Delivered November 6, 2011
A few times in our lives there are big days. It is a big day when you are born. There is an anonymous quote that says, “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” It is a big day when a baby is born. For us it is an important day when we are born, even though we can’t remember it. It is so important to us that we celebrate it every year with a birthday, and will often throw a party, especially on important birthdays. It is a big day when our children are born and our grandchildren. A graduation is a big day – high school, college. It is a big day when we get married. That is another one of those days we remember and observe every year. At least you better … if you are the husband! There are other big days, but most often when people use the phrase “the big day” it is in reference to weddings. It was a big day when our kids got married, and especially when our daughter got married … because that day had a big price tag. In fact, thebigday.com on the internet is a honeymoon registry.
Weddings have always been big days in every culture. So it is not surprising that Jesus uses a story of a wedding as a metaphor for another big day that he wants to describe. In our Gospel Lesson for today, Jesus tells the story of a Jewish wedding in first century Palestine. A lot of the meaning of this story is lost on us because they did weddings very differently back then. Hopefully I can clarify it a bit. Jesus’ story focuses on the bridesmaids. In this case there were ten of them; they are called the ten virgins in this story. Back then a wedding was a weeklong series of festivities. It was centered on the home of the bride and the home in which the couple was to live, which was customarily the parents of the groom. Back then brides moved in with their in-laws, which I am sure was not easy for those brides. I have been reading that in these tough economic times couples are having to live with in-laws for financial reasons. It was the same back then.
A man, his wife and his mother-in-law went on vacation to the Holy Land. While they were there, the mother-in-law passed away. The undertaker told them, 'You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here in the Holy Land for $500.' The man thought about it and told him he would just have her shipped home. The undertaker asked, 'Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your mother-in-law home, when it would be wonderful to have her buried here and spend only $500?' The man replied, 'a man died here 2,000 years ago, was buried here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance.'
The groom would take his bride to his father’s house. This is an important detail in this story when you realize that the bridegroom symbolizes Jesus. So the house where a room was prepared for them was his Father’s house. Remember that famous verse so often used at funerals: “In My Father’s house are many mansions [rooms]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
As I mentioned, in that time and place, a wedding was a weeklong celebration. The bride and friends and family would party. The groom and friends and family would have a separate party. Then at some point the groom would decide it was time for the ceremony. The groom would suddenly appear at the bride’s house for his bride. This usually happened on the last day, but exactly when he would arrive on that day was a surprise. His appearance would be preceded by a messenger who would announce the imminent arrival of the bridegroom. When the groom arrived, there would be a procession of groomsmen and bridesmaids and the whole wedding party would go into the house where the ceremony and the banquet would be held. That is the historical context of Jesus’ parable.
In Jesus’ story it is the end of the week of preparation and celebration. The groom had not arrived yet, and it was the last day. Everyone was waiting in anticipation. The day went on and no groom arrived. Maybe people were getting a little worried. No bride wants to be left at the altar. Night fell, and there was still no groom. The ten bridesmaids knew he would must be arriving soon, so they took their oil lamps and went outside the gate to meet the groom. Five of the bridesmaids brought just their lamps with whatever oil was in them. Five others brought an extra supply of oil for their lamps, just in case the groom was delayed. Well, the groom was late. So late that all the bridesmaids had fallen asleep. The herald announcing the groom’s arrival finally showed up at midnight, and his announcement woke up the sleeping bridesmaids. They all trimmed their lamps, which would then be used in the wedding procession. It would have been beautiful – a candlelight procession into the house for the ceremony. But five of the bridesmaids (Jesus calls them the foolish ones) had run out of oil. They had to run off and find some oil and hopefully get back before the groom arrived. Well, they didn’t make it. By the time they got back to the house, the groom had already arrived and the procession was over. The whole wedding party was inside the grounds with the gate shut, and the ceremony was already underway. No one was allowed to enter at that point.
That is the story. Why does Jesus tell this story? What is he talking about? Jesus says that story is about the Kingdom of Heaven, also known as the Kingdom of God. He says, “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” So it was to do with God’s Kingdom. It likely has to do with God’s kingdom coming to earth, as Jesus said in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Bible – NT and OT – teaches that God’s kingdom will come. What this means exactly, and what form it takes, has been debated by Christians ever since the second century. Once the apostles died no one could agree exactly what the apostles meant in the NT by the Kingdom of God coming to earth and how the return of Christ was connected to this. It is a clear teaching of scripture that Christ will return. Exactly how, in what form, and when is not so clear. As you know by now, I tend to be traditional in my understanding of Christian doctrine. I think once you start picking and choosing which doctrines to accept or reject, then the whole fabric of the gospel starts to unravel. Therefore I believe that Jesus really will return, and that this teaching is not just symbolic or purely spiritual. I believe there will be a day – the big day – what the OT prophets called “The Day of the Lord.” I believe one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, a day when death will be no more. But I also know that the nature of this day is beyond my comprehension.
