“Foolish One”

Matthew 25:1-13
Then 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.

Today’s parable is a very, very strange one. It’s probably Jesus’ least popular parable because everything about it makes us uncomfortable. I’ll give you a bit of a spoiler and tell you that I am not going to explain this parable and tell you what it “really” means. Instead, we’ll wonder together about what Jesus is saying to us through this strange parable. I invite you to open your pew bibles to page ___ to follow along as we wonder what Jesus might be saying to us through it. Today’s sermon is less of an explanation and more of an investigation together. 

Let me start by saying that parables aren’t an accident. Jesus didn’t speak in parables because he was really trying to say something else. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus is direct in his teaching or he puts himself in the story, like “I am the Bread of Life.” But he also chooses to teach with parables, especially to the crowds. He chooses them on purpose and so we’d best not try to turn them into something they’re not. So before we can ask the big question, “what is the point of this parable?” we have to ask, “what are parables supposed to do?” This question can easily get overlooked because some parables seem to be so obviously and simply allegories. We’ve heard the Gospel stories so many times that in our minds, we combine the Parable of the Lost Sheep from Matthew and Luke with Jesus saying “I am the Good Shepherd” in John and so we think, “clearly those are just allegories. Jesus is the shepherd, a sinner who gets lost is the sheep, and the rest of us faithful Christians are the rest of the flock.” Easy peasy. It seems simple and easy and makes us all feel good. But we can’t approach this parable that way, can we? Because if we try to make it a simple allegory, we end up with a depiction of Christ and of Heaven that is far, far from the truth we see elsewhere in scripture.

If this passage is an allegory, then we have a depiction of Christ who fails not only to be punctual but fails to be compassionate. We see “wisdom” described as hoarding from those who are in need. A scarcity mindset is rewarded while those in need are trapped on the outside, never to be recognized or known by Jesus the “bridegroom”. And that? That’s not the gospel. You don’t need to be a pastor to know that interpretation doesn’t hold up to the rest of scripture. So then if it’s not an allegory, then what is it? And if this one isn’t an allegory, then what does that say about the rest of Jesus’ parables?

Parables are meant to confuse and disorient those who hear them. Parables are meant to draw us in and require our interpretation and attention. Sometimes, the meaning is clear and sometimes we have to wrestle with it, just as Jacob wrestled with God until he received a blessing. He wrestled until he knew that a blessing would come and so we too wrestle with these parables until we can find the blessing even in these confusing passages. In Godly Play, a phenomenal children’s ministry curriculum, we tell children that parables come to us in a gold box. Gold, because parables are valuable; it looks like a present, because parables were given to you before you were born; it looks old, because parables are old; and it is with a lid, because sometimes parables seem closed to us, even if we are ready to enter them.So we keep coming back to them, and one day they will open.

And so, let’s open this box together and see what kind of blessing we might be able to wrestle out of it. First, let’s look at what is around this parable. This is from the book of Matthew, and it is near the end of Jesus’ teaching during Holy Week. There is a sense of foreboding that overshadows these last few chapters and we, along with Jesus, know that his death is coming. After this parable are two more apocalyptic parables about what the Kingdom of God will be like. Next, Jesus will tell the parable of the talents, which I preached about earlier this fall and after that, the Sheep and the Goats discourse, where Jesus describes himself separating the faithful from the unfaithful. After Jesus finishes all these teachings, the chief priests and elders decide to kill him. These parables are all apocalyptic. Unlike his other parables, Jesus isn’t just talking about what the Kingdom of God is like. Here, he says, “the kingdom of heaven will be like…” This parable is about the future. 

Next, let’s look at the story itself and the characters we have in it. There are 10 bridesmaids and a bridegroom, although those names are a bit archaic and hard to relate to. The Greek word for the women is “virgin” but that is a reference to their role as bridal attendants, not a description of sexual histories. Of the 10, 5 are described as wise for bringing extra oil and 5 and are called foolish, for they only brought their lamps. 

 So how can we wrestle the truth out of this parable? We have to bring all of what we know about God to our interpretation because otherwise we end up in a strange place. We have to ask, why are the 5 bridesmaids called foolish? Is it foolish because they fell asleep? It can’t be that, because they all fell asleep! Just a chapter later all of Jesus’ disciples will fall asleep when Jesus asks them to stay awake and pray with him in the garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus does not reject them. So is it that they are foolish just because they didn’t bring extra oil? Again, I don’t think so. I read a commentary from theologian and preacher Nadia Bolz Weber this week and it got me thinking that what made them foolish is the fact that they listened to the other bridesmaids tell them what to do and they were certainly foolish for doing it.

They were foolish because they listened when voices other than God’s tried to tell them who they were. They listened to those whispering voices telling them that they can only approach the groom if they have already met all their own needs first. And then I thought of the verse from Revelation 22–  “In the city of God, they will not need the light of a lamp, for the Lord God will give them light.”

I mean, think about it. If at midnight the guy who was on watch said “hey, wake up, the groom is coming!” The groom must have had a lamp or torch of some kind, right?  How else could the groom have been seen from that far away at midnight? The foolish bridesmaids weren’t foolish because they didn’t bring back up oil, they were foolish because instead of trusting that the light of Christ was enough to shine the way, they wasted all that time and energy and money trying to get their own because someone shamed them into thinking they could never approach the Lord with their lack. Rather than just trusting that the light of those around them and the light of the groom was enough they assumed they had to provide their own– and then they were so consumed by the shame of not being enough, they busied themselves trying to fix it – so much so that they missed the wedding banquet. They missed everything.

The bridegroom said “I don’t know you” because they hadn’t come to him in their need and lack and want. They were ashamed and they let the voice of those who seemed better than them lead them to make a foolish choice.

But we come to know Jesus not by our independence from him, but because of our need for him, for which we should never be ashamed. It’s okay to be needy. It’s okay not to always have your act together, to sometimes forget what makes your lamp burn bright. 

I think we can wrestle a blessing out of this strange parable if we are willing to admit that sometimes, we are the foolish ones. We aren’t foolish for being human beings with brains that are sometimes too full and too busy to remember everything perfectly. We aren’t foolish for being human beings who need sleep, even when we’re told to stay awake. We’re the foolish one when we believe that our mistakes define who we are. We are foolish if we believe that we need to atone for our own sins and make everything right on our own. Because the truth is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is of grace, not works. You cannot earn your way into Heaven so you might as well stop trying. You forgot oil for your lamp and now you’re embarrassed you have no light to shine? We’ve all been there at some point or another. May you trust that when you make mistakes, when you feel like you just want to run and hide and try to fix all your mistakes before being worthy of being loved, remember that Christ did not come to save perfect people. Christ came to save sinners and that includes all of us. 

Friends, do not be the foolish ones. As Christians, we are called to “stay awake” and that can mean many things– staying engaged in the world around us, staying vigilant waiting for Christ’s return, keeping our eyes open when it would be easier to just check out. I hope that we can stay awake even when it’s hard but when we don’t, because it’s not if– it’s when– I hope that we can have grace for ourselves. I hope we learn to stop running to make it alright and know that the God of grace has open doors for those who want to walk through them. No perfect people allowed, just ones who are brave enough to stay present.