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The Parable of Ten Bridesmaids The story we have just read is another of Jesus’ parables. Jesus was a great story teller and he used this gift or talent in a very clever way to teach, encourage and to challenge his followers. These stories drawn from every day life are deceptively simple for underneath the first layer lies a pearl of spiritual wisdom that resources us in our lives. So it is Jesus’ parables are wisdom stories, which challenge his followers to consider matters of faith through well-known everyday experiences. Picture this scene which most likely could be taken from any one of our lives as parents: Your child hears that the circus has come to Woodall Park. Jumping for joy and breathless with excitement she begs you to get into the car there and then and go to the big top and purchase tickets. ‘Don’t wait’ she cries, ‘let’s go right now’. Typically we respond with ‘Later, we have plenty of time to go and get the tickets later when it’s more convenient’. Oh the disappointment when later comes and we find the show is a sell out! We have missed out, she has missed out and we feel awful! Today’s parable of the 10 bridesmaids is about missing out. In keeping with the Middle Eastern wedding customs of those times, the groom goes to the bride’s parent’s house to fetch her. They would return to his house where all the guests would be waiting for the couple and then a week long celebration would commence. The bridesmaids would wait near the groom’s house and there being no street lights, would light the way of the bridal party to the celebrations. It was a then, as it is today, a great honour to be a bridesmaid and their main role in the wedding ritual was to light the way of the bridal couple. In modern times the main role of the bridesmaids is to accompany the bride down the isle. Now if for example one of the bridesmaids were to forget her shoes, it would not do for the other bridesmaids to offer her one of theirs would it? They would say ‘go and borrow a pair from someone else and should she arrive back after the procession down the isle and still want to participate in the procession, she would be told in no uncertain terms that she had missed the boat! I think in this parable it is important for us to understand that the take home message is not to advocate a lack of generosity on the part of the 5 bridesmaids who had extra oil and wouldn’t share it, but rather to illustrate the consequences of being unprepared for the task that you have been chosen to do. 5 bridesmaids had done their home work, had prepared themselves adequately by bringing sufficient oil for the task at hand, had thought things through, had factored in the possibility of an unexpected delay and so were ready when the time came to act, while the other 5 were working on the bare minimum with no reserves of oil to draw on and so were unprepared. The story also makes the point that some things simply cannot be shared. There are some kinds of oil you can’t borrow from anyone else, as the bridesmaids learned. You can borrow your friend’s study notes, but not the hours they put in studying for the test. You can borrow your neighbour’s lawnmower, but not their peace of mind. A student can borrow a friend’s merit badges but not their character You can borrow a friend’s boat but not the skills required for sailing it and you can borrow someone’s Bible but not the faith they have nor the relationship they have with God. So the story is about being well prepared, doing the hard yards, so that when the challenges, the call, the time comes for us to act, we are ready. The story seems to be saying that being unprepared can lead to disastrous consequences! What good is a forgotten life-jacket, when the boat is sinking?! Oil is at the heart of the parable. The oil which is the fuel or the source of light is the most precious resource in the story and having enough oil was what separated the ready from the unready. It seems to me that we are like the lamps and the oil in this parable is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, present and anointing our lives so as to enable us to do the will of God, to step up to the plate whenever and wherever God calls us to service. Such symbolic oil cannot easily be shared since it is acquired through an act of personal faith and a relationship with God which is nurtured and tended. This faith and relationship is the spiritual fuel that enables our lives to shine for Christ, whom I identify as the bridegroom in the story. In other words the story reminds us that we must be spiritually prepared if we are to serve Christ and if we are to be part of his kingdom which is depicted in the story as the wedding feast. A notable feature of the plot of the story is that the bridesmaids were surprised by the sudden arrival of the groom and his consequent call on them to fulfil their service to him. Today I am exploring the interpretation that even within the framework of our daily lives we are constantly being challenged to act for Christ and we must have the spiritual readiness to do so in a way that brings glory to him. However, an obvious and common interpretation of this story is that it reminds us that end times will come upon us suddenly and unexpectedly. It also reminds us that our own lives could end at any moment, we do not know how long we have to live and when Christ comes for us we must be ready. The truth is none of us knows when he will return for us, this story is about always being ready. Someone once said “Live as though Jesus is coming back today Plan as though he is not coming back for 100 years.” This means that we must constantly be ready for Jesus and like a good athlete keep training so that we might shine spiritually in any task he sets us. Gary Player, a very famous South African golfer was told by a journalist who was interviewing him: ‘you are so lucky to have the success you have at golf.’ He responded “Yes, and the more I practice the luckier I get”. So it is that the more we nurture our relationship with Christ the stronger it gets and the more likely it becomes that when the time comes for us to act for Christ we will have the spiritual resources to do so well. What happens when we neglect to nurture our relationship with Christ, when we close our spirits to the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when we fail to replenish our spiritual resources, when the oil runs out? Well, then your light goes out, and you have nothing to give. A Christian with no oil, can’t be the light of the world for anybody, no matter how much they want to be. What fills you up spiritually when you run dry? How do you replenish your oil? Where do you turn to find God, and how can you make sure that you get enough of that oil for your lamp, so that his Holy Spirit can fill you up again? Because it is so easy in the business of our every day lives for us to neglect our relationship with God and before we know it we have run dry. When we do, we can’t be a light for anybody. Remember the safety speech we hear on airplanes? "In the event of an emergency, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling; however, be sure to secure your own oxygen mask first before assisting others." Perhaps replenishing our oil supplies requires setting time aside every day whether we feel like it or not, to be attentive and reflective on where we are in our relationships with God and with others. Taking the time to review our behaviour and thought patterns and where they deviate from His holy teaching to repent and turn again to him and his ways. Making sure that there is nothing in our lives of which we need be ashamed that we have not asked forgiveness for. Perhaps replenishing our oil requires spending time in prayer, speaking to him and paying attention to his voice, reading his word, spending time in worship . Perhaps it is engaging with the wonder and beauty of creation, walking on a beautiful beach, hiking through a forest, sitting on the top of a hill, spending time with those you love and who love you. Filling up your emotional love tank, maximising the precious moments in your life. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who are spiritually ready and those who are not; those who miss out and those who do not. You can choose to be either one but, know this: You cannot borrow someone else’s spirituality. There can be no transfer of spiritual reserves or merit. No one can do your relationship with God for you, they can do it with you, but not for you. Spiritual preparedness is an individual matter that requires a voluntary decision on your part. As Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Today you must choose whether you will follow the Lord, as for me and my house we will follow the Lord.” To do this you must position yourself in such a way that God’s Holy Spirit can flood into your life and you must spend time learning about him and experiencing his presence in your life so that it can fuel the light of your life to shine in the world in which you live and move that his name may be glorified and you may be ready to take up your invitation to the wedding feast to which we have all been invited. |