But I think it is important for all of us to know that there will be a big day. Even if you don’t accept the idea of a literal return of Jesus, and a new heaven and earth – a cosmic event ending history, and changing life as we know it, - still we all know that there will be a day when your personal history will end and this life as you now know it will end. That is the day of our death. Unless the Lord returns first, all of us will die. That will be a big day for each of us. Death is an important event in our lives. Yet it is amazing how little people prepare for this big day. People prepare more for going on a vacation than for taking the ultimate vacation from your body! This is why Jesus tells this story. He is saying that we ought to be prepared. That is why he tells this story about five foolish girls who were not prepared and five wise girls who were. What is Jesus’ message here? Briefly, I think there are five points.
1. First, it is later than you think. In the story it is midnight when the announcement comes that the big day has arrived. It is later than we think. None of us knows how much time we have, but most of us think that we have more time than we actually do. I assume I do. I look at the charts and see that life expectancy in the US is now 78.7 years of age. I am a little more than sixty-one, so I think I have 17 and a half years left. What I really feel is that I have at least that long. I expect to live longer. I assume I am going to beat the odds and live well into my eighties. Even though I am overweight and don’t get enough exercise, I act like those risk factors don’t really apply to me. In my saner moments I know it is crazy to think like this, but I assume I have lots of time before I meet my Maker. But it may not be true. It is later than I think. It is later than you think. It is midnight and we have been asleep. And one day there will be a wakeup call. I think it is interesting in the story that all of the bridesmaids fall sleep; not just the foolish ones. It is later than all of us think.
Two buddies, Bob and Earl, were two of the biggest baseball fans in America. Their entire adult lives, Bob and Earl discussed baseball history in the winter, and they poured over every score of every game during the playing season. They went to sixty games a year. They even agreed that whoever died first would try to come back and tell the other if there was baseball in heaven. One summer night, Bob passed away in his sleep after watching a Red Sox victory earlier in the evening. He died a happyman. A few nights later, his buddy, Earl, awoke to the sound of Bob's voice from beyond. "Bob is that you?" Earl asked. "Of course it me," Bob replied.
"This is unbelievable!" Earl exclaimed. "So tell me, is there baseball in heaven?" "Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you. Which do you want to hear first?" "Tell me the good news first." "Well, the good news is that, yes, there is baseball in heaven, Earl." "Oh, that is wonderful! So what could possibly be the bad news?" "You're pitching tomorrow night."
It’s later than you think.
2. Second, it happens suddenly and unexpectedly. Just a few verses before this story Jesus tells us: “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” You can’t predict death - our own or anyone else’s. Maybe if a person has a long terminal illness, we can expect it is coming sometime soon. Doctors may speak in terms of months or weeks. But we can’t know exactly when. As Jesus says in our passage: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
3.Third, Be prepared. This is the central teaching of this parable. Jesus pointed out that none of the bridesmaids knew when the groom was arriving. But five of them were prepared and five were not. It may happen quickly and soon, and it may be a long way off. In fact in the story the bridegroom is delayed. We know historically that it has been 2000 years since Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, and still Christ has not returned as the apostles’ expected. It has made a lot of people think the whole idea of the second coming of Christ is foolish. But the whole point of the parable is that the groom is very late - much later than anyone expected, and so we should not be surprised if Christ is much later than anyone expected. The apostles never would have dreamt that we would be talking about this 2000 years after their deaths! That is the way it always is.
That is why it is so important to be prepared. To be prepared means to think seriously and thoroughly about it now. Deal with the certainty of your death sooner rather than later. Do not wait until it is too late. It is best to think about death and what comes after death while our minds are clear and calm, and we are not panicked nor under pressure or stressed or drugged or mentally impaired in any way. Everyone should make sure that they are at ease with their own mortality. That they have contemplated happens after death. We don’t want to wait to think about these things at the last minute, and then realize we do not have the time, energy, or clarity of mind to make important decisions. Get it taken care of – the sooner the better. “Make your peace with God” as they used to say. Be prepared so that when the bridegroom appears you will have oil in your lamp and be ready to join the procession and be part of the wedding banquet in the Father’s house.
4. Fourth, there is no borrowing or sharing of spiritual resources. In the story the five foolish bridesmaids “said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’” Jesus is teaching that everyone is responsible for themselves when it comes to spiritual preparations for the Big Day. We can’t rely on anyone else to do it for us. We can’t hire a professional. I can’t do it for you. If you die before me, then I can do your funeral for you, but I can’t do your personal spiritual preparations for you. We each have to do that ourselves – between just us and God.
Steve Jobs is quoted in his new biography as saying, “You're born alone, you're going to die alone. And does anything else really matter?” That obviously doesn’t mean no one is physically around at those times. Your parents are around at your birth – at least your mom, and a midwife or doctor and other people to help in the delivery. Likewise at our death, there will probably be people there. Our loved ones, hospice, or medical personnel. What Jobs meant is that existentially no one can go through it with us or for us. We all will die separately and face what comes after death individually. All we can bring with us to that big day is the inner spiritual preparations we have made and spiritual resources that we have developed during our years of life.
5. Fifth, there are no second chances. I know some religions teach reincarnation –that when we die then our soul is reborn in another body, and that this is repeated over and over again. Don’t bet on it. Jesus never taught it. According to scripture, we have one life to live. In Jesus’ story the five foolish bridesmaids do not get a second chance. They are shut out of the wedding, even though they had been anticipating the wedding and celebrating the bridegroom’s arrival for a week. It is a sad ending to the story. Jesus says, “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ This is what it comes down to. Do you know him? Are you ready for your big day?
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