ready, set, wait (Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25:1-13


"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
(Matthew 25:1-13)

Jesus now shares three parables to conclude his discourse on the last days. He has just said in 24:50 that "the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This first parable follows that thought, "Then" or "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom..." (25:1). Five of them are unprepared, thoughtless, and dishonor the wedding party. These girls (virgins, perhaps not even teenagers yet, or very young teenagers) were to light the way to the bride's home, in celebration, for the bridegroom to ceremonially come to get his bride. The virgins were sharing in the joy of the bride and anticipating their own weddings. It was not uncommon however, once the torchbearers were ready for the ceremony, for the groom to be delayed. That's his prerogative on his special day, the procession members were not there for themselves - it wasn't their celebration - they were there for the bride and groom.

Their unwillingness to wait and watch in readiness was evidenced by not bringing flasks of oil for their lamps, thus in effect saying they'll participate if the bridegroom comes on their timetable and is not delayed. And such would be a huge insult to the bride and to the groom - and indeed they would not be welcome to share in the families' joy.

Jesus is saying in a number of ways that we are to live in readiness and expectation, and that we can expect that his coming to make all things right may be delayed. I think he's also inferring that to insist on our schedule, our plan, our way of conducting our lives, is to be a "wicked servant" (24:48) and foolish members of the wedding party.

How often do we think God ought to do something in a certain way at a certain time? And when that does not happen as we expected, or planned for, or prayed for, we are disappointed, or angry, and even rebellious in our attitude? This can be something as little as how we relate to those closest to us ("because you did that, I'll respond this way!"), to hurts or griefs ("this justifies getting drunk..."), to major decisions in our life ("I really believed I was supposed to get that job, or get into that school, I'm not going serve the Lord so seriously for a while...").

Perhaps by extension we could also say that to live in such a way insults not only the Lord but also his church. For this is the great event we look for and long for:

"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure" -

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:6-9)

Once again, a core issue before us is relationship and heart attitude. A right relationship, love with all one's heart, is all about the attitude, intention and desires of the heart. And this heart attitude manifests itself in outward actions (righteous deeds). I think this is what Jesus is getting at, metaphorically giving us graphic pictures that impact us and reveal his heart for his people - not to scare them with "do this or else!" but to describe faithfully living through times of waiting and suffering and wondering, and especially the Time of trial and testing and tribulation.