Stay Ready

Matthew 25: 1-13

 

 

          He was 41 years old. His batting average was 100 points below his 250 pound overweight body. He wasn’t a Yankee anymore. He wasn’t much of anything anymore. He was a wanna-be manager playing for the Boston Braves of the National League, a league he wasn’t used to playing until the World Series. It was May 25, 1935. The Braves were in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates at Forbes Field.

          Paul Warhola and Sam Sciullo didn’t much care about all that. They were 12 and 13 years old, they loved baseball and their hero was in town. No matter that he was washed up. He was there and they went to see him. They were awfully glad they did. It was an afternoon game. There were no night games in 1935.         

          In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus tells of a group invited to a wedding. It was common in first century Palestine for the groom to proceed to the home of his bride, where they would be married. Usually it was a night ceremony. It was also common for the wedding party to return to the groom’s house for a banquet and celebration.

          His first time at bat, he hit a home run into the lower deck. Some folks got up and left. They figured they had gotten what they came for. Paul and Sam stuck around. It wasn’t long before their patience was rewarded. His second time up, he hit another homer into the upper deck. That was pretty high cotton for any hitter to hit two home runs in one game. More folks left. It couldn’t get any better than that.

         It was nighttime and the ten virgins brought their oil lamps to see. Half of them came prepared with enough extra oil to trim the lamps as the night wore on. The other half came with only the oil in their lamps, sort of like the fans who left Forbes Field early that day in 1935.

          His third time at bat, he hit safely for a single. 3 for 3. Pretty slick for a washed up old ballplayer. It was the middle of the game and no one was paying much attention.  Paul and Sam had seats down near home plate. Normally they would have been in the right field bleachers…the cheap seats. But that day, right field seats had gone fast. The old man was a lefty and a dead pull hitter.

          The ten virgins had settled down in the street near the groom’s house. The wedding had run long and they became drowsy waiting. They finally fell asleep as they waited. Their lamps began to go out from lack of oil. Jesus tells us that at midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” The virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, but some had no oil with which to trim them.

          It was the 7^th inning. He came to the plate for one more at bat. The people that were left cheered his performance of the day. Sam remembers that he pointed to a group of old guys in the right field bleachers and said he’d hit the ball over the roof. He was always sort of a grandstander. It was cute. Many didn’t see that gesture, for it was late, the game was not in doubt, and they were headed for the gate.

          So the five unprepared virgins had to leave. They went to the dealers of oil to get more. While they were gone, the bridegroom and his company arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. They shut the door for the night.

          They talked about it for years. Baseball fans still talk about it. Sam and Paul remember it like it was yesterday. He did what he said he would do. He lifted that pitch over the 86 foot roof of Forbes Field and cleared the stadium, the first time it had ever been done. The washed up, 41 year old overweight man hit his third home run of the game.  His name was Babe Ruth. As the roar went up, all the fans whom had left prematurely were confused. They knew they had missed something truly important, but they were not given a second chance. It was the last game he ever played. Five days later he retired.

        The unprepared virgins came back to find a locked door. They called the groom “Lord.” They called out to him and he did answer. His answer was this: “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.”

          As they were being interviewed about attending that now famous game, Sam and Paul expressed gratitude that they had been able to partake in a piece of baseball history in the making. It was a huge moment in their lives. They had been able to attend, and they were not about to pass up the chance to see their hero, washed up or not. They were ready, and they saw Babe Ruth in one of his greatest performances.

          I’m guessing that if Sam and Paul had been invitees to that wedding, they would have come with their lamps trimmed and with extra oil for the evening. They would have been ready. Well, it’s only a wedding, one might say. But what if the groom is our Lord and what if the invitation is to the kingdom of heaven?

          Second chances don’t always come along. Are you ready? Last week, we heard Joshua warn the people of Israel to prepare, for they were about to see the Lord do wonders among them. This week, it is our Savior warning us to be ready. He tells us to watch, to be ready, to remain prepared, for we will know neither the day nor the hour when he chooses to return.

         On that May afternoon back in 1935, Babe Ruth hit three homers in one game and as he crossed home plate after the last one, he kept right on going into the dugout to the showers. He was done. It’s an exit not unlike the entry our Lord will make one day. We won’t know he’s coming until he arrives, any more than those fans know that they were seeing their hero for the last time. And Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like this.  Are you ready?