11-6-17 - Bridesmaids

This coming Sunday, we get one of Jesus’ more complex and confusing parables, about the wise and foolish bridesmaids. No, this isn’t the Kristen Wiig flick of a few years ago; this is Jesus telling a story to explain something he’d told his followers: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)

To teach them about being prepared, Jesus compares God’s realm to bridesmaids awaiting a tardy bridegroom: “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.”

So, why were the bridesmaids going to meet the bridegroom? Where was the bride? And why did they need lamps? The story makes more sense to us if we know a little about marriage customs in Jesus’ day – or what scholars think might have been marriage customs in Jesus’ day. I have read that in and around Bethlehem, around the time of Jesus and later, they would have wedding processions at night through the towns. The bridesmaids would greet the bridegroom and escort him to the bride, dancing with lit torches.

If so, the “lamps” in the story were really more like torches, rags soaked in oil and put in a bowl on a stick. Once lit, they’d last about 15 minutes, and then more oil would be needed to keep them lit, because the dance was longer than that. Maybe that’s why these wise bridesmaids had not only their lamps, but extra oil, so they could do the dance with fire, whereas the foolish, shortsighted ones were going to be unable to fulfill their dance.

It’s a good metaphor for being faithful and ready – especially for disciples called to be bearers of light, bearers of the One who said "I am the Light of the World." There’s more to the parable, and we’ll let it unfold through the week, but let’s start with the drowsiness of the bridesmaids. How can we stay ready when what we’re waiting for seems so long in coming? It’s not hard to sympathize with them becoming drowsy and dropping off to sleep. How often do we feel God is too long in coming, too long answering our prayers in a way we desire, or that this Christian life is kind of a slog.

The bridesmaids' drowsiness can be likened to the spiritual condition called “acidie,” a kind of spiritual ennui we get when our love for God has grown tepid, nothing feels fresh or passionate. If our relationship with God is lukewarm, it’s really hard to praise, it’s hard to get excited about service or sharing our faith with others. And for us, so far from the events we read about in the Gospels, it can be easy to feel it’s all ho-hum unless we have new encounters with Jesus in prayer and worship and service.

If that’s where you are, tell Jesus that today. If you are in a more connected, passionate faith place, rejoice in that. Either way, spend some time today in prayer with the One whom John the Baptist referred to as the Bridegroom.

We are invited this week – and always – to take on the mantle of bridesmaid, one who dances the Bridegroom to his bride. In Christian metaphor, the bride is the Church. What might it mean to dance Jesus to his church?

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