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26th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
We have one of those special Sundays when all three lessons reflect
natural thematic connections with one another. All of the lessons have to do
with the end—the end of a great leader and epoch of journeying with the people
of God, the end of our lives and how Christian hope speaks to that end, and the
parable of how the Church must also be prepared for what lies ahead—especially
the End, according to God’s stopwatch.
Joshua 24:1-3a; 14-25—Choose this Day Whom You Will Serve
We come to another closure story of a great leader. Joshua, Moses’ successor, has
led Israel into the promised, but hostile land and into many adventures and misadventures
of conquest. Much blood has been spilled during Joshua and Israel’s journey and now
they come to Shechem or perhaps a comma in the drama. Joshua will exit life and Israel
will go into the future leaderless. At such a critical juncture, Joshua recites the shared
story—from the time of Terah and the call to Abram to their present; Joshua then
calls upon Israel to be faithful to the God who has journeyed with them. A covenant seals
this solemn moment but not their hearts.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18—New Beginnings, Not Endings for Christians
Paul closes this letter with a hearty round of eschatological cheer. The second coming
may be delayed, but however and whenever God calls the family together, even those who are
long forgotten will be there. What hope-filled words to encourage those who face the kind
of ending that Joshua faces in the first lesson. Paul casts the vision and also supplies
(at least his version of) how God is going to bring the Church together in the end:
"For the Lord personally will come down from heaven . . . all the Christians who have
died will rise . . . and we who are still alive . . . will be caught up in the clouds
Matthew 25:1-13—10 Bridegrooms, 3 Servants and the Sheep and the Goats
We move to Matthew’s fifth and final teaching pericope which precedes the passion
events chronicled by Mark. Our lesson forms the first of three parables about The End: the
story of the ten bridesmaids. The differences of ancient and post-modern marriage culture
are acute as this parable reveals. The ten bridesmaids, lamps in hand, go to meet the
bridegroom. A delay consumes the oil in the lamps. Alas, the lamps grow dim. But only five
do! For five of the bridesmaids are wise and have planned ahead, bringing additional oil
to suffice until the bridegroom comes and they can enter the banquet. Those unprepared can
only stand on the outside in the darkness.
