The Bridegroom Is Coming
Every pastor learns this early: Weddings never start on time.
There is always a reason. The flowers are late. A groomsman loses the rings and then finds them in another pocket. Somebody's uncle is still parking the car. I have stood at the front of enough sanctuaries to know that the time printed on the invitation is more of a hopeful idea...
So, when Jesus tells a story about a wedding where the groom shows up very late, part of me just nods. Of course he did.
This Sunday we will take a closer look at that story in Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Older translations call them virgins, which simply meant young, unmarried women. Ten of them wait with their lamps for the bridegroom. He takes his time. Everyone falls asleep. Then at midnight comes the shout. I will leave what happens next for Sunday. Before we get there, though, I want to show you why Jesus chose a wedding imagery. It was not a random. It is one of the oldest stories in the Biblical story.
Long before Jesus, the prophets reached for marriage language to describe what God was doing with his people. Through Isaiah, God promises to rejoice over Israel the way a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:5). Through Hosea, after Israel has wandered off, God says he will speak tenderly to her and betroth her to himself again in faithfulness (Hosea 2:14-20). The whole relationship is pictured as a covenant love story. An uneven one, honestly. God is faithful. His people... Not so much…
Which brings us to Joshua 24.
Joshua is old now, and gathers all the tribes at Shechem, the place where God first appeared to Abraham in that land and promised it to his family (Genesis 12:6-7). Then Joshua does what people still do at a rehearsal dinner. He tells the story. God took your father Abraham from beyond the river. God brought you out of Egypt. God carried you through the wilderness. God gave you a land you did not work for.
Then comes the now famous line: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Look at what happens next. The people answer, "We will serve the Lord." Joshua tells them they are witnesses against themselves. They reply, "We are witnesses." Promises spoken out loud, in front of witnesses, binding two parties together. Joshua 24 reads a lot like a wedding.
Now many centuries later. Someone asks Jesus why his disciples do not fast. He answers that wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them (Matthew 9:15). That is a remarkable thing to say. To the prophets, the bridegroom of Israel is God himself, and Jesus quietly steps into that role. John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29). And the whole Bible ends at a wedding feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb, with the holy city coming down like a bride ready for her husband (Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2).
So, when Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives during his final week and tells a story about bridesmaids waiting for a bridegroom, his first listeners would have heard the old love story of God and his people reaching its climax. The bridegroom is coming.
It helps to know how weddings work in that world. They were not a short ceremony followed by cake. The groom went to the bride's family home, sometimes delayed by last minute negotiations between the families, and then brought her back to his own home in a procession, often at night. Lamps lit the way. The bridesmaids job was to light the road home.
Oil, lamps, sleep, and a closed door. There is a lot packed into these thirteen verses, and some of it is uncomfortable. Bring your questions on Sunday. If you have a few minutes this week, try reading Joshua 24 and Matthew 25 side by side and notice the echoes between them.
Words Worth Knowing
Bridegroom (Greek nymphios): The man being married. In the prophets, God is pictured as the bridegroom of his people. Jesus takes this title for himself.
Covenant (Hebrew berit): A binding relationship sealed with promises, where both sides commit themselves to each other. Marriage is the closest Idea of covenant in Scripture.
Serve (Hebrew avad): To work for or serve. It is the same word used for Israel's slavery in Egypt and for their worship of God. In Joshua 24 the question is never whether we will serve, only whom.
Witness: Someone who sees a promise made and can testify to it later. At Shechem the people become witnesses to their own vows.
Watch (Greek gregoreo): To stay awake and alert. It is the word Jesus uses at the end of this parable, and he will use it again a few nights later in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38-41).
Grace & gratitude,
Pastor Mark
There is always a reason. The flowers are late. A groomsman loses the rings and then finds them in another pocket. Somebody's uncle is still parking the car. I have stood at the front of enough sanctuaries to know that the time printed on the invitation is more of a hopeful idea...
So, when Jesus tells a story about a wedding where the groom shows up very late, part of me just nods. Of course he did.
This Sunday we will take a closer look at that story in Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Older translations call them virgins, which simply meant young, unmarried women. Ten of them wait with their lamps for the bridegroom. He takes his time. Everyone falls asleep. Then at midnight comes the shout. I will leave what happens next for Sunday. Before we get there, though, I want to show you why Jesus chose a wedding imagery. It was not a random. It is one of the oldest stories in the Biblical story.
Long before Jesus, the prophets reached for marriage language to describe what God was doing with his people. Through Isaiah, God promises to rejoice over Israel the way a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:5). Through Hosea, after Israel has wandered off, God says he will speak tenderly to her and betroth her to himself again in faithfulness (Hosea 2:14-20). The whole relationship is pictured as a covenant love story. An uneven one, honestly. God is faithful. His people... Not so much…
Which brings us to Joshua 24.
Joshua is old now, and gathers all the tribes at Shechem, the place where God first appeared to Abraham in that land and promised it to his family (Genesis 12:6-7). Then Joshua does what people still do at a rehearsal dinner. He tells the story. God took your father Abraham from beyond the river. God brought you out of Egypt. God carried you through the wilderness. God gave you a land you did not work for.
Then comes the now famous line: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Look at what happens next. The people answer, "We will serve the Lord." Joshua tells them they are witnesses against themselves. They reply, "We are witnesses." Promises spoken out loud, in front of witnesses, binding two parties together. Joshua 24 reads a lot like a wedding.
Now many centuries later. Someone asks Jesus why his disciples do not fast. He answers that wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them (Matthew 9:15). That is a remarkable thing to say. To the prophets, the bridegroom of Israel is God himself, and Jesus quietly steps into that role. John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29). And the whole Bible ends at a wedding feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb, with the holy city coming down like a bride ready for her husband (Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2).
So, when Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives during his final week and tells a story about bridesmaids waiting for a bridegroom, his first listeners would have heard the old love story of God and his people reaching its climax. The bridegroom is coming.
It helps to know how weddings work in that world. They were not a short ceremony followed by cake. The groom went to the bride's family home, sometimes delayed by last minute negotiations between the families, and then brought her back to his own home in a procession, often at night. Lamps lit the way. The bridesmaids job was to light the road home.
Oil, lamps, sleep, and a closed door. There is a lot packed into these thirteen verses, and some of it is uncomfortable. Bring your questions on Sunday. If you have a few minutes this week, try reading Joshua 24 and Matthew 25 side by side and notice the echoes between them.
Words Worth Knowing
Bridegroom (Greek nymphios): The man being married. In the prophets, God is pictured as the bridegroom of his people. Jesus takes this title for himself.
Covenant (Hebrew berit): A binding relationship sealed with promises, where both sides commit themselves to each other. Marriage is the closest Idea of covenant in Scripture.
Serve (Hebrew avad): To work for or serve. It is the same word used for Israel's slavery in Egypt and for their worship of God. In Joshua 24 the question is never whether we will serve, only whom.
Witness: Someone who sees a promise made and can testify to it later. At Shechem the people become witnesses to their own vows.
Watch (Greek gregoreo): To stay awake and alert. It is the word Jesus uses at the end of this parable, and he will use it again a few nights later in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38-41).
Grace & gratitude,
Pastor Mark
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