Keep awake, you wise bridesmaids . . .

      I suppose this is one of those weeks I mis-discerned where we needed to be as a community.  I knew Monday I wanted to be in Joshua, but God had other ideas.  Rick & Morty replayed the dinosaur return episode a couple times this week, and then Forbes pointed out how our exports had reached highs not seen since the Obama Administration.  Then came the discussions and observations with or of colleagues who were really struggling with the Gospel passage this week.  A number of colleagues outside the diocese were expressing how Matthew’s parable could not really be a part of Jesus’ teachings.  Jesus is radically welcoming and the idea that he would lock virgins out of a feast clearly false teaching.  A few even went the route of “Hey, I think the real lesson is that the wise virgins are the evil ones in the story.  What do y’all think?”  A few even tried to tie the wisdom and foolishness to the sleeping.  To be fair, Jesus is exhorting His disciples to be alert or awake in this section of the Gospel, and He does fuss at the Apostles for their weak flesh in the Garden of Gethsemane; I think most of us, however, realize that both the wise and the foolish virgins are treated the same for their sleeping.”  All of that raises the question, though, of what is going on and why Matthew would relate the passage.  And don’t worry if, now that you have re-read it, you are a bit confused or worried.  If the professionals are struggling that badly, or teaching it that poorly, God knows.

     As an aside, though, before we begin, I do want to point out to us all that, were the proposal of the Advent Project to be accepted by the wider church, today would be the First Sunday or Advent.  Yes, that means Christmas is only 43 days away.  Whoa, that is a lot of murmuring.  It also means, though, that we are nearing the end of the Season after Pentecost and that our readings will be taking us on a quick sojourn through the eschaton, or then end of the age as we like to call it in Christian circles.  As Adventers, we should not be surprised nor worried.  Part of our spiritual DNA is that we have an eye on Christ’s first Advent and expectant eye on His next Advent.  We look to the past as a source of encouragement and to the future as to an impetus to do the work He has given us to do.  The rest of the Church, well the parts that use the lectionary, will be intentional in the looking forward and looking back for the next few weeks.  I’ll let you all discern whether you think our readings are influenced by the colors on the altar or of our stoles.

     Back to our lesson.  The first issue we have in the reading is simply one of context.  I know we are Christians and have been taught, whether we have internally digested it or not, that marriage is the image which our Lord uses to describe His relationship with His people.  In the NT, this is mostly expressed as “Jesus is the Groom; the Church is the Bride,” right?  Good.  I see nods.  The image of marriage, though, is well used in the OT.  God often describes Himself as a faithful Groom and Israel, His chosen people, as adulterers.  Hmm.  Not nearly as many nods.

     Part of our challenge is understanding the importance of a marriage in the culture.  Today, in our culture, it is far more performative.  Brides are encouraged to be a princesses for a day.  Experts and influencers tell them what that means.  Mostly, it comes down to dollars and cents.  One of the first discussions I have in pre-marital counseling is how stupid that really is.  Today, according to the experts, the average wedding costs $26,000.  The average wedding cost $26,000.  Think of that number for just a second.  I see the nods and a few elbows.  There’s a wedding party to clothe, a cake to have baked, a dress.  And let’s face it, money does not go as far as it once did.  Those of you who have recently walked granddaughters through a wedding know all about the other expenses, such as venue, reception, and who knows what else.  It adds up quickly.

     I suppose, all things being equal, it would be easier for us to stomach if we knew that the money spent was in direct proportion to the expected length of the marriage.  Who among us would not spend extra money if we knew it would help our sons’ and daughters’ marriages last?  Heck, I’d be happy if the church venue would increase the likelihood that the marriage will last.  Unfortunately, venue does not seem to matter.  If God declares it so important, you’d expect Christians to do a better job in marriage.  The truth is, though, we are no better at marriage than the heathens around us.  Almost half of all Christian marriages will end in divorce, and God describes it as representative of His relationship with His people and as indissoluble.  Can you imagine what our marriages would be like, absent His teaching? 

