Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost 2023

Matthew 25,1-13

Rev. Neli Miranda 

When was the last time you attended a wedding?  I attended a wedding two months ago and it was beautiful! For me, weddings always stimulate my senses with their wonderful images: the bride with her beautiful dress, the elegant bridegroom, the beauty of the religious ceremony, the party, the music, the food; in short, weddings always fill us with life, hope and joy!

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us a parable about a wedding celebration and we find that, despite the cultural distance, weddings in Jesus' time had many similarities to our celebrations in the 21^st century.  In Jesus’ time, a wedding celebration involved several significant acts, including a great feast in the community. Some facts that might surprise us is that while the groom was usually 18-20 years old, the bride was only 13-16 years old. There was also a written contract that stipulated the bride-price and dowry, the husband’s duties towards his wife, and a sum in case of divorce or death. Usually, the wedding was celebrated about a year after the betrothal.

On the night of the wedding, the bridegroom accompanied by a close friend went to his bride’s house to bring her to his house. Meanwhile, the bride waited in her home assisted by her bridesmaids. During the ceremony, the couple was blessed with seven blessings and the marriage contract was read. The celebration usually lasted seven days and the feasting during the wedding night may have been the most important of the event. So, like in our time, a wedding was an event of great joy with the participation of the whole community.

Today’s parable, known as the parable of the “Ten bridesmaids” or the “Ten virgins”, is part of a series of parables in Matthew that Jesus told his disciples regarding his glorious return. The ten young women represented the whole community given that ten in Jewish tradition meant a complete unity.  Therefore, the parable should be read in light of always being ready for the joyful return of Jesus, the bridegroom in the parable, who is jubilantly received by the bridesmaids, Jesus’ community. Since there is no mention of the bride in the parable, some biblical scholars think that the ten bridesmaids are servants in the bridegroom’s home who faithfully await his return in the company of his bride and then join in the celebration.

Everything is going well so far; however, as we continue reading, we realize that the parable is loaded with discriminatory language and disturbing actions. Like in the “wedding banquet parable” (we read some weeks ago), this one presents us with a retaliating main character, the bridegroom. This time the violence is perpetrated against five, little 13 to 16-year-old girls, the bridesmaids who are called foolish (morons in Greek), and at the end of the parable, they are left outside in the middle of the night.  In short, this parable does not feel like the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus.

Some Bible scholars, to whom I subscribe, say that this parable primordially loaded with a joyful metaphor (the arrival of the bridegroom who is joyfully received by the bridesmaids), went into a process of edition that distorted the initial metaphor. So, the version we read in Matthew reflects a conflictive situation in the Matthean community which involved women. These women were called moron (translated to foolish in English) and were left out from the community, maybe due to subversive behavior, contrary to the patriarchal conventions of that time.

Following this proposal, the original parable of Jesus could have been read this way:

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. The bridegroom came, and they went in with him to the marriage feast. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Rosenblatt, 2001, page 173-174).

In the light of the joyful, inclusive version of the parable, what is the message for us 21st-century Christians? 

Jesus begins this series of parables, in Matthew, by warning his disciples about the hard times to come in the first century: the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, persecution, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Roman Empire. But Jesus also gives them hope by announcing the future consummation when the Kingdom of God will be established in its fullness. This consummation, Jesus announces, will be preceded by his glorious return. However, Jesus does not specify day and hour: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (24,36).  In the parable of the “Ten bridesmaids” Jesus concludes, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (25,13).

Sisters and brothers, the key message of this parable is “Keep awake!”

How do we keep awake?

 The true heroines of the parable are the ten bridesmaids who, though slumbering and sleeping while waiting, were able to hear, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him”, and so they went to enjoy the great celebration. In this sense, keeping awake means being prepared for the glorious future of the world, for the Grand Wedding Feast where ALL are welcome. Keeping awake means seeing the future with faith and hope, keeping up the struggle and resistance against the evil powers that have co-opted the world, and not being distracted from the way of justice and peace.

Today, Jesus reminds us that we are invited to the Grand Wedding Feast and calls us to be prepared and remain faithful like the ten little girls who awaited the return of the bridegroom! Amen.

Bibliography:

Rosenblatt M. (2001). Got into the party after all: women’s issues and the five foolish virgins. In a Feminist companion to Mattew, edited by Amy-Jill Levine & Marianne Blickenstaff. England: Shefield Academy Press.