“Abundance, generosity, and sharing the wealth”
The 26th Sunday After Pentecost, November 9, 2008
“I don’t know about you, but I think it’s safe to say that after a couple of thousand years, we can be sure that the Messiah is not going to reappear in the way those early Christians expected.”
“Matthew ended by telling us exactly what the kingdom of God should look like.
It is feeding the hungry, he said.
Clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison.”

May I speak only the truth, and may only the truth be heard by you, in the name of God our Creator, our redeemer, and our sanctifier. Amen.
This morning’s readings
Some interesting readings this morning, I think.
First reading: Wisdom of Solomon
The first reading, from the Wisdom of Solomon, was written only about 50 years before Jesus was born.
It’s worth mentioning, I think, because in this book of the Bible, God is described in the feminine.
Wisdom is another word for God, and Wisdom is a feminine noun.
Wisdom is a “she.”
We’re told that this feminine God is radiant and unfading, accessible, easy to spot by anyone looking for her.
Imagine that!
God the Mother.
Second reading: Paul’s correspondence
And then I can’t go on to the gospel without briefly mentioning the second reading, as well.
It was a piece of correspondence between Paul and members of a newly organized church that he’d started up in Greece.
This correspondence is maybe the earliest writing included in the Christian part of the Bible, written maybe as few as just 15 years after Jesus’ earthly walk.
At that time, you know, the early Christians were expecting Jesus to return, as the messiah, the Christ, any minute.
Literally.
Sucking everyone up into the sky.
They thought that absolutely everyone would be resurrected with Christ when that happened, and they were worried about what would happen to friends and family who had already died.
Paul was reassuring them that when the time came, everyone would get to go, the living and the dead.
What’s particularly noteworthy is that it’s this little passage that’s the basis for the fundamentalist belief in “the Rapture.”
Many believe it’s literally going to happen that way.
It’s also this little passage that’s the basis for the bumper stickers.
In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.
And the bumper sticker responses:
After the rapture, can I have your car?
I want you to know that the word rapture doesn’t even appear in the Bible.
The entire concept is based on this one paragraph taken from a letter written by Paul, a Jesus-follower who turned out to be very influential in the formation of the church as we know it today.
The gospel: Matthew & the 10 maidens
This morning gospel of Matthew picked up that thread, not about a rapture, but about waiting for the return of a Messiah.
Matthew invites us to believe that it was Jesus who told this story about bridesmaids waiting for a bridegroom who was delayed.
Matthew invites us to believe that it was Jesus who predicted his own resurrection and return in a second coming.
Parable of the 10 bridesmaids: not Jesus’ words
The reading, referred to as “the parable of the ten bridesmaids,” may simply have been derived from common lore in the ancient Near East.
Some scholars think it may have been totally the creation of Matthew, the writer, not a story told by Jesus at all.
The bridesmaids who were ready to go to the party got to go.
The ones who weren’t ready were shut out.
It nothing like other parables of Jesus.
Jesus was the guy who was always going against against the grain, both religious and social, always questioning conventional wisdom.
This story, instead… confirms conventional wisdom, defends the status quo.
There’s no unexpected twist at the end, typical of Jesus’ parables, no riddle to figure out.
It all turns out as expected.
Also, the parable emphasizes the social boundaries between those inside, and those outside.
The closed door is a definitive boundary.
Jesus, on the other hand, was much more interested in breaking down social barriers than he was about erecting them.
American values: individualism & meritocracy
It’s easy to read this morning’s parable of the ten virtuous bridesmaids as a tribute to a core American value: our value of rugged individualism, the priority of looking out for number one.
It sounds more like our culture than the mind of Jesus.
The “password” for entrance into God’s kingdom has never been “try harder.”
The kingdom’s economy has never been one of scarcity.
(If I share with you, I won’t have enough for myself.
That’s not what Jesus ever suggested.)
Instead, the kingdom of heaven is about abundance, about generosity, about sharing the wealth with one another.
Jesus’ values: generosity
Jesus embraced as his own those who were excluded by the respectably religious people of his day.
He was a friend to sinners.
He was a friend to people who were avoided by religious people.
His hospitality, and openness, and his generosity got him into terrible trouble with those who believed it was their job to maintain strong moral standards, maintain the law, maintain the status quo.
It eventually got him killed.
Nowhere in scripture will you find the mantra, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.”
In spite of how often you hear that sentence, it's usually the sinner, not the sin, who’s ostracized, criticized, crucified.
A second coming, really?
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s safe to say that after a couple of thousand years, we can be sure that the Messiah is not going to reappear, at least not in the way those early Christians expected.
For us the story’s got to be about something else, maybe about staying awake, not losing heart, not losing faith, keeping hope alive.
Maybe it’s the idea that the kingdom of God is always yet to come, just beyond our reach.
Maybe it’s the idea that the best is yet to come, although it may not come in the way we expect it.
This morning’s story was the way Matthew began chapter 25.
But he ended it on quite a different note.
He ended it by telling us exactly what the kingdom of God should look like.
It is feeding the hungry, he said.
Clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison.
Two wolves inside, good and evil: Feed the one who wins.
There’s a native American (Cherokee) story that goes to the heart of it.
One evening an old grandfather told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside of people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves that live inside each one of us.
One wolf is Evil.
That wolf is anger, envy, and jealousy, greed and lies.
The other wolf is Good.
The good wolf is joy and peace and love, hope and humility.
The good wolf is compassion, and empathy., truth and generosity.”
The grandson thought about the battle between the wolves or a minute or so and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”
The Cherokee grandfather replied, “The one you feed.”
Prayer
Let us pray.
Eternal God, the Great Mystery that is outside everything and yet at the same time inside, keep alive in each one of us the search for a faith that is real, a faith that helps us to live happier lives, a faith that gives us a fuller meaning to life and the events of life.
Bring us to know the goodness that flows from the heart of the universe and may we be expanded in heart and soul by that goodness.
This is our prayer. Amen.
