The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Sunday closest to November 9 Year A RCL
Christ Catholic Church
Province of the Prince of Peace
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
The Collect
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Old Testament
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
The Psalm
Psalm 78:1-7
Attendite, popule
1 Hear my teaching, O my people; *
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; *
I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3 That which we have heard and known,
and what our forefathers have told us, *
we will not hide from their children.
4 We will recount to generations to come
the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, *
and the wonderful works he has done.
5 He gave his decrees to Jacob
and established a law for Israel, *
which he commanded them to teach their children;
6 That the generations to come might know,
and the children yet unborn; *
that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
7 So that they might put their trust in God, *
and not forget the deeds of God,
but keep his commandments;
The Epistle
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The Gospel
Matthew 25:1-13
Jesus said, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Keeping Oil in the Lamp
By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC
What makes you decide that something is truly worth your whole heart? It is easy to make casual promises when the sun is shining, the path is smooth, and life feels comfortable. We say yes to all kinds of commitments without thinking too much about the cost, imagining that our enthusiasm will carry us through whatever lies ahead. But our collect today strips away that easy surface, praying that having the hope of Christ, we might purify ourselves as he is pure, so that when he comes again in power and glory, we may be made like him in his eternal kingdom. That prayer reminds us that real faith isn’t a quick sprint or a momentary burst of emotion. It is a long, deliberate journey of steady devotion that requires preparation, endurance, and an honest reckoning with who we are actually serving.
We see that exact challenge delivered with piercing clarity in our reading from the book of Joshua. Joshua has grown old, and he calls all the tribes, elders, and leaders of Israel together at Shechem for a decisive moment of truth. He doesn’t sugarcoat their history. He reminds them of where they came from, recounting how their ancestors once worshiped other gods beyond the River Euphrates, and how God brought Abraham out, delivered their people from Egyptian slavery, and walked with them through the wilderness. And then Joshua lays down that famous, uncompromising challenge: Choose this day whom you will serve. Will you cling to the old gods of your ancestors, will you bow to the convenient local idols of the Amorites, or will you serve the living Lord? Joshua makes his own stand completely clear: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
The people respond with immediate, eager choruses, declaring that they will never forsake God because he has done such marvelous things for them. But notice how Joshua pushes back on their easy enthusiasm. He tells them bluntly, You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. Joshua knows human nature. He knows how quickly our loud promises crumble the second pressure mounts, how easily we try to juggle God alongside the shiny, convenient idols of our culture, and how hard it is to stay faithful over the long haul. Joshua forces them to confront their divided loyalties, demanding that they actually put away their foreign gods and incline their hearts completely to the Lord before making a covenant that day at Shechem.
This same generational call to steadfast memory is the heartbeat of Psalm 78. The Psalmist reminds the people to incline their ears and listen to the ancient mysteries and truths passed down by their ancestors. We are not meant to keep the wondrous deeds of God to ourselves or hide them from our children. We recount God’s power and his faithfulness so that the generations to come, even children yet unborn, might put their trust in God, never forget what he has done, and keep his ways. Faith is not an isolated, private hobby; it is a sacred torch passed from hand to hand through the long night of history. When we remember God’s faithfulness in the past, we find the courage to keep our hearts steady in the present.
That enduring hope is what Paul uses to comfort and strengthen the Thessalonian church in our epistle today. The early believers in Thessalonica were grieving, deeply worried about their friends and family members who had passed away before Christ’s return. They wondered if their loved ones had somehow missed out on the promise of the kingdom. Paul writes to them with immense tenderness, saying that he does not want them to be uninformed or to grieve as others do who have no hope. Paul doesn’t tell them that grief is wrong; he tells them that Christian grief is completely different because it is held by the resurrection of Jesus. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God will bring with him those who have died. Whether we are alive or whether we have already fallen asleep, the trumpet will sound, Christ will descend, and we will be with the Lord forever. Paul tells them to encourage one another with these words, grounding their daily lives in the rock solid certainty that death does not get the final word.
And that brings us directly into the urgent, haunting parable of the ten bridesmaids in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus paints a picture of ten young women who take their lamps and go out to meet the bridegroom for a late night wedding feast. Five are foolish, and five are wise. When the foolish take their lamps, they bring no extra oil, while the wise bring flasks of oil along with their lamps. The bridegroom is delayed, hours pass, and every single one of them gets drowsy and falls asleep.
Notice that detail: all ten bridesmaids fall asleep. The wise are not praised because they had superhuman energy and stayed awake the whole night; both groups dozed off in the dark. The difference between wisdom and foolishness comes down to what was in their flasks. At midnight, when the sudden shout rings out that the bridegroom is arriving, all of them wake up to trim their wicks. But the lamps of the foolish are sputtering and going out, and they turn to the wise, begging for some of their oil. The wise have to say no, not out of cruelty, but because there simply won’t be enough for everyone, sending them off into the night to try to buy oil from the merchants. While they are gone, the bridegroom arrives, the door to the banquet is shut, and the foolish bridesmaids find themselves locked out in the dark, hearing those chilling words: Truly I tell you, I do not know you.
At first glance, that refusal to share oil feels harsh, but Jesus is telling us a profound spiritual truth. There are certain things in the spiritual life that simply cannot be borrowed, rented, or transferred from someone else at the last minute. You cannot borrow someone else’s personal relationship with Jesus. You cannot run on the fumes of your parents’ prayers, your spouse’s faith, or the spiritual energy of the person sitting next to you. You have to cultivate the oil of inner devotion, prayer, and quiet trust in your own soul during the ordinary days when nothing dramatic seems to be happening.
The delay of the bridegroom is where our real character is formed. Anyone can look spiritual in a moment of excitement, but what do you do during the long midnight wait? Do you let your lamp run dry while chasing the idols of this world, or are you quietly filling your flask with the living presence of Christ?
Where are you feeling the exhaustion of the wait today? What are the foreign gods or the noisy distractions that are threatening to drain your spiritual reserves dry? It is so easy to drift through our routines, assuming that our current reserves are plenty and that we will get around to tending our souls someday when life slows down.
Hear the good news and the loving wake-up call of the Gospel today. The bridegroom is coming, the feast is real, and the door of grace is wide open right now. You do not have to live on empty, and you do not have to face the dark on your own limited strength.
Let’s make our choice this week, just like Israel did at Shechem. Put away the cheap idols that cannot save you, incline your whole heart to the living God, and trim your lamps with prayer, mercy, and quiet fidelity. Keep your flasks filled with the grace of Christ, so that whenever the midnight cry sounds, you can rise up with joyful hearts and enter into the fullness of his everlasting light.
Amen.