Here is the link to listen to the sermon as it was preached at HopeWhanagrei on December 6th 2020.
https://anchor.fm/hope-whangarei/episodes/6-12-2020---Howard-Carter-endla2/a-a41racn
Commenting
on the context of the parable that we had read today NT Wright says ‘every
culture has its own way of celebrating a wedding and its own risks of getting
things wrong.’ I’ve had a few
interesting weddings where things have gone a bit wrong… but nothing too major…
nothing that would make a bloopers reel
or be as social disastrous for me as the foolish bridesmaids not being ready
for the bridegrooms arrival in Jesus parable. Nothing so disastrous that the door would be
slammed in my face and I’d be disavowed. Which is the shocking conclusion of
this parable…
One
wedding I took the bride was always known to us as Nikki, but for her wedding
she wanted to have her full name used. I asked her if it was Nicola, but no it
was Nicole, I wrote it down, and said time after time in my mind Nicole not Nicola
or Nikki… Nicole…but it was my first wedding and I was really nervous … It’s Nicole
not Nicola or Nikki… Nicole…the first time I went to say her name… you guested
it Nikki… the second time… Nicola… I just couldn’t get it right… well they
wanted me to take the wedding but I wasn’t a marriage celebrant at the4 time so
fortunately someone else did the official “I Do’ stuff and they got the name right… so at least the
right people got married. And they have talked to me since. Although I always
feel embarrassed.. And she’s back to just being Nikki…
For
one wedding I was asked if it was Ok if a couple had a dog as a best man… Which
I agreed to just as long as someone else, not the dog, signed the marriage
certificate as a witness… while that was fraught with possibilities for
disaster it wasn’t where the trouble came… the same couple asked me to sing at
their wedding as well as take it… there was a church song ‘the power of your
love’ that they wanted but thought no one would know… so could I sing it as a
solo… which reluctantly I agreed to… I used it as a waiata at the end of my sermon… and I sang
it OK… right through to the last line when the
organist played the wrong note and I finished the whole thing on this long bum note crescendo… it really fell flat.
Fortunately everyone just laughed… except the dog, but I don’t think he really
minded that much.
Things
going wrong at a wedding forms the context for the parable Jesus told that we
are looking at today. The second of four parables with which Jesus finishes his
Olivet discourse, his teaching on the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem,
the end of the age and the consummation of his kingdom. The second of four
parables he tells to teach his disciples what it means to be ready and waiting
for his return. The second of four parables with which we will be finishing our
year long journey through Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of heaven in Matthew’s
gospel. A parable that Jesus finishes with the punchline keep watch and be
ready because you don’t know the day or the hour.’’ Which are the same words
with which he started his first parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants
that we looked at last week. The two
parables are used to together to convey the same challenge be ready now because
you don’t know the day or the hour…
What
makes this parable hard for us to comprehend is that the wedding rituals it
speaks of are so different than our own western ones. The focus in the parable
is waiting for the bridegroom, where as in our modern western culture the
emphasis is more on waiting for the bride. The brides arrival her grand entrance. And the
bridesmaids attend the bride not the groom.
In
first century Jewish society the wedding,
rituals were long and complex, and full of festivities, and focused on
the groom… after being betrothed and a time of preparing the groom would
proceed to his brides village and house to get his bride. They would have a
feast with that family, a farewell
feast, then a procession back to his
family’s home with the bride and another bigger feast, a welcoming into the new
family. It was a joyous occasion that the whole family and village would be
involved in. kind of like when I was growing up I remember going with my mother
if there was a wedding at our local church of someone we vaguely knew and
gathering with other neighbours outside the church gates just to welcome the
bride, even though we were not close enough to be invited to the wedding. It
was a community thing. The unmarried girls in the family and village would be
part of that joyous celebration and be given the role of welcoming the bride
and groom back to the grooms village and house. To not be ready to celebrate
with the groom was seen as a huge social insult.
We
are also used to having weddings during the day, but in the desert like
conditions of the Middle East these festivities happened more regularly in the
cool of the evening. So lamps would be an essential part of the festive
procession… The lamps were like our garden torches that need a reservoir of oil
to keep them alight for as long as was needed. You didn’t know when the groom
was coming so you needed to be prepared for the long haul.
Also
it was common for grooms and their brides to be delayed. Now I usually tell the
bride to be about five minutes late for a wedding… she was worth waiting for…
so she is worth waiting for… and it builds up the suspense. The worst delays
I’ve had were at one country church where a car crash closed the road outside
the church for an hour, and the bride could get through and another hour long
delay, at another wedding, because the bride decided to use the couples old
camper van as a wedding car, and it keep overheating on the way and they had to
keep stopping to allow it to cool down. But In Jesus day it wasn’t traffic or
broken down cars but, on the way back to their home as there would be stops
along the way and formal things that tradition dictated be done. Things that
just took as long as they took to do them right. But for the wedding in Jesus
day everyone needed to be ready even though they did not know what time the
bridegroom would come. ready to celebrate.
