Matthew 25 1-13

Mark Bradford's Bible Blog » Matthew 25:1-13

, So this is still part of his discourse in chapter 24 regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and his Second Coming. As in much of that chapter, I think Jesus is illustrating the importance of readiness at both times. Though all of the scholarship I’ve read on this passage holds that this parable refers only to the Second Coming of Christ, I think Jesus was also illustrating to his disciples how vital it was that they be ready to get the church out of the city before it was destroyed. This parable can be hard for us to understand in modern Western culture, because we don’t have the same wedding traditions as they did in Israel in Jesus’ time. But many Middle Eastern and Asian cultures still observe many of these ancient traditions. This parable probably has much more resonance for those cultures than it does in 21st Century America. – approximately one year later when the bridegroom came for his bride. Weddings always took place at night. The bridegroom would go to the bride’s family’s house to take his bride with him. Often he would stay there for an undetermined amount of time. Meanwhile, part of the groom’s wedding party, consisting of unmarried girls who were relatives and friends, were supposed to wait along the route back to the groom’s house where the feast would take place, with lamps or torches lit to light the way. When the groom was announced, he, his bride, and the whole wedding party would arrive at the place where the bridesmaids waited. Anyone whose lamp was not lit when the wedding party arrived would be assumed to be party crashers or even bandits, and would be excluded from the feast.

Jesus never condemns the virgins for falling asleep. All of them did, wise and unwise. But the girls, who typically were teenagers in that culture, varied in their preparation. Some carried extra oil with them in case the bridegroom came later than they expected. But some of them assumed he would come sooner, and didn’t bring any extra oil. It’s likely that the lamps they used were not the traditional oil lamps we’ve seen in pictures.

They were probably actually torches that were dipped in oil. After they had burned a while and the oil was exhausted, the wick was trimmed, meaning the cloth that had burned up was trimmed off, and the torch was dipped again and re-lit. This was where the foolish virgins went wrong. They didn’t bring any extra oil so they could re-light their torches if the bridegroom took longer to arrive than they expected.

The podcast of Sunday's teaching from Matthew 25:1-13 is now available on iTunes at...

Later this morning and this afternoon I'll be preaching on the Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13). Come, Holy Spirit!

Finished the outline/powerpoint for tomorrow's message (Matthew 22:1-14). Next message will be Matthew 25:1-13. Prepare me, Lord.

(matthew 25:1-13 + james 2:17) a faith without works is like a lamp without oil

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