Daily Bread

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’

Jesus, the Sovereign, came to inaugurate his chiefdom which he described as the 'kingdom of heaven', where he was the king. Another way of putting it was that he was inaugurating the 'empire of heaven' where he was the emperor — and by using this language you can see why it pitted him against the earthly empire of Caesar and the Romans. The point was that this kingdom had arrived, and he used another metaphor too, that of a bridegroom — one that was expected but delayed.

Now, I have to confess that, even after reading commentaries on this parable, I still do not understand it fully or have a definitive explanation. Why was the groom delayed? Why wasn't there a bride? Why didn't the bridegroom let the late bridesmaids in? At the end of the story, Jesus exhorts his listeners to 'keep awake' but in the story, all the bridesmaids became drowsy and slept. It wasn't that one set of bridesmaids stayed awake, however, they had taken with them enough oil in their lamps and had no need to head off to find some. Their tanks were full.

Again, my interpretation is that Jesus was speaking about something that was imminent and in the present — after all, the kingdom of heaven had come to earth — and he, as Christ or Messiah, was a long-time coming and was delayed. The last prophet of Israel had written some 400 years previously, and metaphorically, people had fallen asleep. Yet, there were those who had prepared themselves, perhaps recently with John's baptism, but there were also those who were woefully unprepared.

But... maybe it didn't matter that they were unprepared? Perhaps it wasn't about the preparedness? Hear me out.

Perhaps the foolish bridesmaids were the ones who thought they needed to go and get oil when the bridegroom's arrival was imminent. Perhaps they didn't need oil in their lamps because all the bridegroom needed was for them to stay awake and greet him (just be there)? Perhaps this is a metaphor for when we feel we need to be prepared to meet with God, that we need to deal with stuff in our own lives, or 'sort ourselves out' before we come into God's presence? Now that would be foolish! We can never sort our own lives out without God, for our calling is simply to come to God as we are.

Merciful God
I trust not in my own goodness
but in your everlasting
grace and mercy.
My heart is unprepared
and I am not worthy
to approach your throne,
Yet, you welcome me
and embrace me
as your beloved child,
and welcome me
into your kingdom,
for which I give you
all my thanks and praise.
This day and forever.