Parables
“The Ten Bridesmaids”
The Ten Bridesmaids
There is one thing that everyone expects when they attend a wedding. You will have to wait.
It is rare, if it ever happens at all, for a wedding ceremony to start on time. In fact it is expected that the bride is late.
And while on the face of it, it is simply expected that a bride is late there are often reasons behind it which maybe the guests are not always aware of.
My wife was late and warned me she would be late because she needed to buy time for her work mates to arrive. They had to work Saturday morning and our wedding was timed to start at 12.30pm.
Actually talking to my wife about this sermon we began to reminisce about lateness and weddings over the 50 or so weddings I have conducted to date.
One thing I have learnt is that as a minister you need to be prepared to wait – and be prepared for anything.
There was the one when the bride was late. Very late. Someone had left the bride and bridesmaids and gone on ahead to the church but had the hotel room keys in their pocket and the wedding car keys were locked inside.
I’m not sure of the details beyond that – but it was not a simple task to retrieve them.
That was an easy 50 minutes wait.
But it’s not always the bride who is late.
Sometimes it is the minister.
Not so long ago I was to conduct a wedding commencing at 3pm.
When we arrived at 2.30pm we noticed there was already a full muster of guests.
The wedding was planned to commence at 2.30pm – not 3pm!
Fortunately the bride and groom arrived 20 minutes after us. They don’t need to know!
Sometimes it is not the bride who is “late”; or the groom; or the minister.
On one occasion it was the church!
A previous wedding had gone over time. Way over!
And so the wedding guests for the wedding I was conducting waited down the road.
From the time the previous wedding party and guests left until the time my wedding was to start there was only 5 minutes leeway.
Unfortunately the wedding guests put the waiting time to use. They got drunk.
The wedding ceremony was out of control.
And then there was the time when everyone was on time at another church I was conducting the wedding at.
I stopped at the pastor’s house to pick up the marriage register but my car locked itself (with the motor running).
And in the car was the wedding license, my notes etc
I went ahead to the church to try and delay things until my wife arrived with a spare key and the necessary items arrived.
The bride arrived and I had to convey that she had to keep driving or something. I wasn’t ready!
The situation described in the parable before us was, in the main, not especially unusual.
Normally the bridegroom would leave his parents house and go to his bride’s family home.
There would be a final discussion on the bride-price with some bargaining going on which would centre on the fact that this young woman was highly valued and so the dowry needed to reflect that.
It was a dignifying signal.
A dance.
This could delay the return of the bridegroom and the bridal procession.
And when the procession was in progress it was an event.
Even Rabbi’s would suspend their lectures to acknowledge a wedding procession passing by. Such was its importance.
As we have looked at the parables, we have noticed that the opening words have a similarity about them but also some important distinctives.
Some convey “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” A parable of comparison.
Others – like the parable of the Friend at Midnight” are “The Kingdom of Heaven is not like…” A parable of contrast.
This parable is especially interesting – “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like…”
Or as the NIV puts it – “At that time the Kingdom of Heaven will be like…”
This is a parable which tempts us to read into the various details probably more than what we ought.
Is there significance that there are 10 bridesmaids?
What does the oil represent?
What does the sleep mean?
Who are the dealers that the five go to gain more oil?
…and so on.
But this opening statement by Jesus that “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like…” immediately draws our attention to the future and the general situation.
It is not that it is like the 10 maidens as such, or only, but the whole situation that is described.
It is about the story. It is as much a comment about where things are leading and what will happen in a future time.
“The Kingdom of Heaven will be like…”
And in order to feel the power and impact of this parable it is important to scan the scene around it.
Just like when you read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
You discover riches when you read it as the final part of a trilogy as well as a story in its own right.
Here – the “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like this” because Jesus has just finished describing the end of the age in Matthew 24.
And after this story He goes onto to tell the story about the use of what is entrusted to you; and then the judgement of the nations as portrayed in the Story of the Sheep and the Goats.
“The Kingdom of Heaven will be like this” is a signal that Jesus is talking about a time when the end of the age arrives.
The Kingdom of Heaven will be like this…
10 Bridesmaids waiting for the return of the bridegroom and the bride.
They have their lamps ready.
