How High is Your SI: Spiritual Intelligence?
November 6, 2005
Matthew 25:1-13
I probably don’t have to tell you this, but sometimes people are not all that bright. There is a company out in Arizona called “Guns for Hire” which works with movie studios to produce western gunfights. One day a woman called them because she wanted to have her husband killed. She got four and a half years in prison.
Two men decided to rob an ATM machine. They backed up their pickup truck to the machine and hooked a chain between it and the rear bumper. As they pulled, the front of the machine stayed in place but the truck’s bumper came off. The men fled the scene, forgetting that their license plate was attached to the bumper.
Two Michigan bandits entered a record store with the intention to rob the cash register. Brandishing their guns, one shouted, “Don’t move!” When his partner moved, he shot him.
Sometimes, people are just not all that bright. I don’t remember where I heard this, but someone somewhere said that it is probably smart never to overestimate the intelligence of the general population.
I am amazed at all of those “dummies” books that you find in the bookstore. You know the ones: “Photography for Dummies,” “Angels for Dummies,” “The Bible for Dummies” “Dogs for Dummies” There are all sorts of those books out there. When I was writing my dissertation, I picked up a copy of “Internet Research for Dummies.”
My father-in-law is quite the fisherman. I’ve been fishing with him a time or two and my boys and I went with him on a weeklong fishing trip to Tennessee a few years back. All in all, he takes it much more seriously than I do. As a consequence, he catches more fish that I do. It doesn’t bother me too much if I don’t catch anything. I just like being out in the boat where no one can bother me too much.
We were looking for a birthday present for him once. Both of our fathers are incredibly difficult to buy presents for because they really don’t really need anything. We always try to be as creative as we can…sometimes more successfully than others.
This particular year, we found what we considered to be the perfect gift: “Fishing for Dummies.” As it turned out, he was really offended. We had to explain to him that we weren’t trying to be rude.
Back in the 90’s, researchers began to understand that success is life is not completely determined by IQ. In fact, technical expertise or book learning is not what matters most in success. Outstanding job performance is determined less by IQ and more by “Emotional Intelligence” (Daniel Goleman. “Working with Emotional Intelligence.” 1998. New York: Bantam Books). Emotional Intelligence is a different way of being smart. It has to do with your leadership style, how you get along with people, how you handle people, and how you work in teams.
Other researchers are talking about other forms of intelligence. For example: Visual-spatial intelligence has to do with the visual arts; Verbal-linguistic intelligence has to do with listening, speaking, reading, and writing; Musical-rhythmic intelligence has to do with sensitivity to sounds of the environment around you including human voices and musical instruments; Logical-mathematical intelligence helps us when we want to recognize patterns and geometric shapes. We could also talk about bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. There is an awful lot of research now being done in artificial intelligence. It sort of feels to me like we need a new book. “Intelligence for Dummies.”
I really think that we need to develop another sort of intelligence – spiritual intelligence. That’s the point, I think, of the Scripture lesson for today. Matthew was written sometimes after 70 AD at a time when people were expecting Jesus to return immediately. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 was believed to be the beginning of a series of events that would herald his arrival.
People have been expecting the second arrival of Jesus ever since his resurrection. The Apostle Paul expected his imminent return, as have people through the ages of Christian history. People have always been going up on mountaintops or out in deserts to await his coming.
There was an Amish fellow by the name of Jonas Stutzman who migrated from Pennsylvania in the early years of the 19th century. He in fact, became the first white man to settle in Holmes County. He farmed, taught school, ran a saw mill, and fathered nine children.
He believed that he had a special revelation from God. Known as Der Weiss or The White One, he refused to wear traditional black clothing because, he said, God made sheep white, so that is what color he would wear. He built a hickory chair especially for Jesus. In Jonas Stutzman’s theology, Jesus was expected to return to earth, not in Rome or Jerusalem, or Constantinople, but would come to rule from a hickory chair in Millersburg, Ohio. He fully expected that Jesus would return and set up his new kingdom in May or June of 1853.
One hundred fifty two springs have come and gone since then and we consider Jonas Stutzman to be one of the jokes of history. Despite his mistaken timetable, he continued to wear white until his death in 1871 as a symbol of those spoken about in the book of Revelation whose robes would be washed white in the blood of the Lamb.
By the way, his hickory chair is still there. You can see it when you visit the Mennonite Visitor’s Center in Berlin, Ohio.
A few days ago, I heard this guy on the radio talking about this year’s United Nations gathering in New York City. He said that he was convinced that the Anti-Christ would be present at that meeting, which in turn means, according to him, that we are approaching the end times when Jesus is sure to come back. To be perfectly honest with you, I am skeptical. I am skeptical only because everybody has been wrong about it for two thousand years and I wonder why we think we are smarter than all the people who have come before us.
The purpose of Matthew’s parable, as I understand it, is to remind people that the end will come and it will come suddenly and with little warning, but it may not come soon. Therefore, our job in the meantime is to always be prepared, no matter what the season.
Here’s the story. Ten bridesmaids were waiting for the bridegroom. Five of them were wise and five were foolish. The wise ones took enough oil to make sure that their lamps wouldn’t run dry. The foolish ones didn’t take enough to last.
When the bridegroom came, they all rushed to meet him, but the lamps of the foolish bridesmaids ran out of oil. They asked their five friends for some, but were told that they needed to go out and buy some for themselves.
When they got back, the door was shut and the bridegroom wouldn’t let them in to the wedding banquet. They had missed their chance. They were left out of the party.
Our first reaction is shock and horror at the insensitivity of the wise bridesmaids. We wonder why they wouldn’t share. After all, we believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive. But they were in fact, just being practical. You ran out of oil, so go buy some more.
The point of this parable is not about sharing. The motivation of the wise bridesmaids was not greed or selfishness, but only to be able to light the way for the bridegroom. If in fact, they had shared their oil, they would all have run out and there wouldn’t be any light at all. If you read the parable closely, I don’t think that you can discover any vindictiveness at all in the wise bridesmaids. They didn’t understand how exclusive the party would be, so they simply suggested that those without oil go out and find some place where they could purchase some more.
The point of the parable is about having the ability to be ready at all times for the coming of the bridegroom. The emphasis is on faithful and careful planning so that you can be ready at any time. The wise bridesmaids not only had their lamps full, but they also brought along some extra oil just in case it was needed.
Notice, if you will, that all ten of the bridesmaids fell asleep. It is very hard not to sleep when you are waiting for Jesus. Sleeping was not the problem. The important ingredient of the wait is to keep on hand ample supplies so that you will be ready at a moment’s notice. In the parable, Jesus is the bridegroom and the bridesmaids are the church, which has been invited to the wedding banquet. The foolish bridesmaids are those in the church who are not prepared and not ready for his coming.
This is a test of the church’s spiritual intelligence, a test of the church’s readiness for the coming of the Lord. When the shout comes at midnight, will we be ready?
It is a central doctrine of the church that Jesus will come again. We all believe that and hope for it. Sometimes, it seems to me that we spend too much energy focused on the second coming – which is something that we can’t control or put on our calendars – and forget about the responsibilities of living in the here and now, in the time which we can control. I remember a professor in seminary who said that people pay so much attention to the second coming of Jesus when they ought to be paying more attention to his first coming. In other words, when we seek to follow Christ, live as Christ lived, love as Christ loved, and sacrifice as Christ sacrificed, then we will be ready whenever the time is right for his return.
Spiritual intelligence is about being ready, at all times, in all places, and in all circumstances. Spiritual intelligence is all about living a life of the kingdom. It is about living the Sermon on the Mount, day in and day out, not matter how long Jesus is delayed. Spiritual intelligence is about living out Matthew 25, at all times and in all seasons. It is about feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and delivering a cup of cold water to the thirsty. To be ready today is not to spend our time watching for the return of Jesus; it is to live lives of discipleship and faithfulness.
I understand the need to IQ testing in schools, I think. But there are probably different ways to go about it. My oldest son had a very difficult time in high school, finally being suspended for an infraction of the rules. His grades were horrible, his attitude even worse, his prospects, according to his guidance counselor, were not good.
Through the help of a very good assistant principal, we enrolled in the Elkhart Area Career Center for his final two years of high school. He thrived. He discovered his gifts in radio and television. It changed his attitude. No longer was school a drudgery, but was actually fun. His hands-on work in the radio and TV lab gave him the confidence to tackle other demanding subjects like chemistry, mathematics, and French.
He received a college scholarship, which was given to the student who showed the most improvement over the course of their high school careers. He went on to earn an associates degree in Broadcasting from Vincennes University and will graduate this year from Indiana State. He does computer animation, which my straight A daughter couldn’t even begin to understand.
We all have different intelligences. We have to ask ourselves not how smart am I, but how am I smart? I can’t run to first base without falling down, but read widely and, on most days, write pretty well. Some of us play the organ or sing. Someone out there may be able to juggle knives and chain saws. Somebody else might be a champion chess player. Somebody else might be able to navigate the roads from here to the Empire State building without a map. We all have different intelligences. We are all smart in different ways.
But spiritual intelligence is for us all. Spiritual intelligence is being ready at all times for Jesus. When we utilize our spiritual intelligence, it won’t matter when Jesus comes back – today, tomorrow, next week, or a thousand years from now, because we will be ready. We will be ready because we have kept ourselves prepared by living a life demanded by the gospel and expected by Jesus.
Our greatest wisdom is that which is evident as we live in Christ, ready at any moment for whatever it is that Jesus has in store for us. How smart are you?
