In our first reading
the Promised Land is no longer a promise, but a reality. Israel is in
possession of it. Now Joshua gathers the people together to make a
sacred bond, a covenant. They make a memorial as well, just as they
had a memorial to the crossing of the Jordan from the wilderness into
this new life of promise fulfilled. Joshua knows that they will need
aids for memory, maybe not for this generation, but for generations
to come. Over one hundred years ago, people raised this church up.
The care they took with it makes it a fitting memorial for the depth
of their commitment, one that rippled out to a future that they would
scarcely even imagine.

In this ceremony, Here
Joshua does a remarkable thing for them and us. Choose this day whom
you will serve he says. We are taken into his situation, but his
situation becomes ours as well. Every day of our lives we choose whom
we will serve. Joshua knows that in victory, in the good times, we
are most likely to let our relationship with god wither. It is a fact
that trouble is what drives us toward God.

Most people assume our
story in Matthew is an allegory where different elements stand for
something else. Most people agree it is about the long delay in the
return of Jesus. So many folks like to play at predicting the end of
the age, but here is a story that doesn’t predict for us.
Instead it tells us to be ready when Jesus would return. Jesus would
be the delayed bridegroom for instance. All members of the church as
portrayed as bridesmaids, waiting for the arrival. They all find it
hard to wait, and they all fall asleep. So, falling asleep isn’t
the issue, as they all share in that. No, the issue is the oil in the
lamps. Who is prepared for the delay and who is not?

No one knows what the
oil stands for, if this is an allegory. In Jewish tradition, the oil
could be faithful reading of the bible, and it could be a collection
of good deeds. Maybe they stand for spiritual disciplines, such as a
daily devotional. Either way, they show that we need to have them at
the ready in our character formation. It is hard to play catch up
with either of them, trying to make up for lost time. If we study our
bibles, if we build up our character by doing good, we can rely on
that when a surprise turns up. I think of the missionary captured in
Lebanon years ago. Denied a bible, he could recite the psalms from
memory. He hadn’t memorized them as we learn a poem in school.
He prayed them so much that they became part of him, and he was able
to turn to them in that critical period.

The time for decision
often comes at the worst possible moment, or at a time we least
expect. Temptation has a way of sneaking up on us. In our mortality,
no one knows the time of departure across the Jordan into the
Promised Land of heaven. Most of us will probably be brought into
God’s time before the return of Jesus. To live as if, a crisis
could come at any time is to live a life prepared. My dentist at the
IUSD is an Iraq Marine veteran. He tries to be prepared for the
expected but the unexpected as well. Recognize, adapt, and overcome,
he says. In that sense, Marines seem to live out the Boy Scout motto
of be prepared. When a couple is expecting their first child, they
spend time working on a nursery and building the crib. Toward the
end, they often have the bags already packed and in the trunk of the
car, just in case. We do well to have our spiritual bags packed,
ready for the call of God.