Late For The Wedding Breakfast
LATE FOR THE WEDDING BREAKFAST
MATTHEW 25:1-13
Do our lives have the vital inward supply of the life of the Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with Christ?
To the Olivet prophecy with its short appended parables Matthew adds three longer parables reinforcing the lessons of vigilance, faithfulness and kindness.
In the first parable the ten maidens appear to be the bride’s attendants (cf. Psalm 45:14) who are to go out to meet the bridegroom when, with his friends, he arrives at her house, and then escort the couple with a torchlight procession to the bridegroom’s home for the marriage feast. If, however, we read “the bridegroom and the bride” at the end of 25:1 (cf. RSV footnote), then the maidens are girls of the neighborhood who plan “to light up the approach to the bridegroom’s house as a welcome, in return for which they would hope to have some share in the rather promiscuous hospitality of an oriental festivity” (F.C. Burkitt). It is best not to allegorize the parable and determine whom the maidens stand for and what the oil represents. For example, if we allegorize the two sets of maidens, we have to reckon with the fact that they all fell asleep. And if we allegorize the oil, we have to reckon with the fact that the foolish maidens had oil to begin with as well as the wise, and that when it gave out they succeeded in buying some more, even though it was past midnight. What matters is that, by the time they bought a fresh supply, they were too late for the procession and when they reached the bridegroom’s home the doorkeeper would not let them in. So they had to go back tired and disappointed, because they were not ready when the bridegroom arrived. The story is a parable, not an allegory; the lesson for the hearers is: Don’t be like those foolish girls; keep awake and be prepared. To the words “you know neither the day nor the hour” (25:13) the “received text” (followed by KJV) adds “when the Son of man comes;” this is no doubt sound exegesis, although it forms no part of the original text. But there are partial comings of the Son of Man before the final parousia (cf. 16:25; 26:64); and the text as it stands bids the reader be ready for any hour of testing that may come upon him unannounced. Be ready to resist the temptation (whatever it may be), to meet the crisis, to grasp the opportunity. Yesterday’s oil will not keep our lamps alight today; past experience will not suffice for present or future need.