This document is a sermon that addresses the Gospel passage about being prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. It summarizes that early Christians expected Jesus to return soon, but as time passed without his return, the Gospel writers reminded people to always be prepared. The sermon urges focusing on living faithfully in the present rather than worrying about the future. It suggests "filling our lamps" by recognizing God's presence in daily life and relationships, examining our spiritual lives, and acting to bring God's kingdom to earth through caring for others. Living this way in the present prepares us without knowing when Christ will return.

1. 12 November 2017 32nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time Princeton, NJ
For the past thirty-two weeks we have been walking through the Gospel of Matthew which was
written about 40 years after Christ died, for a Jewish audience. One of its primary purposes was
to convince Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures.
So as we near the end of Liturgical Year we are given this Gospel passage, largely written to
address a concern of those times – namely, a realization that Jesus was not coming back
anytime soon.
For twice in Matthew we hear Jesus himself declaring that his generation would not pass before
the coming of the Son of Man. So it was no surprise that Paul, and the Gospel writers all picked
up on this and wrote about the impending expected return of Christ. But as the years went by,
with no sign of a second coming, the authors wrote passages and parables in order to remind
Christians that no one knows the time nor the place when Christ will return and thus the need
for us to always be prepared.
Biblical scholars will tell us that this Parable of the Ten Virgins was likely cobbled together from
material from Mark’s Gospel and a few other sources, with some later edits. Rooted in a
foundation of the then current Jewish wedding rituals it is enriched with a number of
metaphorical images - all meant to drive home the message of always being prepared – which
is a Gospel theme we will hear often between now and Christmas.
But was does that mean to you and me? What does that look like? And tapping into one of
today’s Gospel metaphors, what is the oil that we need to be placing in our lamps?
To answer that I think we need to first shift our focus away from the fear of what is to come and
when will it will happen. It is said that about 98% of our thought process is either reprocessing
the past or endlessly worrying about the future…even though Jesus warned his disciples not to
do so. For when we focus on this fear-based theology we too often forget that the Kingdom of
God is here and now and we are called to “fill our lamps” by participating in all of it – and thus
bringing to life the current presence of Christ.
And we do this by being awake and alert to the Christ who meets us in our daily lives in so
many ways: Perhaps it is holding your child or grandchild for the first time, or sitting by the side
of a dying parent or friend. Perhaps it may be the beauty of a sunset over the ocean, or gazing
into face of the one you love so much. Or maybe it is seeing your son hit his first little league
homerun or your daughter sink an all net 3 pointer at the buzzer. All these and more – are
occurrences of the Christ. But do we pause to recognize and embrace those moments…or are
we asleep and too preoccupied and miss them?
Next we have to look within, keeping in mind that our spiritual life is not a competition on who
gets in and who doesn’t. For, unlike the parable, none of us are all wise…nor are we always the
fool – for we are both weed and wheat – no one is perfect – only God is perfect. Rather we
need to work on transforming our foolishness by examining what in each of our lives needs to
change – to look where we are asleep to God’s presence …when we really need to be awake.
In the words of theologian and scientist Sr. Ilia Delio: “For God is the root reality of our lives;
God is the what we do with our lives. We are called to participate in the very acting out of the life
1 Deacon Jim Knipper

2. of God”…or in other words to be more of God. Thus we need to stop trying to placate God and
instead allow ourselves to be held by God. I am not sure why it is so hard for us to believe that
God has pure unconditional love for each of us and thus we spend so much of our time placing
conditions and restrictions on God’s love for us and others?
Because this then leads us to going through life with a spirituality focused as if we are just
working on a personal evacuation plan for the next life…just seeking the answer to the question
- “What do I need to do in order for ME to get into heaven?” So…rather than being focused with
fear on what is to come – can we redirect our energies on a living a faith filled life in the here
and now – in the present? For this is the type of Christian life that allows us to recognize the
inner presence of God in each of our lives…even when we find ourselves in crisis – even when
there is such pain in the world such as was experienced with the latest mass shooting in Texas,
or the mass destruction in Puerto Rico or the visibility and awareness of so much abuse
exposed by the #MeToo phenomena. But guess what? God is present in all of our pain as well.
Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner-city
Philadelphia that has helped connect faith communities around the world. Listen to what he
recently wrote:
“There’s something powerful that happens when we can connect our faith with the pain of our
world. We are concerned not just with going to heaven when we die, but with bringing God’s
kingdom down here. That means figuring out how we can be a part of the restoration of our
world. As we look at our neighborhood, what does it mean for us to pray the Lord’s Prayer that
God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? We pray and act for that every day because
we believe that God’s kingdom is coming and we all want it to come.”
For this is the way to fill our lamps and trim our wicks allowing us to burn brightly thus stamping
out the darkness that at times seems way too prevalent in our lives. So as Jesus tells us so
often in the Gospel - Do not be afraid….Instead work on being prepared which has more to do
with: …now versus later…
…it is focused on presence and never fear…
…it has all to do with love and nothing to do with hatred
…it has to do with using your heart and soul more than your mind
…it has all to do with how we care for others versus just focusing on ourselves. For we are
called to live the Gospel not focused on End Time – but rather in Now Time, This Time, present
and presence.
And if we do, we will be taken to places that we least expected…we will connect with others in
ways we never thought were possible… we will be evermore aware of God’s presence in our
daily lives…and we will fill our lamps, and those of others, with an abundance of oil allowing the
light of Christ to burn brightly. And then the time will come, without knowing the day nor the
time, when our work in this life will be done and we will be called back home...Where we will join
those that have gone before us - better known as the Communion of Saints...where we will be
more of God not through any merits we have earned…but simply by the love that we have
shown.
2 Deacon Jim Knipper