Stories Jesus Told: Lesson 3: Weddings Gone Awry

October 14, 2019
Matthew 22: 1-14:  The Wedding Banquet

Matthew 25:1-13: The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids

1. Opening Prayer:  Lord we are ready to hear from you today and learn from you.  Inspire us, challenge us, teach us, grow us, as we encounter these surprising stories in your Holy Word.

2.  Context background of the stories:

The Wedding Banquet:  One way to insure that people didn’t crash weddings was to give invited people simple but same robes as they walked in the door.  This was probably only done for the weddings of people who had means – and it is probable that the “wedding robe” wasn’t a gift but a loan for the day out of a supply that the family would use when someone got married.   When the King comes down he is able to recognize the wedding crasher because he isn’t wearing the same robe that everyone else is wearing or that he doesn't have a special robe on to begin with.   

The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids:  We think of bridesmaids as belonging to the bride’s family, but in this case these are from the groom’s side of the family.  Weddings traditionally started at the bride’s house, then after some feasting and a chance for her to say goodbye to her family and friends from her hometown, she would walk with her groom and his family to her new residence, the groom’s house.  The young women of the groom’s family would greet the wedding party.  If the bride came at night they would light lamps to line the way to the house.  

Context	The Wedding Banquet	The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids
What is Jesus talking about or addressing?	The Kingdom of God; Since both of these parables are talking about the Kingdom it is important to remember that although the story is based on actual events that might happen at a wedding the events in these weddings are used to illustrate how the Kingdom of God works.	The Kingdom of God
Scripture: Where does it appear in the Gospel?	During a discussion where people are asking Jesus to describe God’s Kingdom.	Same
Parable: WHAT??? Moment: Places in the story that make you feel uncomfortable or question what is happening.	* The fact that the first invited guests don’t come. * The king throwing the person out of the wedding – this doesn’t seem to be kind or fair, and even a bit extreme.	* Why didn’t the bridesmaid’s who had oil share their oil with the other girls?  This seems to be mean. *Once they got the oil why didn’t the groom open the door to them.  Again this seems mean.
Characters	King: God Guest w/out a Robe:  This person is an imposter who snuck into the wedding.  He represents those people who pretend to be pious but who don’t actually work on living in holiness by following God’s commandments of love.	Wise Bridesmaids: The wise bridesmaids who bring the oil are the ones who take their responsibilites/spirituality seriously.  They are looking ahead to what might be needed farther down the road.  They are willing to put the extra work in. Foolish Bridesmaids:  They are willing to bring the oil for the lamps but are not willing to do anymore work than that.  They also rely on others to be prepared and do their work for them. Groom: Christ
Conflict/ Resolution in the story	God knows when we are faking our commitment to God/Christianity.  Jesus was addressing those people who pretended to be pious.  Just because you go to church and say the prayers doesn’t mean that you are being one of God’s children if you are hurting or exploiting people the rest of the week.	Christ/God knows who is just going through the motions and who is really trying to understand him and work on what needs to be done.   Unlike giving someone some extra oil, the wise bridesmaids can’t give their more developed spirituality to the foolish maids.  We all need to develop our own spirituality, and think ahead to what might happen.  This is a warning for people who think that they can just get by with the basics.
Images/ Symbols of the story	* A Wedding was/is considered to be a reflection of the covenant that God has with his people.  Two people have to work at the covenant to maintain it.  God gives us many good things but we need to work at being good people as well.  * The outer darkness seems to be an extreme place to send the imposter, especially if we believe that God loves and redeems everyone.  But there is an aspect of Judgment build into keeping a covenant.  You can’t have a free ride.  Also, just because someone is thrown into the outer darkness doesn’t mean they have to stay there.  Sometimes people need to go through bad times before they become sincere or find meaning in their religious beliefs.  One example we talked about is an alcoholic who needs to hit rock bottom before finding a way to redemption.  Some people need to lose everything before they start to take life seriously.	* The oil represents the development of the spirit.  Some people just try to get by – once they are confirmed or saved they think that they don’t need to do anymore.  But personally we always need to be thinking ahead about developing our spirituality. The questions for both Jesus’ audience and for us is: Are you going to keep preparing yourself for the coming of God?  Are you sure you are ready?  Have you done enough? Are your improving?   The foolish maids are not only unprepared but they think that they can borrow the preparedness of the others.  They do try to get more oil, but it is too late by that time.  The groom/the Kingdom has already come and they have missed their chance. The groom might seem to be mean for not letting them in, but by their unpreparedness they have insulted his new bride, by not being there to greet her.  This is another warning that we need to work on our connection with God now – not put it off.

The questions for us that we need to ask:

1. Are we faking our religion, belief in God, or how we follow God in anyway?

2.  Are we getting by with our spirituality?  

3. How can we improve our public and personal practice?