In Jesus
parable the action revolves around the bridegroom being so delayed that all the
bridesmaids dozed off, Jesus tells us five of them were wise and had ensured
that they had enough oil to fuel their lamps even if there was a delay. The
other five Jesus calls foolish, they did not have enough oil, so when the
procession appeared in the distance there lamps would be spluttering and be
going out. We are told they asked the other bridesmaid for oil, but are told
that there isn’t enough for them as well as the others, so they will need to go
and buy some oil. Of course we are told it’s after midnight and this is well
before 24 hour petrol stations, or convenience stores round the corner that
sold lamp oil. So it would have been an arduous journey to go and wake the oil
merchant and bargain for what they needed. By the time they got back the
procession had come and the feast had started and the door was locked. When
they knock they are told ‘ I did not know you’. Social disgrace and rejection.
How
does this parable relate to us?
Well,
it starts with Jesus saying at that time the kingdom of heaven will be like… So
Jesus is inviting us to see that this parable is talking about the day of his
return, has been talking about in the previous chapter… when the Kingdom he was
about to inaugurate in his death and resurrection would be consummated, and
Christ would return to set all things right. Jesus is the bridegroom in the parable, in the
Old Testament God is called Israel’s husband, in the New Testament in Galatians
he is called the bridegroom and the church is seen as his bride, and the
bridegroom is delayed. One of the big questions for Matthew’s first readers
would have expected Jesus return in
their day… with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the romans in
70AD. However Christ did not return, and we are still waiting for this two
thousand years later. We too are to await his return with joyful anticipation. Just
like with the bridesmaids in this parable it is easy to lose that joyful
anticipation and allow ourselves to doze off. Become wary, maybe even to wonder
if the groom will ever here.
Then
we have to ask ourselves where do we stand in this parable? Did you notice there
is no mention of the bride. Now the emphasis is supposed to be on the bride
groom in the parable, but we are used to thinking of the church, us as
followers of Jesus as part of the church the bride of Christ. That is where we
are used to seeing ourselves in this kind of metaphor. In fact in some later
latin translations of Matthews gospel and the bride is added in at the end of
verse 1. It is the part of the wedding ritual where the groom brings his bride
back to his house. That’s full of biblical imagery for us. But we are supposed
to see ourselves amidst the bridesmaids. Peoples whose role and task is to
await and to joyously celebrate the arrival of the groom. To be ready and
looking forward in anticipation of his return.
Then
we need to ask ourselves what it means to be either one of the wise or the
foolish? Now when the bible uses the word wise and foolish it’s not talking
about the relative IQ of the women involved… It’s not putting young women down
it’s not the idea of a dumb blonde or giggly school girl. In fact proverbs in
the Old Testament wisdom is portrayed as a women. Rather wise and foolish in
scripture are used to talk about how people live their lives in relationship with
God, and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. To be wise is to live your
life in a right relationship with God. That is to be the place from which your
life and behaviour and priorities come from. On the contrary to be fool is to
live your life without reference to God. Psalm 14:1 says only a fool says in
his heart there is no God. They live their life accordingly. In this case it is
manifest in not being ready for the coming of the bridegroom not preparing now
for Christ’s return.
Now
many people have looked at this parable being about keeping good spiritual
practices as Christians so our oil reserves will be good for the long haul… and
that’s Good advice... and I can’t help but think of that old 1960’s youth and
children’s song… give me oil in my lamp keep me burning and its cheesy
derivatives… give my gas for my ford keep me trucking… or give me wax for my
board keep me surfing… But that fact that the oil is not able to be shared with
others gives it a deeper meaning and focus on salvation. That’s backed up by
the shut door and being disavowed by the bridegroom and the welcome and sitting
down to feast of the wise bridesmaids in the parable. It begs the question have
we given our lives over to Christ in a way that even if we get wary and sleep
waiting for him that we will have enough oil in our lamp to joyfully welcome
him. I do believe that the oil does represent the Holy Spirit, then that is
given to us as we come to put our faith in Christ.
The
real challenge of this passage is be ready and be on watch now. If you wait
till the last hour… if you wait for Christ’s return well… no one knows the hour
or the day. As this is a parable about the kingdom, Jesus could be likening the
foolish bridesmaids to the religious leaders of his day who while having a
faith in God had rejected Jesus and the wise as those who had come to follow.
But weather it’s that or speaking to each of us individually. The challenge,
the call and invite of this passage is to be ready and waiting now. To be wise
and to see Jesus Christ for who he is and to give our lives over to him and
live prepared and with joyful anticipation of his return… yes sometimes we grow
weary and tired what is happening round us can just wear us down and out… but
it is that faith in Christ, the soon and coming king, that gives us the joyful hope
we need.
Well where do you stand? … Do you need again to examine where you are at with Jesus… are you ready today… and also if you are here and you haven’t really thought about where Jesus fits into your life and what you will do about eternity… the time to think seriously about it is well now… be ready and be on watch…
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