Tuesday 15^th January

Matthew 25:1-13

This wonderful passage in Matthew 25 stands as the authoritative Word of God, highlighting that no-one (not even the Mayans) know when Jesus will come back to take His bride to be with Him for eternity. What we do know is that He is coming and we have to be ready. Join with me as we study this glorious parable.

Jesus starts this parable with the common imagery of a Jewish wedding. His audience (the disciples) were more than familiar with the ‘wedding scenario’ and almost knew what to expect from this story. However Jesus used this picture of a wedding to highlight an important principle, of how He viewed His relationship with the ‘church’. So Jesus begins to describe the wedding procession that the 10 virgins were waiting for. Traditionally in the Jewish wedding feast, the bride would wait for the groom in her house. The groom would go to the bride’s house, where he would ask permission to marry his fiancé and pay a dowry for her. Then the wedding party would start a procession to the groom’s house where a large feast would take place and depending on the wealth of the groom, could take up to a week to end.

The procession usually took place at midnight hence the lamps/torches in this story. They would commonly be an oil-based lamp attached to a pole and held up. So back to the story. We have 10 virgins who are awaiting this procession back from the bride’s house. Now its important to note that at this point Jesus doesn’t differentiate between them, at this point they all looked the same. The difference comes only in verse 2 when it’s stated that 5 were wise (bringing extra oil) and the other 5 foolish (not bringing extra oil).

The groom is delayed and the tired virgins fall asleep. They are awoken by a loud shout announcing the arrival of the groom. Notice that the groom in verse 6 comes unexpectedly. The virgins were supposed to be ready and waiting but instead they all got caught in their slumber and almost missed the procession. Yet the emphasis of this parable is not the suddenness of the groom’s arrival but the unprepared 5 foolish virgins who missed out on the procession due the fact that they were away purchasing more oil. They had forgot or missed the obvious element in preparing for a midnight procession. They had the torch, they had the attire but they forgot the oil for their lamp. They were simply unprepared for the grooms return from the bride’s house.

The turning point in this story that defined the identity of the virgins was in the preparations they had put into the wedding feast. On face value they were all the same. They all fell asleep waiting for the groom. The defining moment was when the situation revealed their foolishness in not bringing extra oil. The sadness of the situation is that they missed out on the wedding banquet. Yet the truth of this parable is in verse 12. Their foolishness not only meant they missed on the banquet but were disgraced when the groom turned and said he did not know them.

The concluding statement in verse 13 summarises the point of this parable. Be ready,  for no-one knows when the groom (Jesus) will return to take His bride (the Church). The challenge is not in the waiting but in the preparation of His return. All the virgins fell asleep whilst waiting yet only 5 were commended for being prepared for the return of the groom. So it is with us. We know Jesus will return, yet instead of waiting idly, our focus and efforts should be made to be ready and prepared for His return. Is your heart ready to receive the coming King and join in with the procession of the saints to our Heavenly home or will you be rejected and not recognised on the momentous day?