Proper 27 Year A

Bridesmaids, prepared or not, have an important role to play in any wedding. . .

Matthew 25:1-13

The story has been told that the great Protestant reformer, John Calvin, as he reclined on his deathbed, plagued by an utterly debilitating illness, kept right on with his work of studying and writing at his usual pace. When a friend urged him to relax and take it a little easier, Calvin replied, What! And have my Lord find me idle when he comes?

There is a lot of what might be called Type A Christianity around, even in our own hometowns. I’m afraid that the bumper sticker that says Jesus is coming, look busy makes far too much sense to far too many people in the church. Idleness is foolishness and keeping busy is wisdom. I wonder, where did we ever get such foolish notion?

In Jesus’ First Century world, the bridesmaids in our Gospel would have been most likely quite young. Essentially, Jesus begins this parable by saying that the Kingdom of God is like ten thirteen-year-old girls on their way to a party! 

Now I remember a party held at our home for one of my daughters on her thirteenth birthday, and it helps me to realize how pronounced was Jesus’ sense of humor! Young people know how to have fun spontaneously; they don’t have to have their fun organized into logical compartments. So remember: it was a party they were waiting for, not a tax audit.

One more thing that is important to remember at this point is that ALL TEN of them received invitations to the party. Inclusion always trumps exclusion in the divine scheme of things. In the Gospels, it’s always grace before judgment. 

Now half of these girls brought only their lamps full of oil, and the other half brought their lamps but also brought along some spare oil. It’s so clear isn’t it? It’s so black and white. Those who didn’t bring extra oil represent those who sit back and expect a free ride on government assistance, and those who brought extra oil, well that oil represents all the hard work, vigilance and preparedness that must take place before one can have any real fun. Typically, we have viewed those with the extra oil as wise and the rest as foolish.

The fact is that most people read this delightful story of the ten bridesmaids through the lenses of John Calvin on his deathbed.

This time around, I would like to have you consider at least one other possibility. I would urge you to be very careful when reading Jesus’ parables with any kind of wooden literalism. Anytime Jesus says the Kingdom of God will be like, it should be a clue that he’s about to turn everything upside down.

The expectation for all of the bridesmaids was that the bridegroom would be on time. So the five who brought only their lamps filled with oil seemed to have reasonably assessed their needs, and they did have enough oil to last until midnight. Well it seems reasonable to me. Most weddings, even in the First Century began well before midnight. 

The other five decide that dragging an extra bottle of camp fuel down the aisle at the wedding is worth the peace of mind. I may be wrong, but I think part of the definition of a party pooper, is someone preoccupied with what might possibly go wrong. 

As it turns out, I believe the five girls who didn’t bring any extra oil were indeed foolish, but I don’t believe it had much to do with how much oil they brought to the wedding. They had each been given invitations. All that was really desired of these young ladies was their presence at the wedding, and five of them were not present.

A little over 50 years ago, I lost a bow tie that was part of a rented tuxedo. It was the tuxedo I was putting on forty-five minutes before Kathy and I were to be married. We looked everywhere, but couldn’t find it. My dad took his tie off and gave it to me. My dad has always been, and always will be a Christ-figure to me.

We wore white jackets at that morning wedding in August, and in all the pictures, my dad looks like a cross between a dentist and a waiter thanks to that missing tie, but I have to tell you, I’m sure glad he was there! I’m sure glad that he didn’t listen to some foolish voice that might have said, I should have thought to bring an extra tie, and then moped around the rest of the day. I’m even more glad that he didn’t miss the wedding by trying to go into town and find a replacement. Instead he was present; he had fun, and we had fun, and I have this story to tell you all these years later because of him.

That is the way God wants it to be in the Kingdom. God wants everyone to be invited. God wants everyone present and accounted for, and God wants us to be as giddy as teenagers at a party! For God looked upon creation and declared it to be good!

Now on to the young women with the extra oil. They may have been wise, but it was conventional wisdom they offered their fellow bridesmaids. You see, they represent that little voice in the back of our heads that says, God, the Bridegroom, really is a God who wants more than anything to rain on your parade, so you better not trust too much in God’s grace and love, you better do the proper and right thing. You better go into town and wake up the dealers and try to buy some extra oil for your lamps. Salvage what you can because the bridegroom is not as liberal with mercy and forgiveness as you might think.

Notice that this description of the bridegroom is represented by the ones who wouldn’t even share a drop of oil with the others. It seems to me they would be considered selfish and snotty in any century. If they were so full of wisdom, then why didn’t they offer to walk in pairs with the other bridesmaids, each taking hold of one lit lamp. It seems to me that this would have been in good liturgical style. The symbolism would have been beautiful, and EVERYONE would have been present, and the bride and groom would have had the wedding they always dreamed about.

But foolishly the five girls with the dimming lamps bought into the negative portrayal of the bridegroom, and so they went off to buy more of that darn oil. They broke relationship with the bridegroom. And the fact that the bridegroom didn’t recognize them when they returned is hyperbole intended to symbolize the fact that if you don’t trust in the invitation, you won’t be recognizable at the party.

As it turns out, the only ones that can keep us from attending the party we call the Kingdom of God is ourselves. The only exclusion from God is self-exclusion. . . the only real excommunication is self-excommunication. The only real hell is the one we create for ourselves when we break ranks in the cold of the night because we’ve listened and accepted all those bad theologians out there who describe our God of grace as a kind of belt-and-suspenders fussbudget (*) who is more interested in our performance than our presence.

Weddings and Marriages describe relationships that require intense trust and permanent, irrevocable love. It is no accident that these are the images that the bible most often uses to describe our relationship with the God of love.

We know not the hour because there is no hour. God is always present. I think we should change the phrase, May God be with you, to God IS with you! And what really matters is not how busy we look, but how willing we are to embrace the invitation of a lifetime, and walk down that wedding aisle and into the reception of a lifetime.

(*) Robert F. Capon, The Parables of Judgment.