Matthew 25:1-13

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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Chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew are considered by scholars to be the last of 5 "discourses" (i.e., long sections of teachings by Jesus). It is hypothesized that these 5 sections are intended by Matthew to be a new Torah - a new set of 5 "books" paralleling the 5 books of the Torah attributed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

The implication of this for present day understanding is that this final section has been significantly edited by Matthew to fit his intentions. Today's text is a case in point.

Even a casual reading of this "parable" will reveal a striking dis-similarity with Jesus' other parables:

• it does not cut against social or religious expectations;
• it does not surprise or shock his first listeners -instead it would confirm their conventional wisdom that the foolish are punished and the prepared are rewarded;
• there is no unexpected twist in the story;
• the story lacks humour, paradox, new insight;
• it is unimaginative and easy to figure out what "the moral" is.
• it concludes with a closed, impenetrable boundary - clearly separated insiders from outsiders.

The themes of chapters 24 and 25 are: final judgment and the return of the Son of Man, or, the establishing of the reign of God on earth; and teachings about delays. These two issues were certainly of high concern to Matthew and his community. Scholars debate how much they were top-of-mind for Jesus. Thus the debate about how much Matthew used - and changed - anything Jesus might have actually said to address concerns that arose only after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.

The fact that the maidens are immediately divided into two groups, and immediately described as being either "wise / prepared" or "foolish / unprepared" ought to give us a heads up that this does not sound like a typical Jesus way of putting things.

The parable describes a familiar aspect of a wedding festivities. The groom leaves his home to go and fetch his bride and bring her back to his home. When they arrive the wedding party begins.

The bridegroom is "a long time in coming" rather than "delayed," because "delayed" presumes an expectation of a pre-arranged, set time when the bridegroom and bride would arrive, and at the time of Jesus there was no such custom. There was of course a general expectation of when things would be held, but the custom was that things began when the key people showed up.

The bridesmaids who did not bring extra oil were being presumptuous, and in some sense, insulting the bridegroom. By not bringing extra oil, it is THEY who were determining the time frame in which the bridegroom could be honourably welcomed back to his home. (Imagine the scene if all 10 maidens had had to rush off to get extra oil. The Bridegroom and his bride would have arrived back into a scene of darkness and ill-preparation. What would his bride and her family think about him? What would his neighbours gossip about the next day?) No wonder the bridegroom later says to them, "I do not know you."

Since all 10 of the bridesmaids fall asleep, the conclusion in verse 13 is illogical. This is not a story about "Stay alert." Nor is this a story about "delay."

Rather this is a story about honouring the bridegroom who has gone away to fetch his bride by being prepared for his return - at the time of his own choosing, whenever that might be.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca