Matthew 25:1-13

I will begin my meditation this morning with a quoting from John Wesley. A person asked John Wesley what he would do if he knew his Lord would return at that time the next day. He said, “I would go to bed and go to sleep; wake up in the morning, and go on with my work, for I would want Him to find me doing what he had appointed.”

The parables found in Matthew 25 are the result of a question the disciples asked Jesus after he told them about the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:3. The question was: “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Part of Jesus’ answer was the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. The purpose of this parable was to make the disciples aware of the need to be ready at any time because no one knows His coming day and time.  

In the Gospel, this morning, Jesus uses a very well-known event in the Jewish culture, a wedding. It was a custom in those days that after the engagement the Bridegroom would build the house where the new couple would live after the marriage was consumed. This might take some time, depending on how big or how little the house would be. While waiting the Bride had to learn how to be a wife, a mom, and how to take care of her house, and while waiting, she always had to be ready. However, she did not wait alone; she had some bridesmaids. In a Jewish wedding, the Bridesmaids were unmarried girls, friends of the Bride who helped her in her marriage’ planning and preparations, and they were the ones who provided light for the Groom when he came. His coming usually happened at night.

Jesus took this well-known event to teach His disciples to wait for His coming as the bridesmaids wait for the groom: ready. Ready at any time and with extra oil for their lamps.

In the parable, we have ten bridesmaids, five foolish and five wise, and the reason why some are foolish and others wise was how well prepared they were with the oil, whether they were carrying extra oil for their lamps or not. I do not think Jesus just made up this story. Like all the parables, they were taken from real life events, and I believe that what Jesus described was something that often happened to the bridesmaids in those times, some were caught up unprepared and were called foolish, and others were caught up with extra oil and were called wise.  

 “The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.” The Gospel says.

Oil was essential for those events; oil as wine kept the celebration going. Oil was fuel to turn darkness into light, and this light would lead the Groom to the Bride and vice versa. Remember, one of the bridesmaid duties was to provide light for the Groom, they provided light for others to see the groom. Therefore, oil was essential. Without oil, the bridesmaid would not be able to do their job, their duty.

The parable message is clear: he was preparing the disciples for His death and His coming. No one knows the time. Therefore, wait and be ready, “keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.” Jesus said.

A few weeks ago, when I was preparing November’s sermons, I was thinking of inviting you to be ready for Jesus’ second coming. I even titled the meditation “Commitment, waiting and consummation.” I was planning to talk about Jesus’ commitment to come back for us, His people and what we should be doing while we are waiting, and the consummation of his coming in our time or later. However, two days ago, God led me to change it, and today I would like to compare the bridesmaid’s waiting for the groom with our waiting to know (who will be our political leader.) what will happen with the political future in our nation.

Like in the parable, we are divided; the bridesmaids were divided between foolish and wise; we are also divided between reds and blues. Like in the parable, they called names to each other, “You are fools, and we are wise;” and we are also calling names to each other, ugly names I would say. And again, the difference, I believe, is the oil. Some of us have oil in our lamps to lead others to the bridegroom, and some of us do not have oil and are surrounded by darkness and leading others to violence.

Jesus ended the parable saying, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” He meant to say, be ready and fill yourself with my oil. Oil in the Bible is a symbol of God’s presence and authority. Kings were anointed by priests to remind them of who they represented. Oil was used as a medicine, Mark 6:13, “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”  

           Oil is also a blessing from God, Deuteronomy 11:14, “then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil.” I was thinking, if oil is medicine, if oil is blessings, and also a symbol of God’s presence and authority, and if we are lamps whose light derives from that oil, our light sisters and brothers, must reflect God’s presence in this nation, we the church of Jesus must be medicine for those who are hurt in our society because of the political climate we have. We must bring healing and blessing to others, no pain.

Let us not forget that even when we are divided, the parable reminds us that we are bridesmaids of the same wedding, waiting for the same groom; let us remember that we are the ones who must lead the bride to the groom and vice versa.

It is time to remember who we are; it is time to remember our mission. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus reminds us who we are, and our mission, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Sisters and brothers, this time demands of all of us who confess Jesus as our Lord, blues, and reds to put our light on the highest stand we can find and give light to everyone in the house. This moment demands from us who have Jesus in our hearts to stand firm and glorify our Father in heaven and no ideologies or parties.

This moment in history demands of all of us followers of Jesus to practice what we preach. Whenever we have a patriotic event, we recite The Pledge of Allegiance, we say that we are One Nation Under God Indivisible. If you believe you are under God, if you believe this nation is indivisible, submit yourself to Him and do not participate with those who want to divide us.

Jesus called us to be light for this world, our mission is to bring this light to others and lead the way to Him.

John Wesley said he wanted Jesus to find him doing what he had appointed. Let me ask you this: What would you do if you knew Jesus would come tomorrow and find our country divided as we are?  If that happens, if he returns tomorrow, I hope he will find us shining brighter than ever; I hope that he will find us healing those who are hurt; I hope he will find us representing him the best we can.  

Fill yourselves with oil, shine and bring light to others in this house we call our country. Amen.