Here is the Teaching by Frances Flatman on next weekend's Readings :-
Greek philosophers of the Classical period considered that ‘the unconsidered life was not worth living;’ a valuation of life which should ask all of us to consider what we are about. It is particularly relevant today with ever escalating violence in the Near and Middle East, where getting revenge for damage inflicted by ‘enemies’ threatens the entire world. This does not call for all of us to become professional philosophers, but rather to explore our lives in relation to others, to be aware of the consequences of our actions, and to attempt to shape our lives in ways which reach out and care for others and the planet around us. Surely this is what formed and shaped Jesus’ own life and ministry based in the compassion with which he always reached out to others – even those who did not share his valuation of things and those who would ultimately destroy him.
We get a hint of the development of Jesus’ own thought processes as we read from the Book of Wisdom (6:12-16). This document was written in Alexandria around 50 BCE and clearly became influential in shaping Jesus, for in chapter 2 we have the familiar passage where the unjust plot the downfall of the righteous man and cynically remark that ‘If he is the child of God, God will save him’. They choose to go their own selfish and indulgent ways, living quite regardless of respect for others. Our passage, by contrast, remarks on the easy availability of wisdom for those who seek her, confident that Wisdom, here clearly an attribute of the divine will, be the steadfast companion of the good whether in favourable times or bad. ‘Be on the alert for her and anxiety will quickly leave you. She herself walks about looking for those who are worthy of her.’ Wisdom thought clearly believed in some form of ‘eternal life’ with God, and we can see a clear thread passing down in its teaching into the lives of early Christian martyrs, (Chapter 3).
But is it how we all come to understand such teaching which is central to our well being now and in eternity? In Matthew’s Gospel, (25:1-13) we find another of Jesus’ Parables of the Kingdom, and on the very threshold of his passion and death, showing just how central to his mission, teaching both by action, in his healing miracles and in what he said, was central to his ministry. All parables teach about kingdom life with God and how we engage with it now, whilst the scenery, be it vineyards, sheep and shepherds, or here picturing a marriage feast, are all metaphors leading us into God’s great invitation that we join in the abundance of his life.
So we have this seemingly zany story of the ten bridesmaids, half foolish and half wise, with the serious consequences for the foolish who find themselves shut out, not merely from the wedding hall but in this case, the kingdom of God. We might consider this all a bit mean, but it’s when we probe the story that we come to recognise that the fault of the foolish lies precisely in their failure to consider the protocol of weddings at the time. They would have known that the ‘delay’ in the appearance of the groom (here representing the Lord Jesus) was not some unpredictable occurrence, but quite usual as the groom and the bride’s family would be meeting to conclude agreements made over the dowry by the family, and payments by the groom for his bride. These were all part of the ceremony, and laid down by tradition and law for centuries, protecting both parties. Therefore, the foolish virgins along with their sisters the wise all knew the protocol, and should have made provision in supplies of oil for this protracted situation. By implication, they simply could not be bothered! Their behaviour deliberately flouted tradition, and was disrespectful to the wedding families, and their punishment fully deserved. ‘So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’ In the same way, as Wisdom literature required careful consideration of daily behaviour, so kingdom life does in our daily life too. None of us know when we shall die and meet the Lord, and it is imperative that we have some understanding (wisdom) about what is going on as we find through the life of Jesus, who was continually open to God’s grace and gifts us to do the same.
In 1 Thessalonians (4:13-18) we find Paul working for a similar objective with this very early Christian community. We have to appreciate that at this early date of writing, around 50 CE, after his visit to the city from Philippi, he had converted this community made up of very poor men and women recently won over from paganism. In paganism, unless one was an emperor and therefore made a god at death, it was curtains for you. Christian teaching of eternal life with, in and through Christ, which gave them a hope quite out of the ordinary, was both attractive but clearly puzzling. Under persecution, as they had been for departing from traditional pagan worship which was seen as essential to keep the empire in being, they were concerned about members of their community who had died. Death was such a common feature of urban life, and most did not live beyond 45. Deaths, due to injury, plagues, famine and the problems of pregnancy and child birth, with huge infant mortality, made them question what had happened to friends and relatives. Greco-Roman tombstones echo great loss and indeed despair. Paul writes to reassure them. All who have died ‘in Jesus’ already have an eternal future. But these people, living in a society of intense pressure towards upward mobility in the present, were concerned about the order of things too, and wondered if the already dead had somehow either missed the boat, or would have to hang around for ever until the return of the Lord Jesus in glory, or indeed, were they the lucky ones and the living those shut out of paradise? Paul works to help them appreciate that in God there is no ‘time’, but simply says the already dead will be the first to rise to glory, followed by the still living. Clearly this was an issue elsewhere, as we find in 1 Corinthians 15:22-28, where he develops his teaching. Here in Thessalonians, he uses an analogy which all would be able to grasp. Thessalonica was an Imperial capital and would have experienced visits from the reigning emperors. Such an event, an ‘adventus’ was a magnificent affair with many citizens, especially the important ones, going out in procession with musical accompaniment, lots of incense and pomp and huge banquets and Games ‘to meet the Lord Emperor’, often described as Lord of the World. Emperors were spoken of as ‘coming on the clouds’, it was the common language at the time. Paul opts for this image of tremendous splendour, in which the very poor were most definitely back-footed, as the image within which they all would finally meet Christ and live with him in glory. Whilst we may not find the analogy particularly helpful, unaccustomed as we are to imperial visits or even coronations, we can enter with the Thessalonians into the glory of eternal life in Christ. Indeed, we might even develop our own language to describe the promise of our own utter fulfilment in Christ. Learning to live, and finding language to express the inexpressible, is after all the job of the Christian.
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