“The Parable of the Ten Virgins”
Matthew 25:1-13
Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost—November 9, 2014
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
About one-third of Jesus’ teaching is in the form of parables. A
parable is, “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” The parables of Jesus
are true-to-life earthly stories from the everyday lives of the people he was
talking to. All the details in the Parable of the Ten Virgins fit
perfectly with actual marriage customs of that culture. There is even an
ancient document which actually tells us it was customary to carry TEN lamps in
the bridal procession.
The parables of Jesus are true-to-life earthly stories, but with a
deeper, heavenly meaning. What is the heavenly meaning of the Parable of
the Ten Virgins? If the lamp-oil in the parable symbolizes faith, Jesus is
telling us: You can’t get by on someone else’s faith. I’ve had people tell
me they don’t need to come to church because their fathers or grandfathers were
Lutheran ministers! You may think you can rely on the fact that your
spouse, or your parents or grandparents, are, or were, faithful believers.
But, at the final judgment it will do no good for you that they had faith, just
as the foolish virgins could not borrow oil from the wise. That is the
main point of the Parable of the Ten Virgins: You won’t get to heaven because
someone else believes; you can’t borrow someone else’s faith.
The traditional marriage ceremony says, “Marriage is an honorable
estate, instituted by God, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt
Christ and His Bride, the Church.” In this parable and throughout the New
Testament Christ is pictured as the Bridegroom, and the Bride of Christ is the
Church, you and all true believers in Christ. Revelation says, “Blessed
are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” You are
invited to the great wedding feast in heaven, not just as a guest, but actually
as the Bride of Christ.
At the time Jesus told this parable it was customary for the groom to
pay a “bride price” to the bride’s family. It seems demeaning to us for a
woman to be paid for, but in that culture a female would actually have been very
insulted if her family did not demand a substantial bride price. The
rationale behind the bride price was that in an agricultural society the whole
family works together. Farming is a family business, and a female was just
as important and valuable to the family business as a male. In fact,
females really did most of the work. The bride price was compensation to
the bride’s family for the loss of her labor. Rather than demeaning, in
that culture the bride price was considered a tribute to her and her valuable
contributions to the family, an affirmation of her family’s love and esteem for
her.
St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “You are not your own; you were
bought with a price.” What was the bride price Jesus paid for you?
St. Peter says, “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that
you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ.” The bride
price Jesus paid for you is nothing less than his own life.
After the bride price was paid the betrothal took place. The
betrothal was sort of like an engagement, but it meant much more. At the
betrothal the groom said, “She is my wife and I her husband, from today and
forever.” After that, the couple was legally married. But they did
not live together, or have relations or any contact or communication, for nine
months. The purpose of this nine-month waiting period was to prove that
the marriage was not entered into because of pregnancy. You can think of
betrothal this way: In our society, some people live together before marriage.
But in that culture, even after the bride and groom were married they didn’t
live together for nine more months.
You were betrothed to Jesus in your baptism. St. Paul says in
Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water
through the word.” You are in the betrothal waiting period right now.
Like a betrothed bride, you really and truly belong to Jesus, but you are
waiting for the final consummation.
After nine months the day finally comes when the bride and groom begin
living together as husband and wife. It’s called the “home-bringing,”
because the groom brings his bride home, from her family’s home into his
family’s home. In our society, it’s often the bride who is more involved
setting up the household, but in Middle Eastern culture it was and still is the
groom who must have everything all prepared for his bride. When I worked
as an archaeologist in the Middle East I remember visiting with an anxious young
man in Irbid, Jordan who had a young lady he wanted to marry. He said it
would cost him about $50,000* American dollars to get married, because he had to
have an apartment rented and all set up with furniture, utensils, linens, food
in the cupboards, everything. He proudly showed me pictures of the bedroom
set he had just bought, and he hoped to have an apartment rented and everything
else together in about a year.
In Bible times, extended families usually lived together, so instead of
an apartment a groom prepared part of his parent’s home for his bride.
That’s what Jesus means when he says to you, his betrothed, “In my Father’s
house are many rooms . . . I am going there to prepare a place for you. . . And
since I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be
with me.” Your betrothed has prepared a place for you and he is coming for
the home-bringing, to take you home to his Father’s house.
On the day of the home-bringing, the groom and his friends parade from
his house to the bride’s house, and then the bride and her friends join them and
parade back to the groom’s house. The big wedding feast is at the groom’s
home, but the celebrating begins already at the bride’s home with a supper
before the groom arrives.
When Jesus instituted the Last Supper, he said, “I have eagerly desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not
eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Our
worship and Holy Communion here are like the supper at the bride’s house, the
beginning of the celebration, a foretaste of the great wedding feast which is to
come.
In the parable, the bridegroom is a long time in coming. The
people Jesus was talking to knew exactly the real-life reason for this delay.
It was a regular ritual for there to be last-minute haggling over the bride
price. The bride price had already been agreed upon, but the bride’s
family was expected at the last-minute to demand more. Raising the bride
price at the last minute was considered a great compliment to the bride both by
her family, for asking for more, and the groom, for being willing to give more.
That was the real-life reason for the groom’s delay. St. Peter
tells us the heavenly meaning of our Bridegroom’s delay: “In the last days
scoffers . . . will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised?’ . . . The
Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.” That is why our Bridegroom is delaying his coming, because he
wants no one to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
The bridegroom comes to the bride’s house with a procession of his
friends, like the best man and groomsmen in our weddings. Jesus says,
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will
sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” The friends who will accompany our
Bridegroom when he comes for our home-bringing are the angels. “When the
Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him.”
There is nothing more beautiful than a bride on her wedding day.
Revelation describes the Bride of Christ: “One of the angels said to me, “Come,
I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” . . I saw the Holy City,
the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband. . . the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was
given her to wear.” The traditional white wedding gown symbolizes purity;
the white dress of the Bride of Christ symbolizes the righteousness of Christ,
with which we are spiritually clothed through faith in him.
The bride was also adorned with jewels, as Isaiah says, “I delight
greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with
garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness . . . as a bride
adorns herself with her jewels.” That is why Revelation describes the new
Jerusalem as a jeweled city.
The groom takes the bride to his home for a great wedding feast.
“Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”
What will heaven be like? Heaven will be a joyous celebration, like a
happy wedding feast that never ends.
The groom’s friends sing songs of his bravery, like the song in our
liturgy, “This is the Feast,” which is also taken from the book of Revelation.
And, finally, the most important part of the home-bringing is the
groom’s father pronouncing his blessing, as Jesus says, “Come, you who are
blessed by my Father.”
“Marriage is an honorable estate, instituted by God, signifying unto us
the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Bride, the Church.”
Amen.
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