September 17, 2008 + Be prepared when the call comes + Hayward Fong

Matthew 25:1-13

In order to better understand this parable, we need first to look at the several steps that lead to a marriage in this Jewish culture. There were three stages.

First, there was the engagement. This was carried out by the parents or by professional match-makers. At this stage the couple could be mere children and probably had never even seen each other. This custom still exists among the Jews and other cultures. This step was taken to obtain an untainted heritage for their children since pure blooded Jews were becoming increasingly rare. The strange thing is that this way has in practice produced happy marriages.

Second, there is the betrothal. This happens when the couple near marriageable age. It is carried out with feasting and ceremony almost as elaborate as the marriage itself. This stage was absolutely binding and could not be broken except by divorce. If the man died, the woman was technically a widow.

The third stage, the formal marriage takes place one year later. It is a time of great joy and celebration. Everyone joins in the festival and in the marriage procession to the home of the newly weds. The Jews have a saying, “Everyone from six to sixty will follow the marriage drum.” Even the Rabbis would leave their studies to which they were devoted because marriage was something given by God.

The point of this parable depends on the marriage custom which may seem strange to us. The couple did not go away but stayed at home for what we would call the honeymoon. The week following the marriage was one continuous feast when the couple held court. They were actually called and treated like king and queen. It was the opportunity to share in that week of glad festivity that the foolish virgins lost.

The picture of the girls waiting for the bridegroom was the kind of thing that happened and still happens. If the groom came from any distance there was no telling when he could come and since he was a supremely honored guest, not to welcome him when he arrived, would be a serious breach of manners.

While the groom is on his way, the bridesmaids would keep the bride company with dance and music till he arrived. One of the tricks was to catch the bridal party “napping” by arriving at an unexpected hour such as the middle of the night. The only warning the bridal party may get is an announcement by a groomsman, “Behold! the bridegroom is coming!” Since this may happen at any time the bridal party has to be ready to go out into the street to meet him whenever he chooses to come. Other important points are that no one is allowed in the streets after dark without a lighted lamp, and, when the bridegroom has arrived, and the door has been shut, late-comers to the ceremony are not admitted.

This ancient custom still exists. In the parable the ten virgins were awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom. They did not know when he would come. Those who were wise were prepared for his coming no matter when it happened. Those who were foolish let their oil run down and were caught unprepared. The lamps were rags soaked in oil and the oil needed to be replenished. While they sought to remedy their oversight the door was shut and they were shut out.

It may well be that when we first heard this story, there is an element of cruelty in it to our western ears; but it relates an incident which must have been a commonplace and which simply reflects the everyday life and customs of the people among whom Jesus lived and taught.

To the Jews who heard this parable for the first time it must have had special significance. They were a people ready for a full display of God’s truth. For centuries God had been preparing them as His people; and yet when His Son came they refused Him and in the end crucified Him. Because they did that, they shut themselves out from the Kingdom. Now, it was nobody’s fault but their own. God had done everything to open the door to them and they had shut it on themselves.

What are the lessons to be learned from this parable?

First and foremost, the parable teaches the necessity of being prepared. There are certain things that are not possible of preparing at the last minute. Unless they have been prepared well in advance they cannot be prepared at all. You cannot get the knowledge needed for a test when you enter the examination room. It is that way with all the skills of life.

I remember an incident involving one of my engineering professors in college. He was called in to fix a complex piece of equipment at a plant engaged in producing weapons in World War II. The people at the plant weren’t able to figure out what was wrong. The professor was there a short time, made a few minor adjustments with his tools and got the equipment back on line. He sent them a bill for two hundred fifty dollars which was a tidy sum in those days. The company wrote back asking for a detailed breakdown of his billing since it seemed excessive. He sent back a detailed statement: Time to repair machine $10, how to do it $240.

The important thing is knowing how to do it and that knowledge is not something that can be acquired at the last minute. It has to be stored up over time. That is why the time to start learning begins with youth. The golden age of memory is from seven to eleven; the younger we are, the more easily we learn. There are things that we may never learn at all unless we learned them when we were young. That is not to say we should stop learning in the golden years of life. We have both the need and capacity to learn even in our retirement years. What we don’t use, we’ll lose.

The parable teaches us to be ready to seize the opportunity when it comes. Sometimes we read of an understudy who went on the stage, when the star was unable to perform, and gain success. Last week, Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, who had led his team to two Super Bowl championships, collapsed on the playing field in the first quarter with a broken knee. His replacement, Matt Cassell, who last started a game at quarterback in high school, rushed onto the field. He led his team to victory because he was prepared to take over when needed. By diligent preparation he was ready to seize the opportunity when it came.

If that is true of the ordinary things of life how much more so of the greater things. The most important event of all is that some day we will stand in the presence of God. For that we must make ourselves ready. There is a Scottish expression, “Thatch the house when the weather is warm.” So when the weather of life is calm, we should be studying the word of God so we can be ready when the storms of life strike. We will then be firmly anchored to weather what ever befalls us. It is the sensible thing to have things ready for foreseeable emergencies and for the greatest emergency of all.

This parable lays down a principle that certain things cannot be borrowed. The oil could not be borrowed in time of necessity. There are two things of supreme importance which cannot be borrowed. Faith cannot be borrowed. A common charge is laid upon our generation, that we are living on the spiritual investment of our progenitors. What do we mean by this? We want the world to be a place where human life is respected, where virtue is honored, where women and children are safe, where men obey the law of God.

This gives rise to two points. What are we doing to keep it so? We cannot have a world like that without, for instance, a strong church. Are we pulling our weight within the church? We cannot have a world like that without people of prayer who live close to God. Are we making ourselves into such men and women? We owe the good in the world to our forefathers; we live on their spiritual investment, but it is our duty to maintain that heritage and not simply live on it.

But there is something more personal than that. It may be that the heritage our generation has received will go far to keep the world in the right way. But there is a more personal problem. When we are faced with some overmastering temptation, or some difficult task, we cannot conquer that temptation or shoulder that task in someone else’s strength. We must do so on our own. It is therefore incumbent upon us to build up a faith which is our own faith and which cannot be shaken.

For another thing, we cannot borrow character. It is pleasant to depend on others. But some things that cannot be borrowed. When it comes to living life, we have to live it by ourselves as we are. What makes this doubly important is that in the end, character is all we can take with us from this world; and the only character we can take is our own.

The Jews had a proverb, “A door that is shut is not so easily opened.” We must take care that we do not shut doors upon ourselves. John Greenleaf wrote:
“For all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest words are these: ‘It might have been.’”

We must ever be alert lest we let slip the opportunities to win the things we ought to have and to be the people we ought to be.