“Be Ready” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus tells people to “Be ready.” He says you want to keep your lamps trim and burning and you want to bring oil for the journey. And he describes the story of these women who were waiting for the bridegroom to come. They were waiting at the bride’s house, and, because the bridegroom was taking longer than they thought, they all fall asleep. And as they sleep, someone then comes and says, “OK, time to get up, time to go, go on to the bridegroom’s house.” So they get up and everyone goes to grab a lamp, because now it’s midnight, so it’s dark outside. They all get their lamp and half of the group, half of these women bring oil for the journey and the other half, who Jesus calls foolish, forget, and they don’t bring any oil.  Or maybe they thought they didn’t need it. So as they head out with their lamps, the road is taking longer than they expect. And they find that the ones who weren’t prepared or didn’t have enough oil for the journey turn to the sisters and said, “Sis, can I have some oil?” But the sisters knew that they needed their own oil to make their way. And now, the ones who hadn’t prepared went out and it was midnight. I think they went to the bodega or the 24 hour pharmacy they thought they had enough money in the pockets and they went and they bought the oil and they came back it wasn’t right. It wasn’t the right kind of oil. And what we have to remember is this. God provides the oil. You can’t buy it in the store. We can’t take a detour off the road to go get it from some pusher on the corner. If we want the oil we need for this journey of faith to make it to that banquet, we have to remember that it comes only from God. Our faith has no source but the one who inspires faith in the first place. Nobody can give you your faith but God. When you remember that, then that oil will overflow from a cup that God will fill.  And that’s God‘s promise to us: you will have all you need, because God is with you every step of that journey. Amen

See Pastor Kaji’s full sermon here: https://youtu.be/GHDiwdEcarE