Remember the BBC television show from ?? years ago, where an elderly “couple”–widow & widower–raised Cain at a retirement home? Both were still pretty feisty, and their bored mischief confounded staff and their relatives alike. They wanted to keep busy and relevant while they waited to die. They didn’t play according to The Rules, which perplexed many and delighted others… This weekend’s readings are about What To Do while we Wait For God.
The feisty prophet Amos annoyed both the King and the Priesthood with his call to civic responsibility. He said that The Day of the Lord, when God comes to straighten out his Creation, wouldn’t be much fun, especially for the Chosen People (who should know better). “Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light…” (5:18) The image is of running from a lion and meeting a bear; and if you DO make it safely home (whew!) getting bitten by a snake! Festivals, solemn assemblies, offerings and noisy songs just aren’t gonna placate a present God. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (v.24)
Evidently there was quite a discussion going on in Thessalonica about the parousia, the anticipated “rapture”. Will Jesus come for only those alive? Or will he include ALL the saints “who now rest from their labors”? St. Paul tried to limit this by assuring them, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” (I, 4:14) It struck me as odd that he didn’t have some specific ethical admonitions; although the paragraphs just before reminded Believers to treat each other kindly, with justice. But this week concentrates more on Final Procedures…
So what will the kingdom of heaven be like? Matthew remembers Jesus’ story about the Ten Bridesmaids, half of whom were unprepared. (25:1-13) They just didn’t have enough oil to last out the evening. There’s been plenty of time, Jesus said, to get your “oil” supplied: through the Church, your covenant group, scriptural studies, prayer & meditation… So when The Bridegroom finally gets here, don’t expect others to give you what you shoulda already provided. (Individualists love this story; community-builders wonder why the oil wasn’t pooled in the first place. Let the preacher beware: Smugness isn’t pretty, and doesn’t really belong in Church.)
How then shall we wait for God? Astragon & Vladimir didn’t know the day nor the hour, so they kept on doing what they were doing, for weal or woe. Yet they kept on believing that SOMEDAY –soon, maybe!– the final curtain would drop. I saw a t-shirt which read, “Jesus is Coming! Everybody look busy!” Our busy-ness might well be directed to telling the Gospel by word and deed in the understanding that a timeless Lord will again turn our clocks back…
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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