Tag: jesus

God’s Kingdom is Like…

We continue in our God’s Kingdom is Like… series this week with a more apocalyptic parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. After reading together about the joys, hope, work, and ethics of the Kingdom, today, we turn our attention to a different sort of parable about the Kingdom of God. 

This parable comes from later in the Gospel of Matthew and is among the last teachings Jesus shares in this gospel. Preceding this particular parable is a conversation Jesus has with his disciples on the Mount of Olives where he shares what he knows about the end of the age and encourages the disciples to remain vigilant. He tells of future persecutions of believers and warns that many will fall away from the faith, then after lessons about learning to see the signs and being unable to tell when the exact time will come, Jesus shares this parable.

The Bridesmaids who Wait All Night

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women 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 young women 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 young women 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.

Matthew 25:1-13

Commentary

This parable is a weird one. It draws on the well known metaphor of the Church as Christ’s bride, but it never mentions the bride in its story. It lifts up those women who bring extra oil but refuse to share it as being the wise ones, and it seems to punish those women who have faith in the bridegroom’s – supposedly Jesus’ – timely arrival and so do not stock up on extras ‘just in case.’ It is hard to reconcile this teaching with the other teachings we’ve received from Jesus.

Matthew was a tax collector, and perhaps because of that, his gospel tells us more about what we should do with our money than any other gospel. Many of the teachings of Jesus that Matthew records center on giving to others, yet in this passage, all of a sudden, the wise people – those who make it into this heavenly banquet – refuse to share and keep all they have to themselves. What is going on here?

It can be tempting to read this story as a 1-1 allegory wherein the bridegroom is Jesus, the bridesmaids are the believers, and the wedding banquet is heaven, but if we read it that way, we don’t have to take the surrounding context into account and we may miss the main point of the parable. 

This parable draws on the imagery of a traditional wedding celebration of the time. When a wedding occurred in Israel, the seven days of festivities began with the bridegroom going to the bride’s house to pick her up. Her bridesmaids would greet him with a procession of light in the darkness. At this time, it was not uncommon for a bridegroom to be delayed. Anything from a last minute negotiation about the gifts exchanged to a problem with the weather could have delayed the bridegroom. The reason for the delay does not matter; the actions of the bridesmaids in the delay does. 

Remember, this parable comes after a long passage about the end of the age and Christ’s second coming. It is a parable spoken to Jesus’ closest followers on the Mount of Olives as they are about to be plunged into that long waiting period between the resurrection and Jesus’ return when all things are made right. We know from Paul’s letters that early Christians believed Christ’s return was imminent. Paul writes in his first letter to the Thessalonians that Christ’s return was imminent and could happen at any moment.

This was true then and is still true today. Christ’s return could happen at any moment. It could happen now, or it could happen 500 years from now, or any moment in between or after. We do not know when it will happen. This parable addresses this state of being – the bridesmaids do not know when the bridegroom will arrive, only that he did not come when they originally expected him. 

The key, then, to understanding this parable is in creating for ourselves a distinction between the words imminent and immediate. Christ’s return is imminent, which means it could be immediate, but is not necessarily about to happen right now. 

The foolish young women believe the bridegroom will arrive “any moment now,” and so they do not fret when their oil gets low because they believe the bridegroom is basically there. It is not until they wake to realize their oil has run out entirely that they realize their mistake. In contrast, the wise young women believe the bridegroom could arrive “at any moment,” and so they prepare for the long haul, with oil to spare, so their lamps will be lit no matter how long the bridegroom is delayed. 

The distinction between the foolish and wise young women is their belief in whether the bridegroom’s arrival is immediate or imminent. The question is not one of faith, nor one of sharing resources, nor even one of preparedness. The question is about whether these young women are taking the long view and preparing to remain vigilant for the bridegroom’s coming as long as is necessary or not. 

Jesus tells us we are to keep awake. May we be so wise and so vigilant. 

Questions

The wise young women do not share their oil with the foolish women. Instead, the foolish young women are sent off to find more oil on their own, and this delay to find more oil keeps them from attending the bridegroom’s feast. How does it change the story if the wise women aer unable to share versus if they choose not to share. Which reasoning was your assumption for their lack of sharing? What could each mean in our interpretation of the parable? Which do you believe is the case?

What does it mean for Christians today to keep awake and live in vigilance? Would you say you, as a believer, or your church, as part of Christ’s body, are living in imminent expectation of Christ’s coming with your lamps lit and oil to spare? How can you rekindle your flames and find fresh oil, so your lamp stays burning? What does a vigilant Christian life look like?

In this parable, all the young women fall asleep, yet Jesus tells his followers to keep awake. What would change in the story if one or two young women had stayed awake and noticed the dwindling oil levels in the lamps of the five foolish young women? Is there a simple change that could have resulted in everyone attending the banquet? What might such an alertness look like in modern discipleship? 

There’s a song about this little light of mine and how “I’m gonna let it shine.” This parable adds meaning to this song. How can we live as Christians who let our lights shine? Is this the life of Christian vigilance Jesus teaches? What hope and guidance do these little lights provide in the darkness of waiting?

A Blessing for Your Week

Beloved Child of God, 

May you keep awake

Attentive to the oil in your lamp

Mindful of the oil in your neighbors’.

May your oil refill remain with you

As you think long term 

About the coming of God’s kingdom,

May you prepare the way 

with love and hope

with light and joy

And when the darkness is thick,

May your little light shine.

Amen.