A Community of Bridesmaids
Matthew 25:1-13

The 1950s in our country reflected unprecedented prosperity at a time of unprecedented anxiety. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated; the fear of “the bomb” and nuclear war also grew.  Ordinary people longed for idyllic lives like those portrayed in Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best.  But an undercurrent of fear and anxiety was always present.

Civil defense leaders confidently boasted that bomb shelters for 50 million people would be built.  Some citizens believed these promises but others didn’t plan to wait for the government to take action.  They built their own bomb shelters which ranged in cost from about $100 to over $5,000 for a shelter with the luxuries of a telephone and a toilet.

During those years, my father did many different things to support our family.  One of those was building bomb shelters for people who were planning ahead for what they thought was the inevitable nuclear attack that would come from Russia.  As these people covertly stockpiled General Foods and General Mills dry-packaged meals to use as underground rations, my father built a lot of bomb shelters in the $100 range. 

An interesting phenomenon occurred when these personal bomb shelters were being planned and built. Those families who planned ahead were afraid that after the nuclear attack, those who hadn’t planned ahead would invade the shelters of those who had.  Thus, they demanded that my father and other carpenters do a lot of things such as work only in the dead of night or tell curious neighbors that they were building a fruit cellar or a wine cellar or a “rumpus” room for the children!

My father didn’t build a bomb shelter for us.  I don’t know why.  Maybe he was too busy building bomb shelters for other people.  Maybe he didn’t really think a bomb would fall anywhere close to us.  After all, we lived way out in the country.  Maybe he thought we would just go to the cellar and wait it out.  We had lots of canned peaches, green beans and tomatoes and a great big crock of sauerkraut down there.  Or maybe he just left it in God’s hands, thinking, “When our time comes, it comes.  God will welcome us home.”  Although he didn’t build a bomb shelter for us, I know with all my heart that he did his best to prepare us spiritually for whatever life would bring.

Well, we all know that at least so far, the bomb hasn’t fallen even though 9/11 brought that reality painfully close to home.  All those bomb shelters that my father built eventually did become rumpus rooms, or tornado shelters or fruit cellars or storage bins. I wonder what would have happened if the bomb had fallen.  Would the prepared citizens like the wise bridesmaids have turned away those foolish ones?

Today’s gospel, the story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, is a story about vigilance and values, about consequences and most importantly about being ready when Christ calls us.  It is a story about preparing and being fully awake each day of our lives.

Let’s look at this parable again.  It starts out as a joyous hopeful story.  There were ten bridesmaids. It must have been an important wedding with so many attendants!  But then in the very next sentence we learn that only five of the bridesmaids were wise.  The other five were foolish because they didn’t come properly prepared for their role in the celebration. They sound like us.  Sometimes we are prepared.  Sometimes we aren’t.  It was the custom in those days for the groom to go to the bride’s home first and after some celebrating there, the procession accompanied the bride and groom to the groom’s house where the ceremony took place. 

We can imagine the delay that kept the groom away from his own home until midnight.  He was probably enjoying the festivities at the bride’s home and just lost track of time.  Meanwhile as the bride and groom were having a great time at her house, the bridesmaids were waiting at the groom’s house.  It had been a busy day; some of the young ladies remembered to fill their lamps and to be sure they had extra flasks of oil, just in case.

Others, perhaps distracted by the excitement of they day neglected to be sure they had extra flasks of oil, just in case. By late in the evening, they were all exhausted and all of them fell asleep.  It wasn’t just the foolish bridesmaids who fell asleep.  All ten of them did.  Like us, those ladies who were sometimes wise were also sometimes foolish.  Like us, I imagine those foolish bridesmaids probably had their moments of wisdom too!

We know that the bridegroom finally showed up at midnight.  We don’t know whether the bride did or not.  What we do know is that the wise bridesmaids didn’t rescue the foolish ones by sharing their oil.  Although that is sad, it is not really surprising.  Those who built the bomb shelters weren’t prepared to rescue those who didn’t plan ahead.

Perhaps the shocking part is that the bridegroom on his wedding day didn’t say, “Oh, it’s alright.  Come on in and share the feast with us.”  Instead the reply to their begging was:  “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”  And then Jesus says to us, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

I think it is important for us to remember this is a parable and not a literal story that Jesus is telling us.  Each character or characters and each prop stand for something else. Over the ages, different people have assigned different meanings to the characters and props.

Here’s how I interpret these people and things today:

All ten of the bridesmaids are us, the church. Each of us is a complex mixture of wise and foolish behaviors. Sometimes we fall short of being the wise and spiritually prepared person we long to be.  Sometimes we sleep when we should be alert and awake. Sometimes we focus on the past or worry excessively about the future as we thoughtlessly, unthinkingly discard the wonderful gift of the present.

The bridegroom is the Messiah, the risen Christ.  His late arrival at the wedding banquet is the second coming — the time of accounting, the time we are waiting for but not always preparing for.

The oil in the lamps is the spiritual fuel that allows our lamps to shine. The oil is a symbol of our faith that allows us to go into the world to do God’s work in preparation for the return of our Lord. We can’t beg or borrow that oil from anyone else. We can’t wait until the bridegroom comes to fill our lamps. None of us know the day nor the hour when that will happen.

We are quickly moving toward the end of the church year. The first Sunday in Advent will occur on November 30.  Although the secular world will speed up in preparation for Christmas, we are invited to slow down. We are invited to look at the everyday choices we make.  Are they draining our spiritual oil or refilling our lamps?  Are we too busy with “stuff” to prepare to meet our Lord whenever he comes?  The message of the parable of the ten bridesmaids is that whenever Christ calls, we must be ready. Although we sometimes sleep because humans do that, if the pattern of our lives has been to make choices that prepare us spiritually, we will awaken and be ready.

I would like to close with some of the words from the wonderful Advent hymn, “Sleepers Wake!”

“Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us,
The shout of rampart guards surrounds us:
Awake Jerusalem arise!
Midnight’s peace their cry has broken, their urgent summons clearly spoken:
The time has come, O maidens wise!
Rise up, and give us light;
The Bridegroom is in sight.
Alleluia!
Your lamps prepare and hasten there,
That you the wedding feast may share.

May we be prepared to waken, to light our lamps and attend the wedding feast!

Amen.

The Rev. Betsy Porter
St. James’ Episcopal Church
November 9, 2008

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