READING: Matthew 25:1-2
25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
This is the parable of the ten bridesmaids. They are ten bridesmaids and not ten best men or ten bridegrooms, because it is generally held that God is the spiritual husband or bridegroom of Israel and vice versa. The Messiah is a personal envoy of the Creator of the Universe, thus the sent one bears the image of the sender. The parable is assumed to talk about the Judgment Day, so it is also a so called apocalyptic message concerning the last days.
It is clear that it talks about the ending times as the parable comes as an answering attempt for the question he received from the disciples as it is written in the Gospel of Matthew that “as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be?
And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
However there are at least two different time-frames of the world-ending. There is a the personal one, when my world ends and I have to meet my Creator, or the world ends in general and all the creation must meet the Creator on the Judgment Day. The parable is about the very necessity of being prepared for the arrival of the “That Day”, or “His Day”, meant the general or personal Judgment Day.
The parable deals with both situations, as it starts as a metaphorical story about the Kingdom of Heaven, as it is about the community of ten people which is the number of Abraham’s bargain with God, plus the wedding crowd of the nation, and it is also about the personal preparation of having enough oil for the lamps to be lit in the darkness, especially when it is explicitly needed, namely on judgment day.
The parable emphasizes that people, who are prepared, are wise, who are not prepared, are fools. In this life there may happen so many unexpected occurrings that we may feel that we can not be prepared for everything. However the parable is not really saying that you must be prepared for a life event howsoever unexpected they might be, at least not in a direct mode, but the parable meant to say that you have to be prepared for the first moment after your last breath. Because after that the afterlife kicks in and the ultimate judgment will begin.
Actually to be prepared for the afterlife means that within your earthly lifespan you must learn how to become a good person and to make the right decisions in life. Thus the parable is still concerned a little bit with the good conduct and behavior in this life of course but otherwise it is mainly concerned with the personal judgment day and the judgment day for the world in general.
For personal preparedness we should reach the Native American level to say or feel wholeheartedly that I can go to see God anytime, because I trust in God, I am a believer, and I am a good doer.
The saying went to the western side of the society, on that way that it turned to say that it is or any other day is a good day to die. However it is not exactly that what it was meant to declare, but rather that it is a good day to start the new journey, the spirit journey to the skies. So the best wishes in this case sound rather that travel well or fare well than simply dying on the last day of the earthly life.
In modern, western societies, sometimes even in a historic and on a hysterical level we tend to forget that the so called judgment on the Judgment Day will be not only condemning the wicked and bad people, but it will be also justifying the godly and good people.As the parable says, there were definitely five fool bridesmaids who were left out of the kingdom, but in the same time there were definitely five wise bridesmaids who were allowed into the Kingdom to march on the glorious side of the bridegroom.
In modern western societies, sometimes even in a historic and on a hysterical level we also tend to reject the idea that the so called judgment on the Judgment Day will be condemning the wicked and bad people at all, as nowadays we try hard to wave away any images of hell and divine punishment for the wicked conduct.
The Old Testament is clear about it as the Lord says in the second commandment that “for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,” and in the Gospel Jesus frequently talks about hell and the punishment of the stubbornly wicked like for example as it is written in the Gospel of Matthew in the parable of the talents that “ for to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' ”
And the next parable right to it is the parable of the sheep and the goats, when the followers of Jesus are obligated to feed the hungry, to quench the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the lonely and the abandoned. And when these actions are done, he stated that they were done to him.
His warning to the non-complying is very similar to the warning given to the bridesmaids, at this time telling the disciples that “ 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.' These, (the goats), will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous, (the sheep), into eternal life."
Meanwhile the ten bridesmaids were waiting, and “ as the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 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.' 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.'
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. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
And it is right, we do not really know when our personal time will come, but we also do not know when this world or this era will end. In the same Gospel environment of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gavea very interesting statement that “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ”
The parables, regarding of the preparedness, give us a warning for both. We are responsible for the state and status of both. We are responsible for the personal faith in our hearts, one by one, and also we are responsible of the conduct of the world, whether it became or how it did not become a united community, a global family in the global village, where people look after each other and seriously take actions for the safe and free future of the grand-children and the next generations.
Whatever happens, at the end of our personal world, we will see God. If we believe, there is nothing to fear. At the end of the world in general, we will see God. If we believe, there is nothing to fear. May the Lord grant us hope, faith and love, as we pray in the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
