Sermon 11-8-26 Mt. 25:1-13 24th Sunday after Pentecost
When I was a kid the country folk around here had a celebratory custom for the weddings of young people. It was called a shivaree. They were usually loud and rowdy affairs centered in the front yard where the newlyweds planned to spend their wedding night. Honeymoon trips were not the norm.
The evening of my parent's wedding the first group to show up at my grandparent's house was a handful of my dad's cousins who pretended they wanted Dad to go coon hunting with them. The group kept growing in size and volume after that.
When Dad's third younger brother got married, he was made to push his bride around the court house in a wheel barrow before the couple and their entourage left for the house in the country they had rented. About sundown, while the couple and most of the neighborhood were in the front yard, a group of us kids went in the back door and took the labels off all their canned goods.
It's a local wedding custom that Jesus uses in our Gospel reading today as a parable to explain in His words, “The kingdom of heaven will be like this”. The parable is only found in Matthew.
“Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom”. That sounds simple enough doesn't it? Well, it's not. You better sit down. Oh, you are, never mind. We have bridesmaids here in America, the people of that time and place didn't. We have a wedding ceremony that lasts about 45 minutes here in America. The people of that time and place had a wedding ceremony that lasted a week.
A wedding here is between two people. A wedding there was between two families. There was a contract. A contract that took a long time to write. The mothers of the two people worked out the details and the fathers would sign after all the I's were dotted and the T's were crossed.
Marriages were arranged. Those arrangements sometimes started when the principle characters were infants and the marriage was for the mutual benefit of the families. Then sometime, usually early, during the wedding week the groom would go to the bride's father's house get the bride and take her back to his father's home complex.
Waiting there would be at least ten, what our American English language calls bridesmaids. Like I said, they were not bridesmaids as we call them. The Koine Greek word in this reading is parthenos, like in the Parthenon in Athens. It means virgins. It was the job of the parthenos, the bridesmaids, to go into the street a ways to greet the new couple on their way back to the family compound and accompany them the rest of the way. They were usually teenage sisters and cousins of the groom.
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Well it's not, keep your seats. Cell service being sketchy at best in that time and place, the bridesmaids would not have known when the happy couple were headed home. There were only three times in the day when those ancient people could know exactly when to meet someone or perform a task that required being at a certain place at an exact time. Sunrise, sunset or straight up noon when there was no shadow on a sundial.
There was no such thing as a sixty minute hour or a sixty second minute. Their Rolex wrist watches were, for the most part, useless. You made a meeting time by saying, “in the morning” or “in the afternoon”. Forget a nighttime appointment, all you could count on was the moon and stars. I would have gone insane.
If the bride and groom happen to be arriving at their wedding banquet after dark the bridesmaids were required by social custom to hold lighted lamps to shine the way for what was a parade to the party. The lamps were called Herodian Lamps. They were relatively small, about the size of your hand. They burned olive oil. Typically a freshly filled Herodian lamp would last about 3 hours.
But, remember that time keeping thing? These teenage girls who are about to play an important part have no idea when they will get their cue. They just have to be ready at a moment's notice, and they fall sleep.
Nearly all, if not all, of the people surrounding the Mediterranean Sea live in what sociologists call a “high-context culture”. Much of their communication is not stated directly, it's implied. That is probably why Jesus' parables are sometimes hard for us to understand fully. The people who heard them or read them later would know exactly what He meant. I've already mention some of the implied customs not mentioned directly, there are more.
One of the local customs was for the bride and groom to try and catch the bridal party napping. Sort of a reverse shivaree, it would have been great fun. Another custom was for someone to go along the street shouting “behold, the bridegroom is coming”. And a really important one here, once the door has been closed for the wedding feast no one is admitted.
Jesus begins this parable at the point where the groom has gone to fetch the bride. The teenage girls have been split into two groups, foolish and wise. Wise is the Greek word phronimos which means prudent or sensible. Foolish is the Greek word moros which means dull, sluggish or stupid. Both are pretty good translations. Matthew's parables usually have a division, this one is no exception.
Matthew also groups his parables by similar morals. This one is the first of three in chapter 25, they are part of what's called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus is focusing here on being ready for His return and how God relates to humans. Notice the foolish maidens get top billing.
The trimming of the wicks means a spiritual self-correction, repentance and removing things that would hinder one's walk with God. The oil is an internal substance, the Holy Spirit. But a trimmed wick is useless if there is no oil.
By the time Matthew penned his gospel Jesus' followers were beginning to get a little anxious about a second coming. Matthew's Jesus is talking here about a relationship with God. The parable is about spiritual readiness, vigilance and preparations. The foolish maidens were unprepared to meet the groom who is Christ when He came at an unexpected hour.
The wise maidens are adequately equipped for the task. Their extra flasks of oil represent reserves of spiritual resources. Faith cannot be borrowed, we have to have enough faith ourselves to wait until the unknown hour arrives. It is impossible to borrow a relationship with God, we must possess it ourselves.
Amen.
