“Wedding Wakefulness”
“Wedding Wakefulness”
Matthew 25.1-13
Matthew 25.1-13
In the name of the Living God and his risen Christ. Amen.
When I first felt led to be a pastor, over three decades ago now, there was one aspect of the ministry which I never expected to play such a large part: performing weddings! I’ve done probably hundreds of weddings over the years, largely due to the fact that I served on a college campus. I have already performed three beautiful weddings in connection with First Saint Paul’s.
It really is a joy. I get to work closely with the couple in preparation for marriage and try to really get to know them personally. The day itself is a celebration of love, faith, and family. There’s parties and great food, wonderful music, tender moments. As a special bonus, I get my picture professionally taken next to some really beautiful people! An unexpected benefit: you can actually trace the evolving styles of eyeglasses over the decades just by googling pictures of me with newlyweds!
I could tell you lots of stories about weddings: all the good and not-so-good. Jesus tells a story about a wedding gone wrong in today’s gospel lesson. Much has changed over the millennia for weddings, but this has remained the same: the big day will come, whether you’re ready or not.
The preparation for an ancient Jewish wedding feast looked different than ours today. In the first place, these huge communal events would begin at all hours and sometimes last for days. The parable Jesus tells has the bridesmaids waiting at night for the groom to show.
Secondly, you don’t have an apple watch, cell phone, or even a clock to make a Saturday afternoon, 3pm sharp wedding possible. Nor can you simply send a text to let people know things are running a bit late. When the groom gets himself together, he’ll show up, and then it’s time to roll. None of this was exactly timed and orchestrated by a rather uptight wedding coordinator with a detailed spreadsheet.
There is one aspect of these ancient celebrations which I would love to have seen: the procession. It didn’t happen down the center aisle of a church, nor did it feature the bride, but rather seems to have begun outside the groom’s house, as far as we know. Although we can’t say for sure, the picture seems to be this: the groom arrives just outside, with the bride in the banquet hall. The bridesmaids—probably people close to the bride—join the groom in a large, joyous procession with music and dancing and lights. These oil lamps may have been affixed to large poles held up for all to see. (Maybe we could try this at First Saint Paul’s… see what the fire marshal says… what could possibly go wrong?) This joyful procession then made its way into the festival hall, where the bride awaits.
What we can say for certain is that the job of the bridesmaids was to be ready. Five of them are, five aren’t. In fact, to speak very plainly, five are stupid…senseless. It is late, and everyone has fallen asleep—that’s probably not good, but perhaps to be expected at midnight. But no oil?! This is really negligent. The single most important thing for you to do in this procession is to carry a lighted lamp…you need oil for that. It’s like the best man showing up without the ring. (Dude, you had one job!)
The shout comes out: “Here he comes! Wake up! Run out to meet him and form the procession.” The bridesmaids arise sleepy eyed, start to get their lamps ready, and whoops:
“Uh… you got any oil?”
“You didn’t bring any oil? Really? What were you thinking? You can’t have any of mine, I need it.”
So five bridesmaids scurry about trying to find oil, meanwhile the groom arrives. They form the procession without the fools, in they march, and the door shuts for the reception.
The five slacker bridesmaids show up too little too late. And what’s more, what they have done is so negligent that the bride and groom are right to feel slighted. These five were given such a high honor but cared so little as to make the most basic preparation. Perhaps like a bridesmaid today showing up at her sister’s wedding in jeans and a t-shirt: it’s not just senseless, it’s insulting.
Dozens of commentators have tried to figure out hidden meanings behind the details of the story: what does it mean that there are ten? Why are they evenly split? What did the lamps look like? What does the oil represent? Was there something like a 24-hour Walgreens open where they could have bought oil that late at night? The details are not important. The point of the story is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus, is coming soon; we are to be ready.
Jesus tells us to be prepared, stay awake. I’m going to offer three simple ways that we can be wise, rather than foolish. 1) Awake in awareness, 2) Awake in work, 3) Awake in faith in the savior.
1) Stay awake in awareness. This means in the first place, to acknowledge the fact that it is, indeed midnight. In a sense, the church always lives in a state of midnight, wakefulness, anticipation. It is far too easy to be lulled to sleep by the distractions of the world: what I own, what I can consume or possess, my accomplishments in this life. That might be okay if it were six in the morning, but it’s midnight, folks. To borrow a phrase from the parable, “Wake Up!” Christ would have us awake in the awareness that this world will not last. It is terminal. It has a sell-by date. Christ is indeed returning soon.
2) Stay awake in work. Jesus by these words would have us be filled with the oil of urgency in God’s work. Are we to be found like the foolish five, scurrying about to find oil after he arrives? No! It’s midnight. The Lord is returning soon. The time for doing holy work is now, not later; today, not tomorrow. We are warned by these words to seek first his kingdom and His righteousness; to be engaged in the mission of the gospel; to give of ourselves for God’s purposes; to keep forefront in our minds heavenly things and matters of eternal significance. We are not to be dragged down by mundane matters which can so easily distract.
3) Stay awake in faith. There is also a great comforting message in this parable (although it might be hard to spot). Despite the fear that the words of Jesus my stir in us, and the way in which they exhort us to action, the return of Christ for those who are in Christ is good news. We who have been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. What Christ has done on the cross to forgive our sins, Christ’s work of turning away the wrath of God, and Christ’s righteous life lived on our behalf, this is gifted to us, through faith. Those who believe and are baptized shall be saved.
This means that when we finally stand before that final last accounting, God will not count our works, but only Christ’s. And he, like the bridegroom, will joyously welcome us into the wedding feast. To stay awake is above anything, to trust in God’s abundant mercy given in the person and work of Christ Jesus. To trust in his unchanging grace, to rest assured that even the consummation of the age is in his hands, to continually abide in his word and sacraments—this is most importantly what it means to have oil in your lamps.
Stay awake in awareness, awake in work, awake in faith. And then pray without fear, “Come soon Lord Jesus.”