Jesus tells a story showing how the “Kingdom of God will be like women who took their lamps and went out to meet a bridegroom.” But the bridegroom “was long delayed.” Some women were wise and had brought “flasks of oil.” Others were “foolish” and “brought no oil with them.” The fools demand of the wise, “Give us some of your oil.” “But the wise ones replied, “No.” Subsequently late to the bridegroom’s feast, the fools make a demand of him too, “Open the door for us!” He too says, “No.”
Fools lack thought, certainly forethought. They want what they want and will make demands on others to get their wants. Their wants become absolute, for them. But not for others who are wise and freely say “No” to the fool’s demands. What happens when fools who absolutize their wants force others to satisfy their demands? What happens is rule, slavery, empire. People and society itself are forcibly used by fools to get what they want. Who are the current fools forcing us to make their wants absolute? Primarily it is wealthy people who use people and buy force. Men can do the same. Also self-titled Christians. Who are the people these fools forcibly use? Usually it is people who are poor, women, and people of color who do their best to be wise. Like the wise people in Jesus’ story, they keep saying “No” to the demands of fools. Fools thus oppress and criticize the wise. Fools start childishly so via name calling; bums, femiNazis, ghetto thugs, and gets worse. Fools also criticize and call names of any collective action done by the wise; communists, shrews, terrorists. Fools, specifically the self-titled Christian ones, do not criticize or affix name calling to capitalism or patriarchy or white supremacy. They identify with those things, and will likely seek to set or maintain them through force. So it is that today’s fools are wisely having “No,” said to them, for example by activists for Critical Race Theory. White supremacist fools are erroneously affix name calling like ‘Godless Communism’ or ‘Socialism’ or ‘Marxism’ to Critical Race Theory. The theory, however, was not developed by a follower of Marx. It was developed by a follower of the dark-skinned Jesus, Derrick Bell. The fools demonstrate barely minimal thinking in their inability to define terms. Also, they show barely minimal discipleship in their inability to define themselves in relation to Jesus. They consistently say “No,” – to Jesus. They say “No” to being wise in Christ/Christ-like. These fools have absolutized wants in the violent U.S. kingdom of Caesar and therefore cannot say “Yes” to Jesus’ peaceful Community of God. We who say ‘Yes’ to a peacemaking community are lighting our lamps with positive ‘Yes’ energy. We are saying ‘Yes’ to multiculturalism, interfaith initiatives, political organizing, economic justice, theological questioning, and so much more. Each ‘Yes’ is transformational.
Fools who claim the title ‘Christian,’ are forcing more than their verbal commands over and against people, as did their foolish counterparts in the Gospel. These fools are forcing physical violence over and against the people. These fools have brought extra AK 47’s and AR 15’s but they have not brought extra flasks of communion, love, and creative healing power. After we say “No,” to them, we need to help them say “Yes,” to creating a Community of peacemakers on earth.
Prayer: Spirit of Activism, empower us to keep saying “Yes” to peace.
Question: How can I help people fighting for the U.S. Empire say “No” to it and say “Yes” to co-creating a Community of peacemakers on earth?
November 08, 2020 Gospel Matthew 25:1-13 Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time