responsibility is taken. Maturity is hardly something one might consider wearing on one’s sleeve, so to speak, but the increase in trust and reliability one can expect from others means a huge boost to confidence we can have in each other. You must know what it is like when someone offers or even promises to do something, and then when the crunch comes, you find that the matter has been ignored. All manner of interesting and even exciting things hoped for simply collapse – and that person is unlikely to be relied on ever again.
It goes almost without any further explanation. As it has often been said: when people take responsibility the sky is the limit for their worth and value. When the opposite happens life simply becomes a struggle for existence. So what are we waiting for?
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