Jesus liked to tell stories or parables from real life. Jesus never quoted the religious philosophers of the day nor the leading rabbis from the temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus chose the stuff from everyday life. composed his memorable stories.

Weddings were part of every day life. Weddings were familiar territory. Everybody loved weddings and everybody knew how weddings worked.

In every single one of his parables, they were an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And you the audience had to figure out the meaning of that story and figure out how it applied to your life.

Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Jews went to weddings often. Weddings were common. The lamps were olive oil lamps.

In this story, Jesus = the bridegroom. The followers of Christ can be divided into two camps: five foolish = five foolish followers. Five wise = five faithful followers of Christ. The wedding feast = heaven.

This parable is more like an allegory than a parable that only has one primary point. There is much symbolism in this parable. It functions more like an allegory.

-Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. “Wise and foolish” is a theme that we have heard before in Matthew. Foolish were the people who built their house upon the sand and wise were the people who built their house upon the rock. Those who built their house on the rock in Matthew 7 were those who heard the word of God AND did it. Those who built their house of the sand were those who heard the word of God but did NOT do it.

-When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. Jesus was using everyday logic. You need to bring oil for your lamps in case they run out of oil.

Today, it is foolish not to have sufficient gas in the tank of your car and run out of gas on some remote highway.

Note that the wise people took flasks of oil with them for their lamps. Similarly, wise people today often carry an extra five gallon plastic can of gasoline in their boats. If you run out, you have some gasoline in reserve.

The five wise maidens were prepared for waiting for the bridegroom to come.

-As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. This is the second time in the gospel stories that we have confronted the word “delayed.” We can hear the rumors buzzing in the early church: “The Second Coming of Christ has been delayed. How are we to interpret that?” Many Christians had become drowsy and began to fall asleep. They had secretly assumed that Jesus Christ was not coming back, that maybe their new religion was all a hoax, and so some of these first Christians became “lax” in their living out of their faith.

Several of Jesus’ other parables during this section of his life say, “Stay awake. Don’t fall asleep. Watch. Be alert.” These women fell asleep.

-But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Suddenly, expectedly but unexpectedly, the bridegroom, whom everyone has been waiting for, finally arrives. What good news. What great news. The party is on.

In this parable, it is a thief who comes in the night but the bridegroom who comes at midnight.

-Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.

-The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” The foolish bridesmaids were running low on fuel. They needed oil for their lamps.

-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.” The wise were smart enough to realize that they would not have enough oil if they give some of their oil to the five foolish maidens. They advised the foolish ones to go to the oil dealers and buy olive oil for their lamps.

This parable is still spiritually true. That is, after all these centuries, people are still running out of “oil” and having to go to dealers and buy some more. They fall asleep. They get lethargic. And they miss the party. They miss the miracle. They miss the bridegroom coming.

-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. What does that mean? Is the door to heaven closed for some people? Is that what it means?” Yes, that is what it means.

Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” The five foolish ones wanted to get into the wedding banquet/heavenly party and begged to be admitted. 

But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” These words are harsh but are Biblical. That is, throughout the Scriptures, Jesus has repeatedly taught us about the Son of man and the coming Judgment Day. On that Judgment Day, not everybody is going to get into the door. On that Judgment Day, not everyone is going to get into the heavenly party. That knowledge is always a surprise for some permissive and lenient people who believe that God’s grace should overwhelm his final judgment.

But earlier in the teachings of Jesus, we persistently heard about this divine wrath and punishment of God. We recall in Mathew’s gospel, this theme of judgment in the teachings of Jesus was very clear. 

We also have learned from the teachings that we human beings are never to judge who “gets in and who is left out.” That is the role of Christ. Christ is to be the judge. Using the analogy from baseball, the umpire makes the calls and the players do not. The role of the Son of man is to be the judge. That is his role. This is his function.

In Matthew’s gospel, we have heard similar stories. About the final separation of the sheep from the goats, the final separation of the good fish from the bad in the fishing net. There are numerous final judgment stories and final separation stories on the lips of Jesus.

All these other Bible verses in Matthew are consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about the final separation. The five brides maids who were not prepared? The door was shut to them. There will be a final separation, a final division, a final severance.

-Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. This is the warning: we are to be alert at all times for our salvation.

Sermon by Rev. Edward Markquart