What are you doing?
Rembrandt did a painting that portrays the Biblical story of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps some of you have seen it. A huge wave is hitting the little ship occupied by Jesus and the Apostles. You can feel the shudder running through the whole boat. The storm is all around. The rigging is loose and blowing in the wind. And the disciples are panic-stricken. It is marvelous to realize that amid the raging storm and the mounting panic and fear, the disciples had to awaken Jesus to tell him about it. It wasn’t because he didn’t care, or that he was indifferent. It was because he had such trust in God. He had sunk himself so deep into relaxing and recharging that he was sleeping right through the storm. You can look at this painting and say to yourself, “I’ve got to learn that from him: to have complete trust in God.”
From time-to-time, we’re all in need of a spiritual wake-up call. Those times when we need the sort of complete trust in God , that will enable us to weather any storm. “So, stay awake,” we hear Jesus telling his disciples and would-be followers in Matthew 25.
Jesus sends us a wake-up call in parable form. He tells us that true wisdom consists in knowing how and when to prepare for death. It is the familiar Bible story of the ten bridesmaids, five of whom are foolish (unwise), the other five sensible (wise). The unwise bridesmaids find that they have been excluded from the wedding feast because they were unprepared through a lack of foresight. The wise bridesmaids are admitted to the wedding feast because they were prepared through the exercise of foresight. The parable’s point is that foresight (staying awake) is the beginning of true wisdom -- the onset of living wisely.
The Holy men and women of the Far East have always made wisdom the supreme human virtue. The custom of disciplined solitude in the pursuit of wisdom profoundly affected Oriental religious thinking. For most of us in today’s western society, there is little or no time in our busy schedules for practicing the pursuit of wisdom through serious, uninterrupted reflection about who we are and what we ought to do with our lives.
An anonymous writer has given us this story of an American tourists visit to the 19th century Polish Rabbi, Chofetz Chaim, who was looked upon by the people of his time as a sage and saintly person. On his arrival at the rabbi’s residence, the tourist was astonished to discover that it consisted only of one simple room. The walls were lined with books; a table and a chair were the only furnishings. “But rabbi,” the tourist asked, “Where is your furniture?” To which the rabbi replied, “where is yours?” “Where is mine?” said the puzzled tourist, “I’m only a visitor here, just passing through.” “So am I” answered the Rabbi, “so am I.”
I believe we spend most of our time on earth on preparation and achievement. The question we should be asking ourselves is are we preparing for that which is everlasting, and are our accomplishments what God has planned for us.