“1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and
fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some
of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
‘Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave had ten little sons and she named them all Dave? Well, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do. You see, when she wants one and calls out, “Yoo-Hoo! Come into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one. All ten little Daves of hers come on the run! This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves’s as you can imagine, with so many Daves. Often she wishes that, when they were born, she had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn and one of them Hoos-Foos and one of them Snimm and one of them Hot-Shot and one Sunny Jim and one of them Shadrack and one of them Blinkey and one of them Stuffy and one of them Stinkey and one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, but she didn’t do it and now it's too late.’
That’s a shortened poem from Dr. Seuss. It tells you to watch out lest it is suddenly too late. You’ve likely had such an experience—open enrollment is suddenly closed, the position you were considering has been filled, and now it’s too late. That’s the shudder of this parable.
It’s good to learn by relatively trivial matters that it can be too late—you’re not ready for bed and so no story. It’s best to learn this lesson with a sting. There are plenty of “and now it’s too late” in life that feel more like trainwreck. So it is with this parable—learn from it lest you learn the hard way forever. Choose wisely before it’s too late because then it’s too late. That’s the claim of this sermon.
We will study this in three points. First: the choices. Second: the crisis. Third: the consequences. First, in verses 1-5, we see the choices. Second, in verses 6-9, we see the crisis. Third, in verses 10-13, we see the consequences.
We see the choices in our first point imaginatively entitled: the choices. This is our twenty-first time together with Jesus opening our minds through parables and you may have noticed a familiar beginning. “The kingdom of heaven is like…” “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field…” “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour…” “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls…” Look at verse 1, “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”
This is an outlier. Outliers are meant to be noticed. This is in the future tense. Jesus is imagining people looking back at the choices they made that led or barred them from the kingdom. For some it will be looking back in gratitude and relief. For others it will be like Mrs. McCave looking back and realizing, “and now it’s too late.” The impact of this verb tense is a bit like the impact of the word “had” if a couple is having coffee and one of them says, “umm… I know we’ve had some wonderful times together, but…” That “had” is purposefully in the past tense because that partner is letting the other know there will be no future. That’s the permanence Jesus has in mind as he beings this parable. That’s this section of the gospel of Matthew. It’s full of stories and teachings on watching and being wise, preparing and dealing with the delay before the kingdom suddenly comes.
This parable doesn’t deal with seeds or weeds or towers or sons. It deals with a wedding. Wedding were the social event in that culture—like concerts, school dances, and after-parties rolled into one. Jesus’ listeners would have known the etiquette and expectations immediately as well as how much was at stake with “at that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” This was like standing up in a friend’s wedding but with much more involved.
The ten are translated as virgins, but the focus isn’t on their purity. That needs to be said because early church and medieval understandings imbued sensual innocence with an almost mythical power; that’s for understandable psychological reasons, but none of that is the focus in this story, which is why some translate this as bridesmaids rather than virgins.
We are told that five of these maidens were foolish and five were wise; this was revealed by their actions; “The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.” Wisdom and folly are seen in action. That’s a reminder that these categories are not set; they are fluid. Solomon was exceedingly wise and also remarkably foolish as seen by his actions in both directions.
We need that reminder because otherwise we presume upon those we see as wise as if it is no effort for them—snow falls white, the wind is cold, she is wise—it’s just the way it is. That does wise people a disservice. There is effort involved. The same goes for giving a free pass to those we see as fools as if nothing else could be expected from them. Jesus expects something different from them.
Five of them brought oil for their lamps; five didn’t; five prepared; five didn’t; five thought about what was at stake; five were thoughtless. These lamps are not the little hand-held ones like this. They were torches. When the sun went down and the processional began, the bride would be escorted to the groom by friends and family holding torches to light the way.
There would be often be delays in the processional; that’s verse 5, “The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.” Delays were often due to the groom and bride’s parents talking and planning; there was often haggling over the relative value of gifts. Time didn’t mean to them what it means to us. They would have never have invitations saying that the wedding begins at 2:00 on Saturday. It begins when it begins and so it still goes in many cultures.
No fault is assigned to any of the girls in falling asleep; both the wise and foolish fall asleep. Fault and credit are assigned by preparation for such a delay. Some people take the realities of life before judgment seriously; some don’t. Some in the Thessalonica churches didn’t. They presumed Jesus would come before certain bills were due so why pay them? Some create problems for themselves in this life by assuming that Jesus will return and save their day. Jesus’ message here is to be sensible about this life. Don’t create problems assuming God will pry you out of your foolishness. He might leave you in it and say, “and now it’s too late.” Crises create and reveal such trouble and that’s our second point: the crisis.
The maidens have all fallen asleep while waiting. ‘At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”’ That’s the delay combined with the suddenness that we’ve seen in Jesus’ end times parables. As with Noah’s flood, it seems like nothing is happening for decades and then before you have a chance to respond, it’s all but over. That’s how it goes with the prophecies about the day of the Lord as well. Warning, warning, warning, and then suddenly with no warning, it is upon you. At judgment day, people will say, “there was no warning” and will say “there was warning after warning and I paid no attention” and both statements will seem right. That’s Habakkuk 2:3, “the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
The moment of crisis had come upon these girls. Some were prepared; other’s weren’t; ‘Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.”’ The foolish girls couldn’t light their torches; the oil on their torch was evaporated and they had no more.
Much ink has been spilled over what exactly this oil represents. Jesus, as with his parable about the wedding garment, has his reasons for leaving it ambiguous. He knows how myopic we can be in our readings. If he told us it was good works, we’d want to know how many good works were needed. We can be like a husband who is told that washing the dishes is part of a good of marriage and comes to assume that washing the dishes is all that’s needed for a good marriage. Jesus knows what’s in us and so leaves the meaning of parts of his parables imprecise.
