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- If you have ever been delayed, then
you know that the airport is not your destination. You are trying to get
somewhere, somewhere other than the airport.
* - So you do two things: (1) be wise, making the best of it, the
best use of your time, energy, & resources; & (2) be ready, prepared for
your flight.
- As we study the parable of the ten
bridesmaids this morning, being wise & being ready are what we need to take
home with us...
- Jesus
is coming, no one knows when;
Be
wise & be ready, expecting delays until then.
- In this parable, Jesus is being very
realistic, referring to common practices & customs in order to make his
point.
- Wedding processions went from the
home of the bride to the home of the groom at night with singing & dancing.
*- The late hours would have meant that
Herodian oil lamps (from the era of Herod the Great) would not have been used
because they did not provide enough light.
- Torches would have provided the
necessary light & in poor villages these torches would've been as simple as
sticks wrapped in oiled rags.
- As you may well guess, such torches
would not burn very long.
- But why the delays? Delays occurred
because the bride's family would haggle over the value of the wedding gifts,
which pointed to the value of the bride & the wisdom of the groom in
choosing her. This discussion could take hours.
- So as the bridesmaids waited, they
all became tired & fell asleep.
- Notice that Jesus didn't condemn any
of the bridesmaids for falling asleep, sleeping was not the issue.
- In a culture that did not have
electricity, dependent on oil lamps & torches for evening light, it was
uncommon to stay up into the night.
- The issue was the five foolish
bridesmaids who did not bring enough oil to keep their torches burning.
- The five foolish bridesmaids were
completely selfish by expecting the wise bridesmaids to share their oil, for if
they shared their oil, then the possibility of running out & ruining the
procession would be greater.
- "The unwillingness of the wise
bridesmaids to share their oil reflects their concern for their friend's
wedding" (Keener, Matthew, p.
598), nothing else.
- To run out of oil would be to insult
the bride & groom.
- No wonder they ran off to try to go
buy more oil, which raises the question: what seller of oil would be open in
the middle of the night?
- None, it would be very difficult to
buy oil at such a late hour.
- The five foolish bridesmaids would
have to convince the merchant to get out of bed & open up his/her store
which would take time, time, they did not have.
- Because the five foolish bridesmaids
did not plan ahead, they brought trouble on themselves (Evans, Matthew, p. 417).
- It was a great honor to be invited to
participate in a wedding procession as part of the wedding party.
- It was a also great insult to fail to
do your customary duty to keep the torches lit for the procession, "an
offense that they would never be allowed to forget" (Keener, Matthew, p. 598).
- They were excluded from the
celebrations not because the door was locked, nor because the host didn't
recognize them, but because they offended the bride, the groom, & their
entire extended family, after having been thought worthy of such an honor (Keener,
Matthew, p. 598-599).
- The only suitable punishment for such
an insult would be to be shut out of the feast, a celebration that normally
lasted seven days.
- Other guests would have been allowed
to come & go, but not them.
- Not only would the five foolish
bridesmaids miss out on the joyful celebration, but they would be shamed, knowing
that their short-sighted thinking & failure to plan ahead was the cause of
the offense.
- In the ancient world, the only time
you would tell someone, "I don't know you," is when you wished to
treat them like a stranger & keep them from approaching you.
- & therein lays the sting of this
parable of Jesus.
- We need to remember that this parable
Jesus told was not something that really happened.
- It was a story that he told to warn
his followers against knowing they should keep watch, yet not watching.
- Jesus
is coming, no one knows when;
Be
wise & be ready, expecting delays until then.
- When we as Christians fail to do the
duties which our Lord has assigned us until he comes, then we exclude ourselves
from our place among God's people at the heavenly banquet.
- Failing to do our duty excludes us
because we will have insulted our host, who is none other than our Lord &
our God.
- If we fail to live the life our Lord
calls us to live now, then how can we live that life in eternity?
*- Remember the old saying: when you fail to plan, then you plan to
fail.
- Our lifestyles & our priorities
for our church life & our individual lives need to be aligned with Christ
centered lifestyles & Christ centered priorities.
- When we commit our lives to Jesus
Christ, then the Christian way of life begins.
- A life that is specifically Christian
is a life that reflects the values & character of Jesus.
- We cannot expect to be perfect in the
sense that modern people understand perfect, sinless perfection.
- But we are called to be prepared. We
are called to live lives of progress toward the goal of Christ likeness.
*- Remember:
Progress not perfection.
- Striving to do our Christian duty of
living out the gospel by word & deed shows our Lord that we are keeping
watch.
- Let's just take a moment & go
back to the image of the airport.
- The church is like an airport; it's
not the destination; it's how we catch our flight to God's country.
- In the face of stormy weather (&
we'll always face stormy weather this side of eternity) we need to expect
delays & we need to remember two things & follow through on them.
*- (1)
Be wise, making the best of it, the best use of our time, energy, &
resources for God's kingdom;
*-
& (2) Be ready, prepared for our flight.
*- Jesus
is coming, no one knows when;
Be
wise & be ready, expecting delays until then.
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