Over the past several weeks we have been following the story of Jesus in Holy Week. And now here in Chapter 25 we are hearing the last of his teachings. With his life winding down he begins focusing on end times and judgment stories. Looking at the calendar this might seem to be a little confusing because we are closer to Christmas than we are to Easter. But looking at the Church calendar it makes more sense.
We are three weeks away from Advent – the season of waiting and preparation. So as the Season of Pentecost and Ordinary Time wind down, it makes sense to hear gospel stories about waiting and preparation as we draw near to the Advent season. Today we get one of the more difficult stories about waiting and preparation – that of the ten bridesmaids waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom.
This story is often presented as an allegory, where the characters in the story represent something or someone else. The ten bridesmaids are follows of Christ. The bridegroom is Jesus. The wedding banquet is heaven.
Seeing the story this way, we can see that the five wise women are the followers of Christ who understand that his coming isn't dependent on their timetable, so they plan to do the work of Christ for a long time, continuing well-past what most people plan for. The five foolish women are those who expect (or demand) Christ to follow their timetable and return when they say he should. Certain end-times “prophets” come to mind here. These five could also be compared to the parable of the sower in Luke where some seed fell on rocky ground, sprung up quickly, but had no depth so they withered away. The bridegroom is Jesus who will return, but we know not when. And the banquet is heaven where those who do the work of God faithfully, day in and day out, are welcomed in.
This story has often been presented as warning Christians to always be prepared for the coming of Christ because you know neither the day nor the hour. Films and books have been made telling stories of people caught unprepared and left in the outer darkness and terrors of hell. And, whatever you do, make sure you have enough oil because you can't rely on others to help you if needed.
But as I said, I find this particular story to be one of the most difficult and problematic stories from Jesus about the end times and judgment. So let me start with the difficulties.
First, Jesus closes out this story by saying, “Keep awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This might be fine if it were only the five foolish women who fell asleep, but the story says that all ten fell asleep, both wise and foolish, and all ten women didn't wake up until the announcement of the bridegroom's arrival was made. So the admonition to keep awake doesn't make sense in the context of this story.
Second, when the five foolish women ask the five wise women for some oil, they are told to go buy some from the dealers themselves . . . at midnight. Now, I'm no archaeologist or Ancient Near East historian, but I'm fairly confident that there was no 7-11 or AM/PM Mini-Mart in those days. So just where were the women supposed to buy extra oil?
Third, and maybe most importantly, scripture is full of examples of God and Jesus telling us to live in abundance not scarcity. We are told to care for those who have little, and to protect the vulnerable. But here in this story, it seems that looking out for yourself is rewarded. Fear of not having enough is touted as proper behavior. And this is just the kind of thing that people will take out of context or proof-text scripture to support theologies of scarcity and selfishness.
Based on those concerns, what if we looked at this story through the eyes of abundance and care?
First, let's talk about faith. The history of Hanukkah dates back to the 2nd Century BCE during the Maccabean revolt when only one days' worth of oil was found in the temple, but it miraculously lasted for eight days. In Jesus' time this event was known and celebrated as the Feast of the Dedication. Knowing that history, what if this became a story of faith and trust in what you have as being enough? This faith and trust leads to a theology of abundance. So instead of sending those five women away, what if the five others said something like, “Between the five of us, there's enough oil if we share what we have.” Would this change the story from the five wise and five foolish bridesmaids to the ten faithful bridesmaids?
Over and over in scripture we are commanded to live into our abundance. Commandments about caring for the hungry, widowed, orphaned, foreigner, and others, are based in abundance. Stories from the widow of Zarephath to the poor widow in the temple who gave her last two cents remind us to live in abundance. How would this story change if it moved from scarcity to abundance? Would this become the story of the abundant oil?
Second, there's a bit of a Mary and Martha thing going on here. Again, over in Luke there's the story of Jesus visiting Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. While there Mary is sitting at his feet listening to him teach while Martha is busting her fanny cooking, cleaning, and whatnot to make sure the house is ready for their guests. When Martha complains that Mary is slacking off, Jesus basically tells her that she's missing an important moment due to her distractions.
What if this story was about distractions? It could be that the five wise women were focused on their faith and relationship with God (the oil), thereby being ready for the arrival of the bridegroom. This would mean that the five foolish women were distracted and lost focus. Maybe they were focused on what they didn't have rather than how they could use what was available. Maybe they were those people who are so enthused and eager that they got burned out after awhile and either give up or go looking elsewhere for something to keep their attention.
Today's story is an allegory about the end days, judgment, and being prepared. But we can't take this story too literally because it falls apart under close scriptural scrutiny. Rather than taking it literally, we need to take it seriously, examining it and mining it for spiritual nuggets. And if we think about it, spending time working through difficult stories like this could be akin to trimming our own lamps of faith so that we can shine our light in the darkness.
Advent approaches. The season of expectation draws near. The season of diligent waiting and preparation is on our doorstep. Let us use our oil both wisely and abundantly as we remain focused and alert for the coming of the Christ.
Amen.
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