     One of the challenges we have, though, is understanding how important a wedding was in Ancient Israel.  I have tried and tried to teach you how to understand Israel’s emphasis on the Promised Land.  For Israel, marriage was not just a social construct or economic relationship, as the world around us tries to describe marriage today.  Ownership of the Promised Land had an eschatological hope.  Simply put, if one could not be alive when God’s chosen one, the Messiah or Christ to use our language, ascended the throne, one could only make sure his or her family would participate in the joyful blessing of that time.  Marriages were how the eschatological promise could be experienced by any family.  With families often comes the hope of children.  Children means another generation will be there, if Messiah comes.  I have explained that our best way to understand this would be to pretend if I excommunicated you, you really believed you were cut off from God’s promises.  We are Americans and Episcopalians, so we have a difficult relationship with excommunication.  I can do it, and the bishop can ratify it, but how many Episcopalians or Americans will not just “look for another church” were I to do it. 

     We are well read enough and imaginative enough to understand the threat intellectually.  Priests and bishops do have the authority, but do we really understand the authority as significant to us or our relationship to God?  For their part, those of Ancient Israel understood that ownership of their land was the guarantee that they would participate in Messiah’s reign.  That’s why children, or barrenness, was so important in Ancient Israel.  Owning the family plot, so to speak, was proof that they were part of God’s chosen people.  As a result, the whole community treasured weddings.  In villages where everybody knew everybody, everybody celebrated marriages because of their significance in the community.  With me so far?  Good!

     Not to oversimplify, but imagine who took control of these events in the days before wedding and event planners.  That’s right, the mom’s.  In general, the mother of the bride oversaw what you and I would call the nuptials, and the mother of the groom oversaw the wedding feast or reception.  Once everything was ready for the feast, the groom would be told to go and get his bride.  The groom and others would process to the house of the bride.  The bride would be waiting for the groom to show up so that they could be married.  Then, everyone at the nuptials would process back to the groom’s house for the great celebration, the wedding feast.

     You and I live in an age where venues and people are overscheduled.  We would be scandalized would either party not show up early for a wedding, right?  We would assume there was a problem were one or the other significantly late for their wedding.  Heck, I have to remind everyone in the wedding party not to show up drunk or high or late at rehearsals or for the event itself!  Good, I see nods.  And we have all seen shows and headlines that talk about the moms of brides and grooms who do their very best to make sure the event is about them rather than the couple, right?  Imagine, though, if the wedding and the reception were held at your house.  Imagine our favorite matriarch hosting the reception for her son or daughter and celebrating God’s promises alive in her family as a result!  What would that celebration look like?  Now you get the idea.  The food has to be ready.  The wine has to be good, and the toasting wine great.  The servants and slaves have to be ready to do their jobs and wash feet.  The lights have to be lit and the tables set.  You get the idea.  Grooms could not get their brides until everything was just so.  And as an aside, maybe you understand a bit better by God’s declaration that the eschaton will begin with THE Wedding Feast.

     Back to the procession and especially the job of the virgins, or bridesmaids as our translation calls them today.  When the groom went to get his bride and the rest of the bridal party, it was all done on foot.  It will be hard for us to understand this part because we live in motorized Nashville, but imagine yourself in the country, so street lights every tenth of a mile, having to walk from one location to the next.  What will you need to keep you from stumbling?  What will you need to keep the predators at bay?  What will you need to help protect you against bandits?  That’s right, lights.  It’s almost like you listened to Funmi’s Gospel reading.

     Now, in the Gospel reading, what do you think was the job of the bridesmaids, based on what you just heard?  That’s right, they provided the light for the procession.  And I am sure that many mom’s intended for marriages and feasts to start earlier in the evening, but remember this is an honor culture.  This is an enormous thanksgiving event.  This is a Covenant Reminder event.  Oh, yeah, and lest we forget, it is a bit of a social competition.  Everyone wants to have arranged the most memorable celebration, right?  I mean, human beings are human beings, and mothers like to outdo one another every bit as much as fathers, right?

     And to be clear, as Joshua and I had a discussion in Greek this week, the lamp of this verse is a different lamp from Jesus’ description of hiding it under a bushel.  This one is a traveling lamp, a lampas; that one is table lamp, a lychnos, for those who want to do extra research this week.  They serve different functions.  A table lamp might well have a larger reservoir for the oil because it is not going anywhere.  It could be heavier because no one had to carry it.  There was a limit for most people as to how big a lamp and reservoir they could carry, so that was often, though not necessary, difference.  And in this story, we are talking about younger girls rather than weightlifters.

     If your job is to light the way, what are your responsibilities?  Oil.  Trimming the wick.  Maybe flint, in case the light goes out.  A covering, in case it is windy or rainy.  You could probably name more responsibilities if I gave you time.  Now, if you know what is necessary sitting in Nashville 2000 years later, do you think people understood what was necessary 2000 years ago in Ancient Israel?  Great.  That is where Jesus’ judgment comes into play.

