Sermon 11/09/08 (Amos 5:18-24; Matt. 25:1-13)

“Justice Flowing Like the Mississippi”
Amos 5:18-24; Matthew 25:1-13
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 9 November, 2008
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
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 For the past month or so I have been encouraging you to vote, and I proudly went to the polls on Tuesday morning. Then on Wednesday I read an article suggesting that Christians shouldn’t vote. What?! I have always been taught that we should vote, and I just spent weeks telling you that Christians should vote prayerfully. I almost didn’t read the article when I saw it because I thought it would be a bunch of baloney, but it actually was interesting.

One of the reasons that the article gave for not voting was that we don’t actually have much power when we vote in a presidential election. As J.T. pointed out to me after church last Sunday, the general population doesn’t actually choose the president; the electoral college does. The article suggested that until this system is changed our voting in a presidential election is just a sham. According to the article, “If voting is not a definite evil...it is at best the weakest and most ineffective form of Christian political action.” The question is also asked, “If you don’t believe in capital punishment or war, why vote to put people in positions where they will be forced, by their oath of office, to engage in them?”

Then there’s the issue of the secret ballot. Americans champion the fact that we have a secret ballot -- we are the only person who knows how we voted -- but the article points out that “Christian ethics are inherently public and communal.” Therefore, making such an important moral decision in secret goes against the Christian grain.

I still believe what I’ve been telling you for the past month, and I still believe that my vote counted for something. But this article, mixed together with some other things I read this week, and with this morning’s scriptures got me thinking. Americans had a lot banking on this year’s elections -- even more than usual, it seemed. Regardless of who won the presidency, history was in the making (and has now been made). Christians all across the spectrum were talking about “justice” and “how God created us,” with relation to gay marriage amendments and other initiatives. The fact that the United States finally has an African American president (or would have had a female vice president) is shocking justice too, especially since African Americans were granted the right to vote in 1870 and women were granted the right to vote in 1920. But are we Christians banking too much of our justice on the secular government of our country? Are we focusing too much on the “empire” of the United States rather than on the coming Empire of God?

In our Old Testament reading for this morning, the prophet Amos cries “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” You may recognize these words from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In that context, King was, of course, referring to civil rights in the United States, but in its original context the words relate to the Realm of God.

Rev. Dr. King talks about a world in which his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” I certainly believe that the coming Realm, or Empire, or Kingdom of God will be such a place -- in which we are not judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. But people know these words of the prophet Amos more from Martin Luther King than they do from the Holy Bible.

Then there is our reading from Matthew. I have never gotten along very well with this parable. Why didn’t the bridesmaids who had more oil share with those who ran out? Doesn’t Christ usually teach us to share? In my conversations with other ministers I learned that I am not alone in wrestling with this scripture. However, I did gain some insight. In this culture, a bride’s husband-to-be was expected to build her a house before their wedding. The wedding would take place at a moment’s notice, when the house was ready, and the guests had to be prepared. It was the responsibility of the bridesmaids to guide the wedding party from the bride’s home to the location of the wedding. If the wise women shared their oil with the foolish women, then the wise women may not have had enough oil either, and they all would have run out of oil on their way to the wedding feast. They weren’t being mean; they were making sure that there would be enough light for the journey.

Of course, Jesus is not simply warning his listeners to be ready for a wedding. The bridesmaids represent the faithful (i.e., us), and the “bridegroom” is Christ himself. We are to be always prepared for Christ’s return, and for the Kingdom, or the Empire of God.

In the second article I read this Wednesday, UCC pastor Andrew Warner referred to this Gospel parable and said that American Christians tend to “put too much power in the hands of the president and too little in Jesus.” He pointed out that we tend to use a great deal of eschatalogical language in politics -- we act like presidents and prime ministers have as much to do with the “end times” as Jesus Christ. In making his point he quoted Ronald Reagan, in a campaign speech from 1979: “Someone once said that the difference between an American and any other kind of person is that an American lives in anticipation of the future because he knows it will be a great place.” I am sure Reagan’s listeners cheered when they heard his words, just as crowds cheered when they heard the promises for a new world made by Barack Obama and John McCain. But are we cheering for the wrong things and waiting for the wrong tomorrow? That is, do we cheer as loudly when we hear Jesus talking about “anticipation of the future” (being ready) “because we know it will be a great place?” Do we cheer as loud when we hear the prophet Amos (not just as he is quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr.), crying out for “justice [to] roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream”?

I never liked the tone of this morning’s parable. But Rev. Warner reminded me that Jesus spoke of the ten bridesmaids as he was preparing for a night shortly before his crucifixion, when his own disciples would be separated into the wise and the foolish. The grand speeches of our politicians are often given as they are beginning their “reign” -- they are preparing for a “bright new world” under their own leadership. The Empire of God, on the other hand, will only be met after tremendous trials -- Amos warns that the day of the Lord “is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.” (Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?)

Like many Americans, I am hopeful about the next four years. I think most Americans, including our current President Bush, are ready for a change. I am also heartbroken that gay marriage amendments passed in three states. This is not justice. But I also need to remind myself that the American government is not the be all and end all of my life as a Christian. The “great new world” that I am hoping for will not be found in the next four years under the leadership of Barack Obama or John McCain or anybody else. It will be found in the Empire of God, under the leadership of Jesus Christ.

Now let us pray.