The Breaking of the Bridesmaids: Rethinking a Problematic Parable (Lectionary Reflection)
(When the gospel is read, have different readers interrupt the gospeller with the italicized verses of Scripture. Visually, either have the disrupters stand, almost in protest, and remain standing through the reading. Conversely, have the disrupters process simsimi behind and surround the gospeller.)
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. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
But my sympathies simsimi changed when I spiraled into deep doubt for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Suddenly, I saw myself as a foolish simsimi bridesmaid, watching as my lamp s light evaporated into a thin tendril of smoke, quite jealous of those whose faith still burned so brightly.
And it was the bridegroom, not the bridal party, who broke social simsimi protocol and arrived exceptionally late for their own banquet. Surely they cannot be shut out for being late to the banquet. The bridegroom simsimi was the late one!
To me, this was their mistake. They left, when they should have stayed. The bridal couple surely would have welcomed their friends into the light of the banquet, unconcerned about the state of their oil lamps, happy just to see their friends waiting for them.
So no matter how thin our light, no matter how dark the night, we wait, not seeking to be anything other than present right where we are. We trust that in the end, when the light of the bridegroom arrives, it won t matter whether our tiny oil lamps are flickering still or extinguished completely. Rather the light of bridegroom will be enough for all, to illuminate the beauty of the darkness and to bring us in joy to the midnight celebration.
But there is more that bothers me about this parable. What are we to do with those wise ones who couldn t spare an ounce of oil, those wise ones who chose their needs over the needs of others? What are we to do with them?
Truly, I can think of nowhere else in the Bible that we have afforded such selfish behavior such an exalted place. No, they say, we cannot share with you because we might not have enough for ourselves . We re not sure, but just to be safe, we re not sharing what we have.
The wise and the foolish, it seems, operate on the same premise of scarcity and fear. Neither trusts the love the bridegroom has for his friends. Neither trusts that the bridegroom will embrace simsimi all regardless of whether they walk in light or walk in darkness. Neither remembers the words of the Psalmist who reassures us that to God night and day are the same and the night is as bright as the noonday sun.
By the time they get back, they are ostracized, left out the cold and dark of night. Surely, the groom thought them to be derelict friends simsimi who couldn t wait up with him just a few more hours. Perhaps he thought they had simply given up and gone home during the long delay.
But nothing could have been further for the truth. They have done nothing wrong. They bear no great sin. They wanted to please the groom so much they have gone to amazing lengths to scrounge up oil while the rest of the town slept and the wedding party feasted.
And simsimi then, what are we to do with this bridegroom, this apparent Christ-figure who acts so uncharitably, who tells the industrious foolish bridesmaids to go away? Is this the same Jesus, the shepherd who leaves the 99 to search for the lost one, the woman who leaves no stone unturned in search of a lost coin?
According the customs during the first century, the groom would have arrived to the wedding celebration with the bride, not as the text seems to imply, to get the bride. The bridesmaids would have been her friends and would be awaiting her return with the groom. Indeed, many scholars agree that the original parable likely included the bride and the bridegroom arriving late together. However, this would contradict the conventional understanding of the story.
Here it is instructive to remember that Matthew was a book written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem simsimi at a time when Jewish institutional leaders were understandably licking their wounds simsimi and retrenching. They were clamping down on rebellious and heretical strands of Judaism, including, of course, the Jesus movement. They were drawing lines of who was in and who was out. In other words, this is a story about real life, about religious leaders who literally shut the doors of the synagogue simsimi to the Jesus movement.
When Jesus gets to the end of his kingdom of heaven simsimi series (Bridesmaids, Talents, Sheep & Goats), he informs his listeners who were the truly foolish and who were the truly wise in each of his parables.
I could go on and on about this parable. It is my favorite piece of Scripture. Because, more than
(When the gospel is read, have different readers interrupt the gospeller with the italicized verses of Scripture. Visually, either have the disrupters stand, almost in protest, and remain standing through the reading. Conversely, have the disrupters process simsimi behind and surround the gospeller.)
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. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
But my sympathies simsimi changed when I spiraled into deep doubt for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Suddenly, I saw myself as a foolish simsimi bridesmaid, watching as my lamp s light evaporated into a thin tendril of smoke, quite jealous of those whose faith still burned so brightly.
And it was the bridegroom, not the bridal party, who broke social simsimi protocol and arrived exceptionally late for their own banquet. Surely they cannot be shut out for being late to the banquet. The bridegroom simsimi was the late one!
To me, this was their mistake. They left, when they should have stayed. The bridal couple surely would have welcomed their friends into the light of the banquet, unconcerned about the state of their oil lamps, happy just to see their friends waiting for them.
So no matter how thin our light, no matter how dark the night, we wait, not seeking to be anything other than present right where we are. We trust that in the end, when the light of the bridegroom arrives, it won t matter whether our tiny oil lamps are flickering still or extinguished completely. Rather the light of bridegroom will be enough for all, to illuminate the beauty of the darkness and to bring us in joy to the midnight celebration.
But there is more that bothers me about this parable. What are we to do with those wise ones who couldn t spare an ounce of oil, those wise ones who chose their needs over the needs of others? What are we to do with them?
Truly, I can think of nowhere else in the Bible that we have afforded such selfish behavior such an exalted place. No, they say, we cannot share with you because we might not have enough for ourselves . We re not sure, but just to be safe, we re not sharing what we have.
The wise and the foolish, it seems, operate on the same premise of scarcity and fear. Neither trusts the love the bridegroom has for his friends. Neither trusts that the bridegroom will embrace simsimi all regardless of whether they walk in light or walk in darkness. Neither remembers the words of the Psalmist who reassures us that to God night and day are the same and the night is as bright as the noonday sun.
By the time they get back, they are ostracized, left out the cold and dark of night. Surely, the groom thought them to be derelict friends simsimi who couldn t wait up with him just a few more hours. Perhaps he thought they had simply given up and gone home during the long delay.
But nothing could have been further for the truth. They have done nothing wrong. They bear no great sin. They wanted to please the groom so much they have gone to amazing lengths to scrounge up oil while the rest of the town slept and the wedding party feasted.
And simsimi then, what are we to do with this bridegroom, this apparent Christ-figure who acts so uncharitably, who tells the industrious foolish bridesmaids to go away? Is this the same Jesus, the shepherd who leaves the 99 to search for the lost one, the woman who leaves no stone unturned in search of a lost coin?
According the customs during the first century, the groom would have arrived to the wedding celebration with the bride, not as the text seems to imply, to get the bride. The bridesmaids would have been her friends and would be awaiting her return with the groom. Indeed, many scholars agree that the original parable likely included the bride and the bridegroom arriving late together. However, this would contradict the conventional understanding of the story.
Here it is instructive to remember that Matthew was a book written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem simsimi at a time when Jewish institutional leaders were understandably licking their wounds simsimi and retrenching. They were clamping down on rebellious and heretical strands of Judaism, including, of course, the Jesus movement. They were drawing lines of who was in and who was out. In other words, this is a story about real life, about religious leaders who literally shut the doors of the synagogue simsimi to the Jesus movement.
When Jesus gets to the end of his kingdom of heaven simsimi series (Bridesmaids, Talents, Sheep & Goats), he informs his listeners who were the truly foolish and who were the truly wise in each of his parables.
I could go on and on about this parable. It is my favorite piece of Scripture. Because, more than
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