The Bridesmaids
The Bridesmaids
If you have ever had a part in a wedding, you know how significant "preparation" can be. It can be interesting to observing the varying levels of stress that you can find distributed among those seeking to prepare. Lot's of things to do, lots of things to stress about if you are so inclined, lots of things to celebrate. Lots of things for sure. In the parable everyone gets tired at one point. The difference highlighted in the parable has to do with living prepared.
Even that suggestion that generate a lot of stress for some. But how sad it would be if our primary experience at a wedding is more one of stress than joy or celebration. The experience, whether stressful or joyful, has a lot to do with what our inner life is all about, whether it is rooted in grace or anxiety - and that is not something that easily shifts at the last minute. This is one of the things the parable of Bridesmaids reminds us of, and invites us to embrace - a life of "preparation" driving not by stress of coming events, but anticipation of joyful celebration.
Who we have become, what we are about. the celebration we are ready to engage, is what surfaces at the end - not as prize to have been won, but as a way of life that is unveiled and celebrated. It's not something you can buy or borrow, but something that grows in us long before the event, and as the other parables in this series show, often without the realization of those who live in response to the grace of God.
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Matthew 25
NIV
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
For some great additional reading on this parable, see Ellen White's comments on this parable in Christ's Object lessons.