Today’s scripture lesson from Matthew 25:1-13 is a parable about watching between the time that has been and the time that is yet to be realized. The context for this parable is set in the ancient Jewish marriage customs that had shaped the identity of the Jewish people for generations and the yet to be realized identity of Jesus’ believers.
Context Number One: The Jewish marriage ceremony is more than the pronouncement of an earthly covenant between a bridegroom and a bride. It is also a statement about the covenant relationship between God and Israel, found in the 19th and 20th chapters of Exodus, when Israel said yes to the conditions for God’s covenant relationship in receiving the 10 commandments at the foot of Mount Sinai. This broader understanding of marriage on a cosmic level between God and Israel is affirmed in Isaiah 54:5:
“For your Maker is your husband, Yahweh of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor wrote to his niece about the significance of a broader understanding of marriage when he wrote to his niece about her upcoming marriage while he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration in World War II.
“Marriage is more than your love for each other. It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God’s holy ordinance through which he wills to perpetuate the human race until the end of time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations which God causes to come and to pass away to his glory and calls into his kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and (humankind). Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal-it is a status an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely, you love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and humanity … It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
In a word live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. Don’t insist on your rights, don’t blame each other, don’t judge or condemn each other, don’t find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts, … That is God’s word for your marriage. Thank God for it; thank God for leading you thus far; ask God to establish your marriage, to confirm it, sanctify it, and preserve it. So your marriage will be ‘for the praise of God’s glory.’”
Context Number Two: The day of the Jewish marriage ceremony is the recognition of a personal day of Yom Kippur for the bridegroom and bride. Yom Kippur is the highest holy day for Israel when forgiveness of God is sought for all that has been done wrong in the past year and the renewal of covenant with God is established for the upcoming year. The day of marriage is a day for living between the time that is past and the time that is yet to come.
Context Number Three: Betrothal was what we would consider an “engagement” today. The first stage of the betrothal was finding a suitable spouse for the bride or bridegroom. In the ancient Near Eastern culture, this was most often initiated by the families of the bride and groom. Young men and women were pledged to each other at ages as young as twelve or thirteen. The second stage of betrothal involved a sort of “prenuptial agreement.” Before witnesses, the bridegroom and bride enter a formal betrothal. It was a legally binding contract, which gave the man legal rights over the woman. Once a couple entered this stage of betrothal, it could only be broken by a formal divorce. The terms “husband” and “wife” were used during this period, though the couple did not live together.
Context Number Four: The bridegroom was responsible for adding a bridal chamber to his father’s house. When the terms of the betrothal had been met and the addition of the bridal chamber was completed, the father of the bridegroom would announce that it was time for the wedding to begin. Neither the groom nor the bride was aware when the groom’s father would determine that the time for the wedding had arrived.
Context Number Five: The return of the bridegroom: Once the bridegroom’s father announced to the groom that the wedding plans could proceed forward, bridegroom usually came for his brides ate at night, near the midnight hour. Shofars would break the silence of night. There would be shouts in the streets, and a torch-light procession which would wind its way through the town to the home of the bride and eventually to the home of the bridegroom. Over the course of the next five to seven days, a wedding festival would be held.
It is in the context of the Jewish wedding that we hear Jesus tell a parable about five foolish and five wise bridesmaids. Each bridesmaid knew that the bridegroom would return to claim his bride as they lived in the reality of the past and the promise of the future. Five of them are wise as they prepared for the future reality of the bridegroom’s return as they enjoy the wedding banquet and five are foolish as the door is shut to the kingdom of heaven.
While some interpret this parable in the context of the Left Behind series of books and films that make future predictions about the promised return of Jesus, I believe the best way to interpret this parable is in the context of how our identity in Jesus is being shaped by watching for the promised presence of Jesus as we live in the present.
I believe the point of the parable about the bridesmaids is not to lose focus while we live in the present between time that has been and the time that is yet to be realized. Faith in Jesus is not about predicting the future. Faith in Jesus is about living as followers of Jesus in the present even when the future is delayed. Faith in Jesus is about living into the kingdom of heaven by having our identity shaped by Jesus. Faith in Jesus is knowing that Jesus has promised to be with us always even to the end of the earth.
I believe the point of the parable about the bridesmaids is found in the answer Martin Luther gave when he was asked what he would do if he knew that Jesus was returning tomorrow. Luther said, “I think I’d go out and plant an apple tree.”
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Watching
by Pastor Marc Brown
November 12, 2023
Accompanying Scriptures: Matthew 25:1-13
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for November 12, 2023
Scripture Lesson Matthew 25:1-13
The Good News “Watching”
Music “Christ Beside Me” Trad. Gaelic Melody
Prayer
Blessing
Closing Music “Sing Praise to God” arr. Bob Burroughs
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