     Jesus calls one set of bridesmaids wise and the other set foolish.  I am guessing everyone here now knows why the one set is foolish and the other wise.  One group took its job or responsibilities seriously, and the other did not.  There will be folks who hear sermons trying to justify Jesus’ harsh words, in their minds, saying that His issue was their sleepiness.  Do not both the wise and the foolish fall asleep?  That cannot be the divider between wise and foolish behavior.  There will be folks who hear sermons trying to explain that Matthew was caught up in judgment, but not Jesus, as if Matthew did not travel and study under Jesus for three years.  And if there is anything Matthew insists upon, it is how Israel, and especially the Temple leadership, is judged by Jesus.  But is the parable that hard, once we understand the background?

     Let’s push it just a bit.  Does the denial by the wise bridesmaids seem harsh to our ears?  It’s ok, be honest.  It does.  Why?  That’s right, we know Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to serve others in God’s Name, trusting He will give us what is necessary to glorify God in our lives.  Remember, though, we are well before Jesus’ enthronement.  We know Jesus’ instructions are all true, because He has been raised from the dead.  As crazy as some sound in our ears, and how poorly many of us try to keep them, how do you think they sounded in the ears of His disciples before His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension?  This illustration would not be one of those hard teachings, though.

     Let’s say the wise bridesmaids feel sorry for the foolish bridesmaids and give them oil.  How much oil have the wise bridesmaids secured beforehand?  That’s right, enough to get them to groom’s house.  What happens if they divide their oil?  Imagine, you are in a wedding party proceeding to the great reception, and the lamps burn out plunging you in darkness.  You have failed in your one responsibility.  You have embarrassed your family.  You have put everyone at risk.  Keep in mind, it is not like us forgetting to turn our headlights on while traveling Franklin Pike at night.  This is long before most ambient lighting.  It’s not that the wise bridesmaids were being mean.  They knew that that their light would be necessary to get the bridal party to its destination safely and without stumbles.  Ten lights would be better for this group; but five is much better than none.

     What about the Lord’s response when they return with oil?  Doesn’t He seem harsh.  With all due respect to Owen Wilson and Vince Vaugh, wedding crashers have probably been around since weddings were first celebrated.  Let’s face it, all the angst surrounding weddings have probably been around since the very first wedding.  Some of us may have experienced wedding crashers at our own weddings or that of our children or grandchildren.  Maybe they were strangers; maybe they were just uninvited extended family or acquaintances.  The bigger and better the wedding and reception, and the more important the families involved, the more everyone wants to be at the event.  Also, there were nefarious motives for attendance.  Maybe if everyone gets drunk, I can pick their pockets.  Maybe I can find some goodies in the house that fits in my pockets.  It was an inconvenient and sometimes dangerous thing to open your doors after dark in antiquity.  It would be more common sense not to open one’s door after the wedding party has arrived.  Everyone should have been inside once the bride and groom entered the house.  The southern 15 minutes late was not a virtue in those cultures!  And, given the size of this party, remember it takes 10 bridesmaids to conduct everyone to the groom’s house, it is very possible that the groom, or the father of the groom, truly did not recognize the voices of the late arriving bridesmaids.

     One of the admitted challenges posed to modern readers of the Gospel of Matthew is its focus on the eschaton, on the judgement.  The eschaton seems to consume far more of Matthew’s attention than any other NT writer other than maybe John.  Much of Matthew’s focus is on who is in and who is out of God’s kingdom, to be sure.  But Matthew spends a great deal of energy pointing out to his audience, us, that it is incredibly difficult for us to discern who is in and who is out.  The wheat and the tares grow together.  Sometimes the Gentiles respond better to the Gospel than Israel, God’s son.  Often, those who should know the mercy of God the best are the ones most determined to weigh down others with their own rules.  The only One fit to judge is the Lord.  He alone knows the heart; He alone knows who belongs to Him and who rejects Him.

     Matthew’s Gospel today is made a bit more challenging because we can identify with the wise and the foolish bridesmaids during the course of our lives.  Were the story not a parable, we might fall rightly into the belief that we earn salvation, that we are responsible for being adopted into God’s family.  But it is a parable, and so we try to figure out why Jesus would have shared it, why Matthew would have remembered and recorded it, and what application it has for us today.  We are further challenged by Matthew’s teaching that Christ is paradoxically the narrowest door but the most wide-open invitation possible.  It is hard for us to accept that others, whoever the others are in our lives, will receive the same blessing, the same salvation as us.

