"Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids" – Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow(1838-1842)
One of my father-in-law’s many outstanding traits was always to be prepared.
So he had a drawer full of fresh batteries of every shape and size. Every time I needed batteries for anything, DuVal would say, “Go look in the battery drawer and get the batteries you need,” and I would take him up on that offer.
I don’t have a battery drawer in my house—and how many times when I’ve flicked on a flashlight only to see only dim light because the batteries are almost gone, I’ve thought with longing of DuVal’s battery drawer as I scramble through my own jumbled tool drawer where a few batteries reside only to find a few random AAA batteries, and I need AA batteries—you get the idea!
So let’s say that the bridesmaids in today’s gospel had flashlights and they all started off with new batteries in those flashlights, which should have been adequate, but oops! The bridegroom was late.
When the bridesmaids heard the call at midnight that the bridegroom was on the way, and turned their flashlights back on, having already had to use them for several extra unexpected hours, their batteries were low, and produced only dim light.
The prepared bridesmaids reached into their pockets and pulled out the extra batteries they had brought and soon, their flashlights were shining with great brilliance.
But the five who had come out with no back up batteries realized with an awful dismay in the pits of their stomachs that the light from their flashlights was dim, and getting dimmer by the minute, and they hadn’t brought extra batteries.
The other bridesmaids had brought only enough batteries to refill their own flashlights and refused to share any of their new batteries, because we all know that mixing weak and strong batteries never produces satisfactory light for long, and ten dim flashlights wouldn’t be nearly as helpful as five brilliant flashlights.
The five unprepared bridesmaids must have felt like they were in the middle of some horrid anxiety dream as they rushed to the nearest 24 hour WalMart, got held up in the checkout line behind a woman with a cart overflowing with groceries, finally bought their batteries, threw out the old batteries, put the new ones in their flashlights, and then hurried back–
but by the time they returned, the bridegroom had already passed by and everyone but them had arrived at the wedding banquet.
The tardy bridesmaids then hurried through the dark with their now brightly burning flashlights, but when they got to the banquet hall, the door was shut.
They knocked and asked to come in, but the bridegroom said that he didn’t even know them, and refused to open the door to them. They were too late.
This story makes me so uncomfortable. I can wrap my mind around the bridesmaids not sharing the batteries, even though I wish they had stuck a few extras in their pockets for those who might be in need, but I just can’t get over the bridegroom saying NO to those who were late because they weren’t adequately prepared.
After all, the bridegroom in this story is representative of Jesus coming back at the end of time. But would Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who told the story of the 100 sheep, only one of whom got lost, and the shepherd went to find that one lost sheep, really leave us standing outside a shut door to the banquet hall and to say that he didn’t even know us?
“NO” is the last thing we expect to hear from God, our God, the one who says yes to love through the goodness of creation, yes to Jesus coming to live and die as one of us, yes, to the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, imperfect as we are. God says yes to us all the time through God’s forgiveness, mercy and compassion for each one of us.
But in this parable, the bridegroom says NO to those who weren’t fully prepared.
The stark truth is that more often than we realize, the things we say YES to create a dilemma for God, in which God ends up having to say NO to us.
Sometimes, even the good things in our lives that we choose to do keep us from doing the most important thing that we as Christians are called to do in this world—to light the way of God so that people can see God at work in this world, even when God seems to be missing in action.
God wants us to say YES to the things that God has always required of God’s people—that the Old Testament prophets demand—to do justice so that it rolls down like powerful cleansing water into the injustices of this day, to love kindness in the face of evil, to walk humbly with God and to live in right relationship with God and with one another.
We Christians can do that by respecting the dignity of every human being for starters.
To fully say YES to what is important to God, so that God can ultimately say YES to us, the word NO then becomes a necessity in our lives.
Some NOs are obvious—we hope we would say NO to those things we face that clearly separate us from God and from one another;
to say NO to the things that constantly tempt to distract us from keeping our focus on promoting God’s justice and righteousness, rather than the human agendas that the world is always laying out before us in such tempting ways.
Focus on our own material success can distract us from doing God’s work if we forget about justice for others as we seek riches only for ourselves, often at the at the expense of others that we choose to know nothing about.
Focus on gaining power and then using power for our own agendas rather than for God’s work in the world is another danger. We all have power over something and someone—are we using the power that God has given us for justice for the earth and for our fellow human beings, or are we using it to increase our own wealth and power? These are the questions that we must always be asking ourselves.
What we pay attention to is another constant issue. Ask yourself each day—am I paying more attention to Trump’s latest tweets, the latest battle in the culture wars, the most recent news cycles, and political commentaries, or even Facebook, that subtle thief of my time, than I am paying attention to God?
Other NOs we need to say are harder to say—because we may have to say NO to a lesser good in order to accomplish the greater good that God has called us to do as God’s children of light in this world.
Am I paying more attention to my own pleasures and entertainments than to God’s desire for me to work for God’s justice and righteousness in the world?
Or am I so busy doing what seems like good work for God that I’m too worn out to focus on God and God alone?
God does not want us to be distracted by these other things that constantly threaten to take our time and to leave us unprepared to receive the good things that God longs to give to all of us.
Along with Holy Scripture, The Book of Common Prayer contains centuries of wisdom in its pages. This book is like my father-in-law’s handy battery drawer, always full, accessible, and containing the batteries we need for the light to find and show God’s way in this world.
The General Thanksgiving at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer is an example of such light and wisdom. Its words, if prayed twice a day as it is intended to be prayed, first thing in the morning, and right before going to sleep, will keep the person praying these words focused on God and what God desires from each one of us.
The Commentary on the American Prayer Book states that the words of the General Thanksgiving were written by Bishop Edward Reynolds of Norwich, inspired, some think, by a private prayer of Queen Elizabeth of England issued in 1596—and Queen Elizabeth was a woman in a position of power, who prayed daily that she might do God’s justice and use her power wisely on God’s behalf and on the behalf of her people. She prayed the transforming words of this prayer that kept her focused on God in the midst of her duties as the queen of a nation.
So now, let’s open up our battery drawers.
Get out your copy of The Book of Common Prayer, and turn to The General Thanksgiving on page 101.
Use this prayer to keep your batteries charged and your flashlights burning brightly to light God’s way in this world. And other prayers in the Prayer Book will also serve you well as you work to focus on God and God’s will for your life.
Now, let us pray The General Thanksgiving together.
“Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life;
But above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages.”
Amen.
Resources: The Book of Common Prayer
Hatchett, Marion J. Commentary on the American Prayer Book. New York: The Seabury Press, 1981.