But the Bridegroom is delayed.
A long time.
And they all become drowsy and fall asleep.
They all have a role. But its taking too long before they are called upon.
But this we know – and it seems like a small thing – but all of them have lamps, but only half have more oil in reserve.
Then the call goes up. The Bridegroom has arrived.
You know the story – only half of the bridesmaids have now the resources to fulfil their role.
The other five who do not have spare oil make, what appears to be, an entirely reasonable request.
The “wise” bridesmaids refuse. There’s not enough.
And so off they go only to return and find that they are literally shut out of the wedding and excluded.
Where’s the love?!
Like other parables you find that, to some degree, you are drawn to the “villain”. They have a case.
The Older Brother in the Prodigal Son. “Come on – the guy has a point!”
The labourers in the Vineyard who had worked most of the day only to receive the same pay as those who had only worked one hour.
“Come on – they have a point!”
But there is an important shift in the language in the parable. An important change in the description of the bridesmaids.
Initially they are referred to as “wise” or “foolish” (v 2).
Now in the midst of the arrival of the bridegroom and the crisis of the lack of oil – the description is now “ready” and “others” (v 10-11).
The problem here is not that those with oil would not share their oil – the problem is a lack of preparation.
Those who not ready – the “others” were in fact an insult.
On such an occasion when they had an important part to play to celebrate such an event in the lives of the bride and groom – they were not ready.
An insult to them and the significance of the occasion.
Would you treat such an occasion with such disregard? With such indifference?
At that time they would have known the arrival of the bridegroom was imprecise.
They would have known it was a good thing to take more oil – just in case.
The occasion demanded it.
The outcome is unexpected. It’s hard to imagine something worse insofar as the embarrassment and shame of being refused entry to a wedding banquet to which you were originally a part of.
To be told “I do not know you” is unexpected.
Devastatingly so.
The stories which follow this one – especially the Sheep and the Goats – the outcome are utterly unexpected.
“When Lord? When did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger…”
Totally unexpected.
Here this story picks up the theme that Jesus has just been talking about – the end of the age and His unexpected return.
Here the story reinforces the importance and significance of being prepared for the wedding banquet of the ages.
The message of the apparent lack of co-operation between the two kinds of bridesmaids advances the fact that there are simply some things which cannot be shared.
Each of us must give an account to God.
We will not be able to rely on the spirituality of someone else in that day.
This parable is one of urgency. The outcome is terrible.
Now what?
As we read on in the Gospel of Matthew, the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion come into focus.
And one moment which almost seems to enact this parable happens in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The struggle of the disciples to stay awake and keep prayerful watch with Jesus.
And then – not the bridegroom but the betrayer arrives.
And they are not ready.
"Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”" (Matthew 26:45-46)
It was too late.
Terrible outcome.
Tracing what happened to those who had slept and the One Who was betrayed we see and celebrate a wonderful and unexpected outcome.
One full of forgiveness, reinstatement, resurrection, love and empowerment.
And in that story we see ourselves.
Unprepared in the Garden of Gethsemane. Full of good intention and love of Christ – and sleeping soundly and utterly unprepared.
We see ourselves recoil at the horror of events overtaking us and being bereft and poverty-striken.
We maybe look at moments in our own lives to date and consider moments of profound unpreparedness and the fallout from that – and now consider this parable which speaks of the end of the age – and our blood runs cold!
No second chances then you’d think!
And it would be a travesty to try and soften this parable. To make it more palatable.
It is weighty. Heavy. And needs to be.
Yet there is hope.
That’s a habit of God’s.
This story appears in the Gospel of Matthew.
That Gospel has two bookends if you will.
It starts and ends with the same statement essentially.
"“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”" (Matthew 1:23, NRSV)
So we start to read the story of Christ by Matthew.
And we come to Matt 25 and we see this warning.
And the possible consequences.
Which kind of person will I be and how can I be sure?
Will I be shut out from the presence of the bridegroom when it counts?
Ahh. Now read how the Gospel finishes:
"…And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”" (Matthew 28:20)
The challenge is still there – but so is the presence!
Presented By: Rev. Geoff New