     There is that famous line in Spider Man that was well-used especially in Britain, with great power comes great responsibility.  I see a few nods.  Evangelical Anglicans used it to remind our brothers and sisters that we have a responsibility to God and our neighbors because of what He has done for us in Christ Jesus.  To translate it into James’ words, faith without works is dead or useless.  Because of our adoption into God’s holy family, we have a responsibility.  We give thanks that we have been adopted, but we are reminded that it falls to us to invite all others into that saving embrace.  How we do that, of course, differs in our contexts, our charisms, and our internal digestion of how blessed we truly are.  Dale’s gifts are different than Jane’s gifts whose gifts are different than Jean’s whose gifts are different than my own.  Look around.  We all have different gifts and passions and experiences that make us perfect ambassadors in one sub-culture but make us a bit less perfect for another sub-culture.  To use the language of the day, we all have work to do given us by God.  How we do that, though, is very personal.

     To use the image of Scripture and the Church, we try to let the light of Christ shine forth in our lives.  How do we do that most effectively?  Through attuning ourselves to God.  We go to worship, we pray, we study the Scriptures, we fast, we serve—there are lots of ways in which we can attune ourselves to God.  We might say, to use the image of this day, that we are gathering oil for the flame that is supposed to be within us.  All of us sitting here know there are times when we have acted wisely and have acted foolishly when attuning ourselves.  All of us likely have periods in our lives when we feel like we would be counted wise by the Lord when he arrived, but all of us likely have periods in our lives when we worry that He might judge us fools and leave us outside the feast.

     We have to be careful when we read parables.  Sometimes, the examples used by Jesus need to be contextualized for us to understand them better.  My colleagues who struggle with the groom’s judgment in this parable simply do not understand the importance of light bearers in a dark world.  It makes sense, as our world, for the most part, is full of street lights and other lights, especially in our urban settings.  But another problem with parables comes when we ignore what has been handed down from those who heard the parables—what we Episcopalians and other like-minded Christians call tradition.  We receive these parables in a tradition, and Christ’s disciples and Apostles shared their meanings with later audiences, who later shared them with others, and so on.  As in any game of telephone, we have to be careful that the message we hears corresponds to the tradition.  Can we read works righteousness in this parable?  Sure.  Can we assume that the groom was a jerk, based on our context?  Yes.  Can we even be focused on the wrong part of the story and miss the forest for the trees?  You bet.  But, do those interpretations or misfocuses align with what has been handed down or with the Gospel?  There’s the rub.

     Jesus tells the story, in part, to remind us of our need to keep alert.  Perhaps we would do well to read the passage on Advent 1 when we focus on keeping alert and staying awake.  But we Christians are warned, admonished, encouraged, whatever language you want to use, by our Lord that we must pay attention.  Like the bridesmaids of our story, we do not know when the Groom is coming to retrieve His Bride.  Any inattention on are part can have disastrous consequences, and not just for others, but even for ourselves.  And just like the bridemaids needed to have oil, trimmed wicks, coverings, and who knows what else for their job, you and I are called by God to be prepared for the work that He has given us to do.  We are nourished by the Sacrament, instructed by His word, attuned to Him through prayers and other disciplines—all for the purpose of doing the work that He has given us to do as we head back outside these walls.  Best of all, when we discover ourselves to be foolish, when we discover ourselves to be inattentive to His call on our lives, we repent and endeavor to attune ourselves to Him better, that we might glorify Him in our lives.  And in the end, those who live seeking to glorify Him in their lives, which includes that repentance for inattention or foolish behavior, are the ones who will be judged wise when He comes again, as they were the ones who lighted the paths of others to His saving embrace.

     My friends, you and I are those to whom it falls to live and to speak as if His words are true and worthy to be believed.  The Church, the Bride of Christ, is called to live as if She believes His return can happen any moment.  His instruction to be alert, to pay attention, should motivate us to live each day as if He might come and that we desire to be found by Him like the wise bridesmaids of our reading today, prepared for His appearing no matter the hour or the day, knowing that, when that Day finally happens, we will find ourselves at the Wedding Feast, celebrating the work of salvation He has accomplished in our own lives and those around us who claim His as Lord and Savior!

 

In His Peace,

Brian†