GETTING READY FOR THE PARTY

Dr. Richard J. Henderson November 6, 2011

click for printable version

Psalm 78:1-7
Matthew 25:1-13

Introduction

Weddings are a time of great excitement, but can also be filled with tension and anxiety. Everyone is dressed up, but there is often an air of nervousness, uneasiness and even frustration. Sometimes in that setting the worst comes out. At one wedding the bride and her mother had a full-blown cat fight on the morning of the wedding. Years of anger and frustration exploded at the worst possible time.

There's always the worry that something will go wrong at a wedding, and sometimes it does. I go over the service several times because I don't want to be the one who causes a major mistake in a wedding service.

Several years ago I did a wedding in a family's back yard. It was a beautiful setting because they lived on a small lake. After the wedding they planned to have the whole wedding party get on a pontoon boat and cruise around the lake.

As the wedding party stood on the dock, the metal poles that held it up began to sink into the ground. As the bridesmaids and groomsmen sank in the water up to their knees they tried to jump into the boat. They weren't all successful. When they made their way to shore, the bottom half of their tuxedos and beautiful dresses were wet and dirty. It was a memorable wedding.

I did a wedding at Brighton State Park where the groom wanted his dog to be the ring bearer. People gathered for the wedding in a circle with the bride and groom in the center. It was then that the dog decided that he had found the perfect spot to, shall we say, unload. I'll never forget the grandmother in her long flowing dress trying to remove the evidence with a long stick she had found nearby.

I could go on, but you know, unusual things can happen at weddings. It is a time of excitement, high emotion, and sometimes anxiety. Things happen.

I

Weddings in Jesus' time were done a little bit differently, but they were still times loaded with emotion. The wedding guests were invited to go to the bride's home for a party while they waited for the groom to arrive. When the groom got there the bridesmaids went out to greet him with lighted torches. Then everyone paraded over to the home of the groom's parents. His parents were waiting there to greet people. Then the ceremony began followed by a great celebration that went on for days.

You'll remember that Jesus' first miracle was to change water into wine when he and his mother were invited to a wedding at Cana. It was an event filled with joy, excitement, and huge celebration.

II

In the parable that Jesus tells there are ten bridesmaids in the wedding party. Five of them realize that the groom doesn't always show up when he's expected. They take extra oil with them just in case the groom is delayed.

It might be that the groom is delayed because he's negotiating the dowry with his father-in-law. It could be considered an insult if the negotiations go too quickly. Does dad seem too anxious to get rid of his daughter? Doesn't the groom appreciate what a treasure he is getting? Sometimes long negotiations are a real compliment to the bride. So it's not terribly unusual for the groom be delayed.

The other five bridesmaids aren't thinking that delays can happen. They fill their lamps with oil assuming that they have enough.

The groom is delayed. While they're waiting all ten of the bridesmaids fall asleep. Suddenly they hear someone shout, "Look, here comes the groom!" Five of the bridesmaids refill their lamps, light them, and then hold them up high.

The other five realize that they've run out of oil. "Give us some of your oil," they shout to the five who have oil. "We can't," they answer, "or none of us will have enough. We have to lead the procession. You'll need to go buy some oil." Then the five who don't have enough oil run to try to buy some. The five bridesmaids who are prepared lead the procession to the groom's home. Then the wedding and the party begin.

It could take the other bridesmaids a while to get more oil. It's hard to find a place to buy oil at midnight! By the time they get back the doors are closed and they are left out.

III

This is not one of Jesus' more complex parables. The message is clear: be prepared. If that were all it meant, then it would be just a reminder of what we learned in scouts. We could close up our Bibles and on our way home in the car, say to ourselves, "Yep, I should try to be more prepared. Maybe I should resolve to do a good deed every day. I should probably try to find a Bible at home and read a little of it sometime."

IV

I don't think Jesus is suggesting that we accumulate a lot of good deeds to be prepared. The preparation Jesus is talking about isn't like getting volunteer hours for National Honor Society, or racking up frequent flier miles with your credit card. I think Jesus is talking about a way of living. It's not another requirement we add to our lives, not another burden we put on our backs; it's about the way we live our lives.

It's not doing a good deed every day, but helping people as a natural part of who we are. A person who saw someone fall and hurt herself at noon wouldn't say, "I don't need to help her, I have already opened the door for an elderly lady earlier this morning. I'm good for today." Our preparation isn't so much a series of acts as it is a way of living.

Remember a couple of weeks ago we heard Jesus say that all the law and the prophets are summed up in two sentences: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." That's not so much another obligation we have to carry out, as it is the way we can live. We can always be talking to God - when we're happy, sad, thankful, or mad. Then because of our relationship with God we can act toward the people around us with compassion. Being prepared isn't about filling out a tally sheet of nice things we've done, it's an approach to life that defines who we are. It's not something we work at, it's someone we are.

V

In this parable the women who are prepared don't give their oil to those who aren't prepared. That may seem mean at first, but in reality they can't. Those who live faithfully can't lend their faith to someone else. The resources of the prepared can't be borrowed. Everybody has to prepare for themselves.

All of us face moments that demand our spiritual strength. If we aren't ready we can't borrow from someone else. Imagine a weak person who's overweight and out of shape saying to a body builder, "I have a stress test coming up on Thursday, could I borrow your muscle tone and endurance for a day?" It's ridiculous. It's not something you can borrow.

The preacher, Fred Craddock, once visited a woman in the hospital on the day before her surgery. She was a nervous wreck. It was a simple, routine surgery, but the woman was very upset about it. He talked with her and tried to help her calm down, but it didn't seem to help. He prayed with her before he left.

On the drive home from the hospital he worried about this woman. He remembered that on the table beside her bed he had seen a tall stack of tabloid and gossip magazines - you know, The Weekly Inquirer, Them, and the Global Examiner. He thought to himself, maybe she is so frightened because she hasn't been getting much nutritious, spiritual food. She seemed to be suffering from a form of spiritual anemia.

Or, in terms of today's parable, she didn't have any oil in reserve. And she couldn't borrow any from other people. How we face difficult circumstances has to do with how prepared we are, how we have lived our faith up to that point.

Conclusion

It's important to remember that what we prepare for is not something awful, but something extremely good. You and I are not preparing so that we can avoid a horrible fire or the slamming of a judge's gavel. We prepare for a great, joyful banquet. It's a feast, a party. It has all the fun and celebration and abundance of a huge wedding reception.

What we prepare for is something wonderful and exciting. We are getting ready for an enormous party where God is the host.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2011