This imprecision isn’t insensitivity to scrupulous souls. Jesus isn’t being imprecise as to the meaning of this oil and expecting us to ferret out his riddle. The thrust of it is obvious and that’s part of why it’s left imprecise. These foolish girls weren’t ready and never thought it would be too late to get ready. That’s the obvious warning and the meaning here.
There are all sorts of manifestations of this slothful impulse in Scripture. There’s Esau weeping because he can’t get his birthright back even after he sold it for soup. There’s Lot’s wife not caring that judgment is falling and disobeying the one command needed to escape it. There’s Uzzah neglecting clear instructions as to his duty in carrying the ark and presuming it would all work it out fine. There’s Absolom naïve enough to assume that giving a warrior king like his father room to breathe would make his own victory all the more glorious. There’s the kings of Judah seeing act of deliverance after act of deliverance for Jerusalem and presuming it would go that way again and always. But it didn’t and for Esau, Lot’s wife, Uzzah, Absolom, and Jerusalem and now it’s too late. Don’t let it become too late for you.
The five foolish maidens scurried to undo the crisis. ‘The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.” “No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”’
This is a correction for those who fall off the enmeshment side of helping. When we studied Galatians we heard Paul teach, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ,” and, “everyone should carry their own burdens.” The parable of the Good Samaritan corrects those who are unwilling to carry each others’ burdens. This parable corrects those who are troubled by the fact that everyone should carry their own burdens. It comes down, as we saw with the reading of the law for weeks and weeks last year, to the position of your heart.
These maidens were wise not to share their oil as they were to bring some in the first place. You can’t prepare someone else’s way out of spiritual foolishness and as Bruner puts it bluntly, “Some spiritual decisions can only be described as stupid,” and failing to prepare one’s self for final judgment is just that. Trying to prepare someone else who hasn’t been willing to prepare is foolish. “The hard-nosed realism of the sensible girls invites the reader to reflect that spiritual preparedness is not something others can provide for you,” as France puts it. “Each needs their own oil.”
No one’s faith will stand for yours at the final judgment and yours can’t stand for anyone else’s. No one but you will be you on the final day. “At the return and its judgment do not depend on others for salvation… now, suddenly, everything is terrifyingly individual,” as Bruner puts it. There will be no free pass for fools on that day and there really isn’t now either. We’d all be wise to be ready and recognize that no one can prepare for us. Presuming that others can or should have is simply part of the self-deception of sin.
For the bridesmaids to share their oil would also have been to likely dishonor the bride. What if they shared their oil and on the way to the groom, all their torches went out? That would mar their friend’s big day. The wise girls wouldn’t allow that; “to participate in their friend’s wedding was a great honor… but to have spoiled the wedding for her by failing to do their appropriate part was a great insult,” as Keener put it. Those foolish girls had already begun to mar the day. The wise girls wouldn’t join them in that in some misguided sense of solidarity. Choices have consequences as we see in our last point: consequences.
The five senseless bridesmaids go to buy more oil perhaps grumbling about the other five, but what does that matter? ‘While they were on their way to buy the oil,’ we read, ‘the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. “Sir! Sir!” they said. “Open the door for us!” But he replied, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.”’
That seems harsh to us and scholars are divided as to whether Jesus is overstating the response, but even if he is, it is overstatement with a point. These bridesmaids didn’t prepare for their role. It would be like a bridesmaid today who couldn’t be bothered to respond to emails about dresses or the rehearsal and simply showed up after the wedding began and expected to stand up there with the bride in her jeans and a hoodie. The bride’s mother would understandably say, “you need to sit down.”
By saying, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you,” the doorkeeper isn’t expressing such disapproval. He likely isn’t expressing ignorance as to who these five were. “I don’t know you” is something rabbis would say to students who consistently and unrepentantly refused to learn but came yet again to the teacher as if they wanted to learn. It’s a way of saying, “but you didn’t do it… and now it’s too late.”
There are plenty of parables about weddings and parties and they have this familiar theme in them which is that those who are unwilling to celebrate won’t get into the celebration. Here the five foolish bridesmaids don’t get to celebrate. Part of being allowed in the celebration is being ready to celebrate; “it is only those who are ready who will enjoy it,” as France put it.
That’s the maxim at the end of the parable; “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” The foolish bridesmaids acted as if they knew the time of the processional. They didn’t. Then they acted as if their fellow bridesmaids were responsible to make up for their lack of preparation; they weren’t. Then they acted as if they ought to be welcome; they were told, “you didn’t prepare and now it’s too late.”
This is similar to our last parable on perseverance and preparation. This is your life we are talking about here. This is eternity. Some people are more prepared for the electricity to go out in their home—which it might—than they are undergoing final judgment—which they will. Some people have given more thought to how they would prepare for a zombie apocalypse which won’t happen than they have regarding how they will prepare for final judgment which will happen and will come upon them suddenly. “The door of the heavenly kingdom will be shut against all who have not made provision, because they failed in the middle of the course,” as Calvin put it.
Nobody but you is ultimately responsible for you. If you think you need help preparing for final judgment, ask for help before the crisis; that’s your responsibility in preparing. If you know what to do, though, stop asking and do it; that’s your responsibility in preparing too. The last thing you want to hear on the last day is, “but you didn’t do it; and now it’s too late.” Lest you think Jesus would never be that final in his judgment, he tells you this parable so you’ll think again before it’s too late. Amen.