2026 11 08 Pentecost 24 Proper 27
Joshua
24.1-3a, 14-25 Psalm 78.1-7 1 Thessalonians 4.9-18 Matthew 25.1-13
Our readings tell of
a wedding banquet and the bridesmaids, five of whom were foolish because they
didn’t bring extra oil and five of whom were wise because they did. Firstly, you might notice that not every
translation calls these women bridesmaids, but essentially this is what they
were.
In the Jewish wedding
traditions of the time, there were three parts to the wedding; “The Betrothal”,
which consisted of a legally binding covenant.
Then there was “The Procession & Arrival”, where the groom,
accompanied by his groomsmen, went to the bride’s home (often at night) to
bring her to his house or a celebratory venue.
Finally, there was “The Marriage Feast” which would be a multi-day
banquet. It seems that our Gospel story
is about the procession and arrival.
When my daughter got
married, the bridesmaids turned up to her place and got dressed up and accompanied
her on the day. However, these
bridesmaids of the Jewish wedding were responsible for keeping people safe on
the journey. They had the job of
assisting the procession by lighting the path.
These occasions were often at night and there was often a delay, and the
hour was not known. In this case the
groom was especially delayed. Using
this parable, Jesus makes it clear to us that this would be the case with the
Messiah’s return – His return.
This story tells us
an important fact about the event that is described in our second reading. The procession of the groom is the coming of
the Jesus, and when he comes, we are told that the dead in Christ will come
with Him. “the dead in Christ will
rise first.
Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet
the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever.” At this time in the early church, some of the
early Christians had died, and the people were concerned that these had missed
out on the Messiah’s return and would therefore not share in the wonderful time
of Christ’s reign. They had witnessed
the power of healings and knew Jesus rose from the dead and was coming again,
so these Thessalonians, who thought the Messiah’s return was imminent were struggling
to understand, and they were grieving over the death of their friends – as we
all do. They thought that their friends missed out on being part of the reign
of Christ. God has a future planned for
us beyond this existence. We do not just
die and rest in peace…. Death is not the end – there is more – We don’t know exactly
what it will be but it will be very good.
Those of us here now,
are the bridesmaids. We wait, we prepare,
we keep the faith – keep the fire lit, and we ultimately herald the coming of
the Messiah. The light is vital to keep
the travellers safe. This is a parable,
so what is it practically trying to tell us?
At an obvious level, as Christians, we shine a light for our
community. The role of the bridesmaids
was vital because there was no other light – all around was darkness and
without this light, people could be harmed.
People could trip and fall.
People could be led astray in the pitch dark…. Completely lost!
This is our community
– the world around us. If you are not
perceiving darkness in our world, might I respectfully suggest that this is
because there have been faithful and wise “bridesmaids” who have shone the
light of God into our world. They have
influenced our society. William
Wilbourforce who fought to abolish slavery…. It didn’t happen over night… he
had to work at it, through resistance and intense opposition, to continue to
bring the light of a better way…. And continue to advocate for human rights. …
and continue… and continue. Shining
God’s light is not a sprint – it is a marathon and it needs a lot of “oil” !! Florence Nightingale, George Washington
Carver, Martin Luther-King, Corrie Ten Boom and Mother Theresa, all experienced
various degrees of criticism. Most faced
severe backlash, hostility, or were viewed as "unbalanced" radicals
during their lifetimes.
Where are the
bridesmaids of today? Who are they?
Our church supported
The Light Party. These people keep the
light lit! And shine it into our dark
world. I would say these people are some
of our modern-day bridesmaids. Is it
important to have a light party, do you think?
It is a Halloween alternative. Most
people think Trick or Treating is just a bit of fun to dress up etc and they
get involved thinking nothing too deeply about it, However, many Christians
believe it is celebrating the works of darkness – and you have only to note the
kinds of decorations to know that this is lifting up evil. Not that it was originally. Halloween is All Hallows Eve and it is meant
to be about celebrating heroes of the faith… the saints who faithfully served
God – and that is what the Light Party strives to do; put the focus back on the
heroes of faith. To see the deeper
significance, let me read to you what one parent said to an activity leader at
that Light Party on Saturday; Through the week his daughter was preparing
for Halloween and she saw the devil sitting on her bed. Her father immediately picked up the Bible
and began to read. They attended the
light party as a priority. This is happening in our community. Why? And
what is our part? We need to shine the
light so that our community can be kept safe.
