Reflectionary (Reflection on the Lectionary) 15 November 2026

 The past few weeks of lectionary readings from Matthew have been a bit weird on the face of it. They included a chap being cast into outer darkness to wail and gnash his teeth over a breach of a wedding dress code. A bit further on in the Gospel, some young women fall asleep while they wait for a bridegroom who’s late for his own wedding. Their iPhone batteries run out so they can’t wave the phone torch around in greeting, and the tardy bridegroom (whose fault it appears to be) bars them from the ceremony. This week, a cautious caretaker of twenty kilos of silver joins the badly dressed wedding guest in outer darkness because he prudently hid his boss’s silver under the mattress instead of laying it at 10-1 on Lucky Jim in the 3:40 at Flemington. While his co-caretakers, who were commended for their business acumen, may have broken the Torah law forbidding interest on loans.

I expect the learnèd preachers who inherited the relevant lectionary Sundays dug out or will dig out deeper meaning from the passages. But one theme those passages have in common is people not being awake to the situation. Indeed, interspersed with the parables is Jesus telling his disciples that they don’t know when judgment will fall on the world, so they should stay alert, not fall asleep. The trouble is, I’m that wedding guest who has been given an undeserved invitation to experience God’s grace, and I’ve taken the privilege too lightly. I’m that member of the bridal party  who has been given gospel light to shine, and I haven’t tended the lamp. To mix metaphors and parables, I’m that caretaker who hasn’t sown the gospel seed which has been entrusted to me, so that it comes back with a harvest of souls. I’ve been asleep.

So what’s waiting for me when I wake up? Is it outer darkness? No, thanks be to God,


Psalm 139: When I awake, I am still with you.


St Paul in today’s epistle, 1 Thessalonians 5: God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other …


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