What does it take to
be a “bridesmaid”? In our Old Testament
reading Joshua was about to lead the people into the promised land. Before doing so they entered a place with a
lot of history and significance for them; Shechem. This is the place where God
appeared to Abraham and promised the land to him. The promise to Abraham had no
conditions. It was a gift from God. What we read about today is the fulfillment
of that promise, but also there is an important question; “Will you serve
God?” The people were rescued by
God. Sustained by God and yet they still
had to be asked and made consciously aware that they needed to choose. Why would the people of God need to be asked
to choose?
We are the people of
God also, and we need to be frequently asked to choose who we will serve. We are forever being presented with the same
question from God’s enemy, Satan. We
just don’t know that it is him. It doesn’t
happen obviously. It sneaks in.
People today serve
"other gods" or commit modern idolatry by placing anything, any
person, or any pursuit above God.
Materialism, money and consumerism can be a god for us, as can
self-worship and ego. Have you noticed
the obsession with self in the last 20 years or so? Putting our own desires, wisdom, comfort and
rights above all else makes our “selves” into a god. Another area of “Other gods” is to dabble in “New
age” practices of crystals, astrology, and non-biblical traditions to
manipulate life.
All these things
happen because they seem good. They
never seem extreme and we never hear Satan’s voice asking us who we will
choose, but he presents us with the things we are not meant to partake in and
explains it away as being good for us… and God won’t really mind. Why I am so definite about these things is
because I experienced this as a teenager.
I thought I was not doing anything harmful by reading my astrology or
going to a self-help hypnosis class, until I was asked to whole heartedly say “YES”
to God. When I did, weird things began
to happen. This showed me clearly that through
those things, Satan had a legal hold in my life. I renounced those things in Jesus name.
Joshua tells the
people that they aren’t capable of serving the Lord. He gives a warning about belonging to God and
then serving other gods. What does mean
say for us? It’s so good that we live in
the New Testament times of grace!!! BUT
WAIT…..
Let’s have another
look at our New Testament reading; the foolish bridesmaids ran out of oil. And when they came back after getting some
the response from the groom was; 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' God has boundaries. You might miss them, but look, they are
always there. Right from the beginning
of time. Adam was told don’t eat from
the tree or else… he ate… The
consequences followed.
We tend to always
make our spiritual life work to suit us.
God will love us and accept us.
Well, yes, He absolutely does.
But it cost God dearly to rescue us.
It cost him the life of Jesus.
There are boundaries…. Boundaries are the realities of life… the wall of
consequences that we run into. The
spiritual life has rules - boundaries.
God loves us and promises us a future, but he revealed the boundaries.
The story of the
bridesmaids was told to a Jewish audience who understood something of which we
aren’t aware. In Hebrew thought light is
associated with God’s law, obedience and righteousness. As far as boundaries go, please note what
happened when the foolish bridesmaids had to go back for more oil. The groom refused them entry for he did not
know them.
The oil is God’s
law. The oil is also the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given on the
day of Pentecost, a festival that celebrated the giving of the law. What does it take to be a bridesmaid in the
Kingdom of God? We need the continuous
infilling of the Holy Spirit. We are
continuously infilled by the Holy Spirit when we remain connected and obedient
to God.
This life is almost
obsessed with policies and procedures about health and safety, yet this world
is unaware of the darkness and the pitfalls that it constantly walks into. God calls each of us to be a bridesmaid. It is so important that we fulfill our
role. Surely, it is obvious that this
world is lost. So many despairing,
depressed, despondent and feeling that they have no future… that life has no
future. We need to light the path. We need to be a light. It starts by constantly asking God to fill us
with His Spirit and constantly taking a stand and declaring into the darkness;
As for me and my house… we will serve the LORD!
